Every year, for four or five glorious weeks, Adelaide awakens. Energy, creativity and positivity abound. And then, with the energy and vitality of Mad March over, Adelaide returns to its slumber for another twelve months. The tumbleweeds move back in and just like that the vibrancy and vitality of our city are gone.
So, how do we maintain vibrancy in the CBD for the other 11 months of the year? The decision to open the Adelaide CBD to trading on public holidays is a step in the right direction, but does it go far enough?
Unfortunately, outside of Mad March, Adelaide feels stagnant. Agreed, there are many positive things about our city, including the lack of traffic gridlock, the relaxed lifestyle, and easy access to the Adelaide Hills, vineyards and beaches. But we must question, is all that good enough? Is that enough to be nationally relevant? Where once Adelaide was equal, if not superior, to the bigger cities of Melbourne or Brisbane, the capital is now more comparable with smaller cities such as Townsville or Cairns. In other words, we appear more like a regional city than a state capital. The big country town mentality prevails.
Procrastination in decision-making and a general lack of leadership, political or otherwise, is the enemy. Addressing the issues requires collaborative action at all levels of politics. The Adelaide City Council has been unable to embrace urban development. Further, successive State Governments have been reluctant to reform local government. This has seen Adelaide languish while other Australian cities have thrived.
The reality is that despite their best efforts, most local councils are too small, either by virtue of ratepayer base or geography, to be really effective. This feeds the public perception that there are too many layers of government and bureaucracy. This multi-tier bureaucracy produces what appears at State level to be an inability to get development and critical infrastructure undertaken in a timely manner. When I visit Brisbane, for instance, I’m staggered at the amount of development and infrastructure works that are achieved there in relatively short timeframes. Is that a consequence of the super-Council model that Brisbane run with?
In theory there is nothing to stop Adelaide adopting the Brisbane model, and becoming a super-council with responsibilities for an expanded area – if only the State Government had the balls. Inter-agency communications would be improved, administration costs would be reduced. Surely this would generate more funds to benefit the city and the state as a whole. In addition to the financial benefits, an amalgamation of metropolitan councils would derive significant urban planning benefits. Brisbane amalgamated in 1925 – it now administers a budget of more than $3 billion. In Victoria, radical reform was Jeff Kennett’s modus operandi. In 1994, the former Victorian premier dissolved 210 councils, sacked 1600 elected members and created 78 new councils through amalgamation. Currently, New South Wales and Western Australia are both considering similar models. Unfortunately, amalgamation reform is not on the agenda of the current South Australian Government. And so the inertia continues.
Further hindering growth and vitality in our city is the role of minority groups. The Parklands Preservation Association folk have done their best to disrupt progress, including the upgrade of the former Victoria Park racecourse. Permanent grandstands could not be built for events such as night horse racing, or to provide permanent infrastructure for the Clipsal 500. Instead, the parklands resemble a building site for six months of the year while temporary facilities are erected and dismantled. The opportunity for development has passed - the SAJC have moved on. A further example is the long-standing battle over the Britannia roundabout. After spending millions of taxpayer dollars on concept plans, the argument for an upgrade of this notorious intersection continues to go around in circles because any upgrade requires cutting down parkland trees. A win for the minorities and a loss for the state. Yet again, we breed tumbleweeds. Why can’t environmentally sensitive development and the parklands co-exist?
Any living thing which doesn’t move and grow, atrophies and dies – and cities are living things. What Adelaide needs most is a substantial change of attitude. Many of us, including me, love Adelaide. We love the state. We love the city. Adelaide is a beautiful Australian city in which to live. Part of what holds us back is the attitude of resentment towards change amongst others. New innovative, vibrant ideas are met with howls of derision from various elements of the community - in particular the older generations. Ironically these are the same people who lived through Don Dunstan’s political reign and the reforms and progress that flowed from his vision. It needs to be recognised that we cannot continue to live in the past. In today’s competitive, economic climate is it enough to want to be known only as the Festival State, or worse, the City of Churches?
The State Government has failed in its capacity to encourage new businesses to establish themselves in our city. The attraction and retention of big business would provide our city with substantial corporate activity and add to our capacity to attract further business to our state. More critically it would provide employment alternatives for South Australian graduates who continue to leave the state. 25,000 people leave the state each year, with those aged 20-39 making up half of this figure. Adelaide's most critical challenge is curbing the migration of our youth and retaining young, talented, passionate people in our state.
I’m not saying we should need or want to be another Sydney or another Melbourne. In fact, we need to stop the constant comparisons with our eastern state counterparts – it achieves nothing but inhibits progress and keeps us down. We need to develop our own Australian identity – not an identity based on notions of churches and serial killers. A truly unique identity - not a tagline, not a logo. I’m talking about an evolution not a revolution. We need to be recognised globally as a city with a great future; a vibrant city, an exciting city, a prosperous city. I believe it’s a question of identity. We have forgotten who we are. Who are we, Adelaide? What is our brand identity? What is our vision?
While contemplating these questions you may want to head to North Adelaide. Whilst there you’ll find Montefiore Hill and on it the statue of the original surveyor of our city, Colonel William Light. The statue is aptly named “Light’s Vision”. Could he have imagined the Adelaide of today? Would he have wanted this once great city to stagnate?
The point is, we lack the vision that put us on the world map in the first place. Unless we find it soon we will have lost the opportunity to be all that we can be.
So tell me Adelaide, do you think we’re a city that lost it’s way? Have we listened to the doomsdayers and the naysayers too much? What do you think should be done to make us great? How would you revitalise our city?
No comments:
Post a Comment