Course Title: Innovative Local Government

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Innovative Local Government

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

ENVI1149

City Campus

Postgraduate

365H Global, Urban and Social Studies

Internet

 Sem 2 2011,
Sem 2 2013

Course Coordinator: Dr Benno Engels

Course Coordinator Phone: +(61 3) 9925 3884

Course Coordinator Email: benno.engels@rmit.edu.au


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None


Course Description

How do local governments innovate — incorporating change in their organisations and novel approaches to policies and programs? What are innovative cultures, processes, values and structures at a local government level? Conversely, what factors constitute barriers to innovation? Where are significant local government innovations occurring? This course provides you the opportunity to explore these kinds of questions by focusing on the contemporary challenge of creating sustainable communities in the face of environmental, economic and social pressures. Although focusing on the Australian context and case studies, this course includes international perspectives and reading and you will be able to focus on non-Australian studies in assignments.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:

  • describe key approaches in contemporary theorising about local government innovation;
  • discuss various strategies for implementing local government innovation, especially related to community sustainability;
  • demonstrate a capacity to develop clear and coherent proposals for innovation, with feasible designs for implementation.



Overview of Learning Activities

Learning activities are student-focused and the use of online learning materials and active participation in discussions are key elements of this course. You will be expected to collect and analyse resources that centre on a proposal for a specific innovation in an existing local government for their assignments.


Overview of Learning Resources

You will be able to use a prescribed text.


Overview of Assessment

Assessment centres on: regular participation in online discussion, including one set reading review posted to the course website; two short assignments on concepts and literature; a final assignment proposing an innovation for local government.