City Futures

The principle vehicle for the promulgation of these objectives is the biennial State of Australian Cities (SOAC) Conferences. Since 2003, the ARCN has sponsored the organization of following SOAC Conferences:

• SOAC 5: 29 November to 2 December 2011, Melbourne
  Conference Papers
• SOAC 4: 24 to 27 November 2009, Perth
  Conference Papers
• SOAC 3: 28 to 30 November 2007, Adelaide
  Conference Papers
• SOAC 2: 30 November to 2 December 2005, Brisbane
  Conference Papers
• SOAC 1: 2003, Parramatta, Sydney

Objectives

Australian society and economy is dominated by its cities and urban regions. However, there is no national forum for the regular discussion of scholarship directed at city and regional issues. These issues are complex and multidimensional: employment distribution, impact of globalisation, equity, sustainability, urban governance, infrastructure investment, social conditions, diversity, urban design and the form and structure of the city. As concern over urban sustainability rises, the need to seek ways of bridging the divides created by a focus on disciplinary based approaches to research and training increases.

The Network accepts that cities and their regions are complex adaptive systems in which the most interesting research issues and policy initiatives cut across disciplinary boundaries. The Network is founded on the assumption that we need to develop ways of constructing forms of inquiry and dialogue that acknowledges the validity of those boundaries yet reaches across them to better understand what is happening in our cities and regions and how we might best address the issues that arise.

The Network represents a field of inquiry which has an internationally recognised tradition, has a specific set of policy corollaries and embraces a range of methods, techniques and disciplinary approaches.

While the focus of the Network will depend on the interests and energies of the scholars involved, it will aim to involve scholars active in the six thematic areas around which the biennial Conference is organized:

• The urban economy - economic change and labour market outcomes of globalisation, land use pressures, changing employment locations.
• Social conditions – including population, migration, immigration, polarisation, equity and disadvantage, housing issues , recreation.
• The urban 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.
• Changing spatial structure – the emerging morphology of the city – inner suburbs, middle suburbs, the CBD, outer suburbs and the urban-rural fringe, the city region.
• Governance, finance and accountability – including taxation, provision of urban services, public policy formation, planning, urban government, citizenship and the democratic process.
• The connected city – transport, mobility, accessibility, communications and IT, and other urban infrastructure provision.

 In addition to its basic goal of supporting research, the Network also seeks to promote contacts and communications between researchers and practitioners within the urban policy arena. The Network will therefore provide a mechanism to encourage and foster collaboration between scholars, industry and government. It is therefore deliberately applied in its focus, seeking to engage and inform policy makers and practitioners involved in urban decision making.

Aims

The network has eight key aims:

• To convene the biennial State of Australian Cities Conference
• To sponsor and sustain multi- and trans-disciplinary research into urban issues in Australian cities and regions;
• To support the research base in Australian universities that seeks to explore the reasons for the form and structure of Australian cities and regions,
• To develop a better evidence base for city and regional policy making, to provide opportunities to explore the policy implications of research and to identify research opportunities it better inform urban and regional policy makers;
• To encourage post graduate research and training on urban and regional issues by providing a forum for young scholars to meet, exchange ideas, research methods and information;
• To develop a communication path between academics, industry and government;
• To identify new opportunities for the development of cities and regions consistent with the pursuit of sustainability;
• To disseminate the results of research into urban and regional issues to the wider public.

While the current focus of the Network will be the biennial conference, if there is sufficient demand, it could consider sponsoring additional events around specific aspects urban scholarship in Australia.

Organisation and administration

In the first instance, the Network will be coordinated by the ACRN Coordinating Committee, other than the Convenor. A general meeting at each conference will provide the decision making forum for the Network.

The Coordinating Committee's principle role is to invite and adjudicate bids for the biennial SOAC Conferences, subject to the protocols set out in the Host Selection Principles and Process, and to support the Conference Coordinating Committee.

There is currently no specific membership of the Network. Essentially, SOAC Conference delegates will constitute the Network membership and the Network will be convened through a general meeting at the biennial Conference. There is no reason, however, why a more formal membership-based organization should not emerge if the Conference decide this.

The SOAC Coordinating Committee is currently comprised of:

• Prof Bill Randolph (Convenor) (UNSW)
• Prof Steven Dovers (ANU)
• Prof Ruth Fincher (Melbourne)
• Prof Brendan Gleeson (Griffith)
• Prof Stephen Hamnett (South Australia)

These members reflect the initial members of the first of SOAC Conference Committee together with the Chairs of subsequent SOAC Conferences. In the immediate future, it is expected that the SOAC Conference Conveners will be expanded by the Chairs of each succeeding SOAC Conference Committees.

The Convenor of the ACRN Coordinating Committee will provide administrative support for the Committee and will be responsible for organizing periodic meetings of the Network Committee, including one at the biennial Conference.