My broad research interest relates to how people make decisions about their environments. While sceptical of claims that humanity can “manage the environment” in the sense that the environment is comprised of objects or resources that humans can or should seek to control I am interested in the ways in which concepts Environmental Management force us to consider continuously the boundary that appears to exist between Nature and Society. Consequently, I must be interested in such categories as Planning Theory, New Urbanism, Environmental Policy, Conservation, Wildlife Management, and Participatory Democracy. I also have a strong sense of that past actions and events will always play a role in shaping present and future problems and in that sense my overall approach always invokes an Environmental History dimension. How particular resources have been appropriated by one group of people at the expense of another is of particular concern and interest to me especially if there seems to be some sort of environmental justice case still to answer. Beyond this, and whether it is in an academic or day-to-day context, any work which acts to dissolve boundary between Nature and Society commands my attention.
Montgomery, R. (2010) Dreamfields developments: towns that never were in early Canterbury. In Green Fields, Brown Fields, New Fields: Proceedings of the 10th Australasian Urban History, Planning History Conference, University of Melbourne, 7–10 February, 2010. eds. Nichols, D.; Hurlimann, A.; Mouat, C.; and Stephen Pascoe, S. Melbourne: University of Melbourne/Melbourne School of Design, pp. 391-402.
Greenep, H.; Montgomery, R.; Sullivan, J.; Meurk, C. (2010) Rethinking Stony Ground: urban ecology, native plants and ‘greyfields.’ In Green Fields, Brown Fields, New Fields: Proceedings of the 10th Australasian Urban History, Planning History Conference, University of Melbourne, 7–10 February, 2010. eds. Nichols, D.; Hurlimann, A.; Mouat, C.; and Stephen Pascoe, S. Melbourne: University of Melbourne/Melbourne School of Design, pp. 159-172.
Montgomery, R. (2009) The ideal of the group in the high era of collective creation; theoretical sources. In Lives and Deaths of Collective Creation Theatre eds. Baldwin, J.; Page, C.; and Larrue, J. Vox Theatri/International Association of University Theatre: Boston, pp. 97-121.
Montgomery, R. (2009) The ideal of the group in the high era of collective creation: three American radical theatre groups considered. In Lives and Deaths of Collective Creation Theatre eds. Baldwin, J.; Page, C.; and Larrue, J. Vox Theatri/International Association of University Theatre: Boston, pp. 122-148.
Montgomery, R. (2008) Diffident cities: town design as a collaborative process in the planned company settlements of South Australia and New Zealand in the mid-nineteenth century. Planning Perspectives Vol. 23, 1 (April), 241-248.
Montgomery, R. (2006) The Adelaide Parklands: framing a settlement in Garnaut, C. (ed) Proceedings of the Adelaide Parklands Symposium, a balancing act: past - present – future, hosted by The Centre for Settlement Studies in the Louis Laybourne Smith School of Architecture and Design at the University of South Australia; the Hawke Centre at the University of South Australia; and the Adelaide Parklands Preservation Association, 10-12 November, 2006.
Montgomery, R. (2006) Circling the Square: the role of 19th century maps in a contemporary planning debate. In Miller, C. and M. Roche (eds) Past Matters; Proceedings of the 8th Australasian Urban History/Planning History Conference, Massey University, Wellington, 9-11 February 2006. pp. 359-372.