Disability access and local government: Co-researching the City of Bunbury’s aim to become the most accessible regional city in Australia
type: CreativeWork
description: This study used Participatory Action Research (PAR) to investigate the facilitators of disability access in local government, with a focus on the City of Bunbury in Western Australia. In 2014, the City of Bunbury adopted a long-term aspirational goal to become the Most Accessible Regional City in Australia (MARCIA), and the findings and recommendations from this study are intended to inform strategic priorities for achieving that goal, including a potential change of corporate approach required to attain MARCIA status. The thesis critically evaluates the historical, cultural and systemic factors that have influenced accessibility and inclusion in the development of Bunbury’s public infrastructure, situating this discussion in the context of national and international disability research. It also draws on literature about deliberative democracy, knowledge partnering and co-design. A defining feature of this study is its methodology. Participatory Action Research seeks to position the researched as researchers and activists, engaged in a concurrent process of inquiring, sharing and influencing. To achieve this aim, eleven people with lived experience of disability were recruited as co-researchers, working alongside the PhD student who adopted the role of PAR facilitator to ‘animate’ and facilitate the process of inquiry. Together, they engaged Informants from the City of Bunbury (elected members, executives, managers and technical officers) in deliberative dialogue about the system of public design. Interviews and group discussions were recorded and transcribed, and analysed using the Framework Analysis method. Informed by an extensive literature review undertaken by the PhD student, the framework was developed collaboratively with the project’s co-researchers. Historically, universal design has been minimally and inconsistently applied by regional cities such as the City of Bunbury in the development of public infrastructure, including buildings, facilities, services…
abstract: This study used Participatory Action Research (PAR) to investigate the facilitators of disability access in local government, with a focus on the City of Bunbury in Western Australia. In 2014, the City of Bunbury adopted a long-term aspirational goal to become the Most Accessible Regional City in Australia (MARCIA), and the findings and recommendations from this study are intended to inform strategic priorities for achieving that goal, including a potential change of corporate approach required to attain MARCIA status. The thesis critically evaluates the historical, cultural and systemic factors that have influenced accessibility and inclusion in the development of Bunbury’s public infrastructure, situating this discussion in the context of national and international disability research. It also draws on literature about deliberative democracy, knowledge partnering and co-design. A defining feature of this study is its methodology. Participatory Action Research seeks to position the researched as researchers and activists, engaged in a concurrent process of inquiring, sharing and influencing. To achieve this aim, eleven people with lived experience of disability were recruited as co-researchers, working alongside the PhD student who adopted the role of PAR facilitator to ‘animate’ and facilitate the process of inquiry. Together, they engaged Informants from the City of Bunbury (elected members, executives, managers and technical officers) in deliberative dialogue about the system of public design. Interviews and group discussions were recorded and transcribed, and analysed using the Framework Analysis method. Informed by an extensive literature review undertaken by the PhD student, the framework was developed collaboratively with the project’s co-researchers. Historically, universal design has been minimally and inconsistently applied by regional cities such as the City of Bunbury in the development of public infrastructure, including buildings, facilities, services…
author: Johnson, Adam
keywords: disability access, inclusion, co-design, universal design, participatory action research, local government, Arts and Humanities
date published: 2019-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-27T19:23:07Z
provider: Edith Cowan University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia