Australia’s first edited book about urban planning and the sex industry has received national recognition from the Planning Institute of Australia.

Sub(Urban) Sexscapes: Geographies and Regulation of the Sex Industry, co-edited by The University of Western Australia’s Dr Paul Maginn and Dr Christine Steinmetz from the University of NSW, was awarded the Planning Institute of Australia’s national Cutting Edge Research & Teaching Award for 2016.

According to the judges’ citation, the book, which includes contributions from other Australian and international scholars, “brings together a range of perspectives on the sex industry – a chronically under-researched area of planning practice”.

“(It) provides some much-needed guidance and rationality for planners when confronting these (land uses), drawing on cases from across Australia, New Zealand, Europe and America,” the citation said.

Sub(Urban) Sexscapes highlights a diverse range of aspects of the sex industry. Dr Maginn and Dr Steinmetz’s cutting-edge work focuses on sex industry land use planning in metropolitan Australia and reveals that Sydney/NSW is a world leader in the decriminalisation of sex work.

They also reveal the evolutionary changes in adult retailing (sex shops) and how aspects and aesthetics of the sex industry are being incorporated into wider popular culture as well as the fashion industry.

Dr Maginn and Dr Steinmetz received the award at last week’s Planning Institute of Australia’s National Congress held in Brisbane.

Media references

Dr Paul Maginn (UWA School of Earth and Environment)  (+61 8) 6488 2711 / (+61 4) 21 545 190

David Stacey (UWA Media and Public Relations Manager) (+61 8) 6488 3229 / (+61 4) 32 637 716