Dr Vallance has a growing reputation as a human geographer with a particular interest in social sustainability and the socionatural dimensions of (urban) everyday life. Through her own work and supervision, she has participated in debates about the ontological status of the city, the meanings and practices associated with urban sustainability and resilience, and ways in which formal and informal planning approaches diverge (often with ‘perverse effects’). Through her work on gardens, sprawl, vacant spaces, seafood gathering, the commodification of community and civic expertise, she seeks a better understanding of people’s collective (human and non-human) attempts to shape the world in which they live, according to their needs, aspirations, and their awareness and framing of risk. The recent devastating earthquakes in Canterbury have added a distinct edge to her work in this area and she currently has Marsden Fast Start funding to compare and contrast the contingent planning strategies associated with various ‘emergent’ and ‘insurgent’ publics and community-led planning networks.
Vallance, S. (2012). Urban resilience: Bouncing back, coping, thriving. A paper presented at the Australian & New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference, Brisbane – 16 – 18, April 2012
Vallance, S. (2011). Early disaster recovery: A Citizens’ Guide. Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies, 2011-2.
Vallance, S., Perkins, H., Bowring, J. and Dixon, J. (2011, on line first). Almost invisible: glimpsing the city and its residents in the urban sustainability discourse. Urban Studies
Vallance, S. (2011). Community, resilience and recovery: Building or burning bridges? Lincoln Planning Review, 3,1, 4-7.
Edwards, S., Montgomery, R. and Vallance, S. (2011). Participation in action: the role of the public in regulating research into Genetically Modified Organisms. A paper presented at the World Planning Schools Congress, Perth, 4th -8th July
Vallance, S., Perkins, H. and Dixon, J. (2010). What is social sustainability? A clarification of concepts. Geoforum, 42, p. 342-348.
Vallance, S. and Perkins, H. (2010). Is another city possible? Towards an urbanised sustainability. City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action 14(4): 448–456
Chamberlain, P., Vallance, S., Perkins, H. and Dupuis, A. (2010). Community commodified: Planning for a sense of community in residential subdivisions. A paper presented at the Australasian Housing Researchers Conference, Auckland, 17-19th November, 2010
Vallance, S. (2010). Planning for sustainability or taking the ‘red pill’. A paper presented at the Australia and New Zealand Association of Planning Schools conference, Christchurch, April 17th- 19th, 2010
Ibabao, R., Vallance, S. and Memon, P. (2009). Informal strategies & spaces as forms of public participation: A case in the Philippines. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of Asian Planning Schools Association “Future of Asian Cities”, 24 -26 November, 2009, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India.
Vallance, S., Perkins, H. C. and Bowring, J. (2006). Urban sustainability and quality of life: complements and contradictions. A contribution to the World Forum on Cities and Quality of Life: Global Challenges, Local Solutions, Geneva 18-20 May.
Vallance, S., Perkins, H.C, Moore, K. (2005). The results of making a city more compact: neighbours’ interpretation of urban infill. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 32 (5), pp.715–733.