Revitalising the City and Population Growth in South Australia Professor Andrew Beer Director, Centre for Housing, Urban & Regional Planning, The University of Adelaide
Agenda Why population growth matters The Triumph of the City Lets be weird! Implications for Adelaide Conclusions
Population: The Killer Indicator Population growth Adds to aggregate demand Assists in the growth of service industries Economies of scale and scope (competencies) Federal fiscal impacts The demographic challenge Ageing of the workforce Its measurable And many other indicators arent!
Population Estimated Resident Population; South Australia 1800000 1700000 1600000 1500000 1400000 1300000 1200000 1100000 1000000 Estimated Resident Population; South Australia 900000 800000 Jun-81 Jun-82 Jun-83 Jun-84 Jun-85 Jun-86 Jun-87 Jun-88 Jun-89 Jun-90 Jun-91 Jun-92 Jun-93 Jun-94 Jun-95 Jun-96 Jun-97 Jun-98 Jun-99 Jun-00 Jun-01 Jun-02 Jun-03 Jun-04 Jun-05 Jun-06 Jun-07 Jun-08 Jun-09 Jun-10 Jun-11 Jun-12
Population Population Growth Rate by Year 2001-12 1.4 Growth Rate Average Growth Rate, 2001-06; 2006-12. Adelaide, SA and Rest of State 1.4 1.2 1.2 1 1 0.8 0.6 0.8 0.6 2001-06 2006-11 0.4 0.2 0 0.4 0.2 0 Greater Adelaide South Australia Rest of State
Age Sex Profile, 2011 Age 90+ 85-89 80-84 75-79 70-74 65-69 60-64 55-59 50-54 45-49 40-44 35-39 30-34 25-29 20-24 15-19 10-14 5-9 0-4 Female Male 45000 35000 25000 15000 5000 5000 15000 25000 35000 45000 Population
Industry Structure 2011 16.0 Percentage of employed people 14.0 12.0 10.0 8.0 6.0 4.0 2.0 0.0 Industry
Ed Glaeser 2011 The Triumph of the City Productivity growth and innovation concentrated in the cities. Human capital, far more than physical infrastructure, explains which cities succeed. Variation on the arguments of Robert Reich from the early 1990s symbolic analysts and the Richard Florida from the early 2000s the creative class The North Carolina Research Cluster Tampere, Finland
Austin, Texas
Let s Keep Austin Weird The "Keep Austin Weird" slogan now reaches far beyond a marketing campaign. Austin is the self-proclaimed "live music capital of the world" and the people of Austin reflect a friendly, accepting culture of artistic and individual expression that maintains the city as a vibrant and eclectic creative center and haven for an LGBT community, intellectual community, community of naturalists and environmentalists, and for subcultures and people(s) who are not mainstream. In a mostly conservative Texas, Austin is "Weird" because of that and because it continues to be liberal and progressive politically, socially, in culture, in the arts and in music, among other things. "Keep Austin Weird" moves beyond a mere slogan, to reflect the dynamics that encompass Austin. In January 2009 alone, over 1700 live music venues were supported. [9] In addition, multiple festivals such as SXSW, Austin City Limits, Armadillo Bazaar [10] and the Batfest, among many others are highly attended with enthusiastic and often large audiences.
But Austin is not just Weird! Silicon Hills growth since the 1960s as a technology centre IBM, Motorola, Texas Instruments, Samsung etc Place of birth for Dell Opportunity Austin Economic growth strategy introduced after the 2001 slowdown Five strategies Recruit industry Capitalise on existing strengths Stimulate new start ups Market Austin as a dynamic destination open for business Improve competitiveness by improving education so our outstanding workforce remains strong Overall goal of 72,000 jobs and $2.9bn increase in payroll over five years
Implications for Adelaide Population growth will have compound advantages for Adelaide A process of cumulative causation With implications for major projects and infrastructure as SA grows But population growth needs to be sustained by economic opportunities These most likely to be found in the services sectors With spin offs to other sectors, including retail and construction
Implications for Adelaide OECD 2009 argues key drivers of growth are: Infrastructure Being connected to the global economy is key Appropriate governance Human capital formation and development Getting the context right No one size fits all solution Develop strategies that match the locality
Implications for Adelaide Education services Worth $890m in export income in 2012 But $5bn for Sydney, $4.2bn for Melbourne Research excellence Laureates in Visual Technologies; Sensing But also SAHMRI, new Medical School, UniSA Cancer Centre The UoW Ipad program Launching start ups
Implications for Adelaide Population growth can stimulate Adelaide s economy But it needs to be growth, with jobs The education sector is key In creating a highly skilled workforce that attracts investment In stimulating demand locally In creating a globally significant industry Making Adelaide a more attractive and vibrant city will assist that process If Adelaide students want to remain in Adelaide it will assist that process If Australian students want to come to Adelaide it will assist that process and international students will follow
Conclusions We can make Adelaide weird Change our mindset Reshape our city core and change the relationship with the suburbs Refocus our economy on services and growth Population growth can help drive our economy But it cant be a jobless economy Making Adelaide more vibrant and attractive needs to be accompanied by other actions Planning reform Inward investment attraction Infrastructure provision Global engagement