Prince George wrote:Thriving, successful cities are bustling because of the successes of the various economies within it. Retail economies, manufacturing economies, tech economies, creative economies, cultural economies, financial economies, knowledge economies, these are the elements of the cities that we want to emulate. When they are healthy, they create wealth and attract people; wealth and people help attract amenities, which can drive further activity in those economies, and virtuous cycles can result.
The backwaters are places that have failed to understand this, they confuse cause with effect. They build the trappings of the successful city, rather than those economies that caused them. They see Google in the Valley, Microsoft & Boeing in Seattle, Motorola in Chicago, Ford in Detroit and ask "How could I get them to come here?"; what they should rather ask is "How could I get something like that to happen here?" Healthy economies create opportunities like that, the backwater throws money at trying to attract them.
As someone else pointed out, the government previously built the Convention Centre... that was one aspect of the ASER development in the 1980's that saw the end of interstate rail at Adelaide Station, but also included the establishment of the Adelaide Casino and Hyatt. All are undoubtedly successes. As mentioned the Convention Centre was so successful that it was expanded to win back business from other states that copied the concept. Similarly, casinos in the other states followed Adelaide's concept of targeting high rollers and ended up stealing a lot of business, hence the lowering of standards to broaden the customer base.
Before ASER, the Playford government drove the development of SA from an agrarian economy into what it is today by driving industrial development. Water pipelines and roads were built, power companies nationalised into ETSA to drive electrification of the state and provide cheap energy for business. The Cooper Basin was hooked up to Adelaide for cheap gas. The Housing Trust built tens of thousands of affordable homes to house migrants that would provide cheap labour to attract industry, which flocked. Adelaide was the 3rd biggest city in the country and everyone else was playing catchup through imitation.
Obviously things today haven't turned out how they were envisioned, what with the loss of manufacturing due to globalisation and social malaise in Housing Trust areas, but it worked for a great deal of time and for better or worse, built the city you live in today. The point is that government can, has and does play an important role in catalysing growth.
The concept isn't just a sports stadium. There have been suggestions previously of a modern art gallery, investigator science centre, relocated entertainment centre, etc. By incorporating a variety of facilities that the city lacks today and centralising existing venues you have a much higher chance of there always being something on in the area that will attract people, other than those that will come for the regular footy games and concerts. Additionally you should also consider what things will be like in the future with a higher population... what if Adelaide finally wakes up to high-rise city living and the CBD and inner-city population doubles or triples over ten or twenty years? The government wants to pack another half a million into greater Adelaide, with 70% as in-fill development if I remember correctly.
<rant>Seriously, most people in Adelaide have NFI just how far behind it has fallen as a city. I'm moving back in a couple of weeks for a few months before I'm off overseas and I've got to say I'm not really looking forward to it. People from interstate seriously aren't joking when they say it's like going back in time 20 years. I was down there a few weeks ago visiting family and the depression starts as soon as you step out of the airport terminal into the retarded carpark. Work on the Anzac Hwy underpass had started when I left just under 4 years ago and it STILL wasn't finished! Just what the f... is going on there? You'd all shit your pants at the amount of transport stuff that's been built around Brisbane in that time, and that's not even touching on all the other stuff. It's a serious pity that Adelaide is going backwards, because it has so much potential and a development like what the Liberals are proposing is desperately needed to inject some life and vitality into the city's heart.</rant>
