Chris Brennan-Horley

Position:    DECRA Research Fellow

Email:         chrisbh@uow.edu.au

Research Interests

GIS for cultural research – integrating GIS techniques with qualitative methods

Applying historical GIS to understanding rural cultures

Patterns of work in the cultural and creative industries

PhD (2010):  ‘Creative city mapping: experimental applications of GIS for cultural planning and auditing’, combined mental maps and GIS to bridge between qualitative interview data and quantitative measures of the creative city. Outputs generated from this research challenged existing theories of where creativity resides in the city.

Current Research

ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award: “Experiments in space: Geospatial information technologies for cultural environmental research” 2013-2016

By harnessing the power of emerging digital mapping technologies, this research will extend how we understand the relationship between humans and their environment. Specifically it will use maps to generate new knowledge across two important yet everyday problems: bushfire management and urban quality of life.

Research Assistance

ARC Discovery grant: “Cultural Sustainability in Australian Country Towns: amenity, mobility, and everyday life” 2010-2012

My role was to manage GIS workflows produced across three case study towns of Bega, Nambucca Heads and Swan Hill. Additionally, my research input focussed on building an historical GIS for understanding how bitumen roads have shaped the cultural life of the Bega Valley, NSW.

ARC Linkage grant: “Creative Tropical City: mapping Darwin’s creative industries” 2007-2009

My role included baseline and historical mapping analyses of Darwin’s creative industries, based on census data. Further work involved design and implementation of a methodology for integrating qualitative map data. 

A 3D visualisation of qualitative data can be viewed here:
http://www.creativetropicalcity.blogspot.com/ 

ARC Discovery grant: “Reinventing rural places? The extent and impact of festivals as regeneration strategies” 2004-2008

My tasks included managing the development of a festivals database; survey design and mailout; fieldwork and data analysis. Further information about the project can be accessed here:
http://www.uow.edu.au/science/eesc/eesstaff/UOW050077.html

Representative Publications

Gibson, C., Brennan-Horley, C., Warren, A., Laurenson, B. and Brown, H. (2012) ‘Cool places, creative places? Community perceptions of cultural vitality in the suburbs’ International Journal of Cultural Studies, doi: 10.1177/1367877911433750

Gibson, C, Brennan-Horley, C and Warren, A (2010) ‘Geographic information technologies for cultural research: cultural mapping and the prospects of colliding epistemologies’, Cultural Trends, 19, 4, 325–348

Brennan-Horley, C. (2010) ‘Multiple worksites, citywide networks: A topological approach to understanding creative work’, Australian Geographer 41: 1, 39 – 56

Brennan-Horley, C. (2010)‘Mental mapping the creative city’, The Journal of Maps. v2010, 250-259.  Special issue on cognitive mapping (lead article)

Brennan-Horley, C. Luckman, S., Gibson, C and Willoughby-Smith J (2010) ‘GIS, ethnography and cultural research: Putting maps back into ethnographic mapping’, The Information Society, 26, 2, 92-103 (lead article)

Brennan-Horley, C and Gibson, C (2009) ‘Where is creativity in the city? Integrating qualitative and GIS methods’, Environment and Planning A, 41, 11, 2595-2614

Brennan-Horley, C., Connell, J. & Gibson, C. (2007) ‘The Parkes Elvis Revival Festival: economic development and contested place identities in rural Australia’, Geographical Research, 45, 1, 71-84

Gibson, C. & Brennan-Horley, C. (2006) ‘Goodbye pram city: Beyond inner/outer binaries in creative city discourse’, Urban Policy and Research, 24, 4, 455-471

Conference Papers

Brennan-Horley, C ‘The agency of bitumen: Road technologies as cultural infrastructure’ paper presented at Association of American Geographers conference, Los Angeles USA, 11 April 2013

Brennan-Horley, C ‘This road unsealed for the next 10 years: Bitumen, mobility and cultural infrastructure in the Bega Valley’ paper presented at Institute of Australian Geographers conference, Macquarie University, Sydney July 2, 2012

Brennan-Horley, C and Gibson, C. ‘Qualitative GIS in the cultural realm: Navigating vernacular understandings of place’ paper presented at Association of American Geographers conference, New York USA, February 26 2012

Brennan-Horley, C., Gibson, C. and Warren A. ‘Links and folds: Topology, creativity and cultural mapping’ paper presented at Association of American Geographers conference, Seattle USA, 5 April 2011

Brennan-Horley, C., Gibson, C., Warren, A. and Laurenson, B. ‘Cool places, creative places? Community perceptions of cultural vitality in the suburbs’ paper presented at Institute of Australian Geographers Conference, University of Wollongong,  July 4 2011

Brennan-Horley, C. ‘Mapping and tracking creativity’ Creative suburbia symposium, Centre of Excellence in Creative Industries Research, QUT, Brisbane, 28 September 2010

Gibson, C. and Brennan-Horley, C. ‘Cool places, creative places? Community perceptions of cultural vitality in the suburbs’ Creative suburbia symposium, Centre of Excellence in Creative Industries Research, QUT, Brisbane, 27 September 2010

Brennan-Horley, C. ‘Revealing creativity in (sub)urban locales’ paper presented at Institute of Australian Geographers conference, Christchurch, New Zealand, 7 July 2010

Gorman-Murray, A and Brennan-Horley, C ‘Gay ghettos and lesbian lands? Gender differences in the geography of same-sex couple family households in Australia’ paper presented at Institute of Australian Geographers conference, Christchurch, New Zealand, 6 July 2010

Brennan-Horley, C and Luckman, S. ‘Tools for charting cultural networks: GIS, ethnography and cultural research – a case study’, paper presented at Changing cultures: Cultures of change, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, 11 December 2009

Brennan-Horley, C ‘Finding creativity in a small city: how qualitative mapping methods can reveal new geographies of creativity’, paper presented at the Association of American Geographers conference, Las Vegas, 3 May 2009

Brennan-Horley, C. and Gibson, C. ‘Using maps creatively to more critically understand the creative city’, paper presented at Royal Geographic Society and Institute of British Geographers Annual conference, London, 27-29 August 2008

Brennan-Horley, C. and Luckman, S. ‘Putting maps back into ethnographic mappings: GIS, ethnography and cultural research – A case study, paper presented at Creating Value: Between commerce and commons, QUT, Brisbane, 25-27 June 2008

Brennan-Horley, C. and Connell, J. The Parkes Elvis Revival Festival: economic development and contested place identities in rural Australia. Paper presented at Rural Festivals Symposium: ‘Festival Places: Revitalising Rural Australia’, Sydney University, December 2007

Luckman, S. Gibson, C., Lea, T. and Brennan-Horley, C. ‘Darwin as ‘Creative Tropical City’: Just how transferable is creative city thinking?’ Paper presented at State of Australian Cities conference, UniSA, Adelaide, 30 November, 2007

Brennan-Horley, C., ‘Work and play: the vagaries surrounding contemporary cultural production in Sydney’s dance music culture’, Paper presented at the Institute of Australian Geographers Conference, University of Melbourne, July 4, 2007

Gibson, C, Brennan-Horley, C, Gorman-Murray, A and Waitt, G ‘Exploring the qualitative economy of a rural festival: beyond quantitative impact evaluations’, paper presented at the Association of American Geographers conference, April 4, 2007

Brennan-Horley, C., Tindall, T., Gibson, C. and Waitt, G. ‘Youth Surf Carnivals in non-metropolitan locations: a case study of the Rusty Gromfest’, paper presented at the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers conference, Global social justice and environmental sustainability, August 30, 2006

Gibson, C, Brennan-Horley, C, Gorman-Murray, A and Waitt, G ‘Exploring the qualitative economy of a rural festival: beyond quantitative impact evaluations’, paper presented at the International Geographical Union/Institute of Australian Geographers conference, Regional Responses to Global Changes: A view from the Antipodes, July 4, 2006

Gibson, C. & Brennan-Horley, C. Goodbye pram city: Beyond inner/outer binaries in creative city discourse. Paper presented at the Post-Suburban Sydney: The City in Transformation conference, University of Western Sydney, 22 November 2005

Brennan-Horley, C., Work and Play: Post-industry cultural production in Sydney’s dance music culture. Unpublished BSc thesis, University of New South Wales, Sydney. Paper presented at the Geographical Society of New South Wales Honours Conference, Macquarie University, 18 November 2005

Brennan-Horley, C., Connell, J. & Gibson, C. ‘The Parkes Elvis Revival Festival: economic development and contested place identities in rural Australia. Paper presented at the Institute of Australian Geographers Conference, University of New England, 21 July 2005