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Professor
Head of School
Etienne Nel image
Chief Course Adviser and Senior Arts Adviser

BA(Hons)(Rhodes)
MA(Witw)
PhD(Rhodes)

Richardson Building, room 4C8
Office Hours: See Reception (Rm 4C9) to make an appointment.
Tel +64 3 479 8548
Email etienne.nel@otago.ac.nz

Inaugural Professorial Lecture

Etienne's Inaugural Professorial Lecture "Dealing With Difference: Responses to uneven geographical development" is available as an audio and video file.

IPL Video Podcast (mp4)

PL Audio Podcast (mp3)

Teaching

  • GEOG 214 Economic Geography of the Post-World War II Era
  • GEOG 374 Economic Geography of the Post-World War II Era
  • GEOG 457 Advanced Urban Geography

Etienne also contributes to:

Research interests

Etienne's research interests are as follows:

  • Local Economic Development
  • Urban Entrepreneurialism/Urban Economic Developments
  • Community Economic Development
  • Small Towns
  • Economic Policy
  • Marginality
  • Regional Development
  • Local Government

Current research

Etienne is currently undertaking research in the economic and urban history and development in South Africa, local development and urban agriculture in Zambia and regional, local and small town development in New Zealand. He is currently leading a National Sciences Challenge investigation of rural and small town New Zealand.

View previous research projects

Postgraduate student supervision

Students (current)

  • Fleener, R. Governance in South Africa
  • Uko, E. Urban Farming in Nigeria
  • Floyd, A. Place based development – New Zealand
  • Forsyth, C. Perceptions of crime - New Zealand
  • Basubas, D. Working for water - South Africa
  • Wither, D. Resilience in New Zealand
  • Soal, E. Water Management - New Zealand
  • Quashie-Harry, R. Childhood poverty - Caribbean

PhD - students (completed)

  • Bateman, J. Rural Development - Sierra Leone
  • Latai, A. Climate Change - Samoa
  • Ross, J. Rural Nursing - New Zealand
  • Smart, J. Urban Agriculture - Zambia
  • Gibb, M. Local Economic Development in South Africa
  • Ironside, J. Land reform - Cambodia
  • Motteux, N. Participatory Rural Appraisal
  • Thornton, A. Urban Agriculture
  • Vista, B. Land reform - Philippines
  • Tamimi, M. Environmental Education - Palestine
  • Farminer, A. River appreciation - New Zealand

MA/MBA/MPlan/MSoc – Students current and completed

  • Bergen, S. Evolutionary Economic Geography – New Zealand
  • Stirling, S. Christchurch Rebuild
  • Brown, L. Counter-Urbanisation in Canterbury
  • Anderson, C. Development of Dunedin
  • Watson, R. Tourism Development in Niue
  • Alebiosu, O. Integrated Development Planning
  • Buthelezi, S. Response to Economic Change
  • Douma, A. Land reform - Tanzania
  • Gibb, M. Training for Development
  • Goodenough, C. Corporate Social Responsibility/Local Economic Development
  • Goodwin, R. Conservation farming in Zimbabwe
  • Hale, M. Tourism
  • Husband, M. Shrinking Towns - New Zealand
  • Keyse, M. Industrial Development - New Zealand
  • Lefusto, D. Urban Transport
  • Liddle, E. Groundwater - Zambia
  • Maka, E. Regeneration - New Zealand
  • Meyer, S. Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Mkize, N. Urban Agriculture and Entomology
  • Pio, E. Small Town Development
  • Taine, K. Tourism - Samoa
  • Trotter, D. Nature-based Tourism.
  • Anderson, C. Economic Development - New Zealand
  • Baird, S. Local Development - Tauranga
  • Fitchett, R. Urban Agriculture - Lusaka
  • Gilroy, J. Small Town Development
  • McNaughton, C. Small Town Development
  • Price, S. Regional Development - New Zealand
  • Stevenson, T. Strategic Planning - New Zealand
  • White, R. Small Town Development
  • Williams, R. Cycling Policy - New Zealand
  • Topp, F. Sustainability on Campuses

Publications

Binns, T., Nel, E., Dixon, A., & Lynch, K. (2023). Africa: Diversity and development. London, UK: Routledge, 496p. doi: 10.4324/9780429028403

Alam, A., Nel, E., Hill, D., & Bulloch, H. (2023). Settling in New Zealand’s small towns: Experiences of minority ethnic immigrants. Journal of International Migration & Integration. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1007/s12134-023-01044-6

Wither, D., Orchiston, C., & Nel, E. (2023). Using the Living Standards Framework to analyse the drivers of social resilience in a disaster management context. Policy Quarterly, 19(1), 58-66. doi: 10.26686/pq.v19i1.8106

Alam, A., & Nel, E. (2023). Migration, emerging multiculturalism and planning in rural and small town Aotearoa New Zealand [Viewpoint]. Australian Planner. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/07293682.2023.2169724

Nel, E., Marais, L., & Mqotyana, Z. (2023). The regional implications of just transition in the world's most coal-dependent economy: The case of Mpumalanga, South Africa. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 4, 1059312. doi: 10.3389/frsc.2022.1059312

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