Building the Capacity to Govern the Australian Metropolis: Challenges and Opportunities

The State of Australian Cities (SOAC) national conferences have been held biennially since 2003 to support interdisciplinary policy-related urban research. This paper was presented at SOAC 3 held in Adelaide from 28 to 30 November 2007. SOAC 3 was jointly hosted by the University of South Australia, the University of Adelaide and Flinders University. Themes and Key Persons SOAC 3 focused on the contemporary form and structure of Australian cities. The conference proceedings were grouped into six key sub-themes, each the focus of one of more conference sessions: City Economy - economic change and labour market outcomes of globalisation, land use pressures, changing employment locations. Social City – including population, migration, immigration, polarisation, equity and disadvantage, housing issues, recreation. City Environment - sustainable development, management and performance, natural resource management, limits to growth, impacts of air, water, climate, energy consumption, natural resource uses, conservation, green space. City Structures – the emerging morphology of the city – inner suburbs, middle suburbs, the CBD, outer suburbs and the urban-rural fringe, the city region. City Governance – including taxation, provision of urban services, public policy formation, planning, urban government, citizenship and the democratic process. City Infrastructure – transport, mobility, accessibility, communications and IT, and other urban infrastructure provision. Paper Review Process Conference papers published from SOAC 3 were produced through a process of integrated peer review. There were originally 147 abstracts proposed, 143 were invited to submit papers and 107 papers were finally published