Adelaide - City of Talk?

[shaun]

Professor Ken Maher says bickering hinders Adelaide
Article from: The Advertiser

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MATT WILLIAMS, CITY EDITOR

March 26, 2009 08:55am

MINDLESS bickering is hindering Adelaide's chance of becoming a great world city, Australia's top architect has warned.

Professor Ken Maher, credited with "shaping Sydney's physical and cultural landscape", says Adelaide's mindset consists of "a lot of debate and discussion, but not a lot of outcomes". He believes there is only a "five-to-10-year" window for Adelaide to be compared with contemporary 21st century cities.

Professor Maher said Adelaide was "potentially a really good city", but was lacking the "buzz" factor.

He cited constant debate over major projects as preventing any "positive action" from our state's leaders to improve Adelaide.

The city was hamstrung by debate over the Royal Adelaide Hospital, an inner-city stadium and Victoria Park grandstand.

The State Government's public battle with the city council when it took away its planning powers last year highlighted a lack of confidence in Adelaide's direction.

AdelaideNow readers appear to overwhelmingly support Professor Maher's point of view, according to the comments posted below and the poll at the right of this page. Shortly before 9am, almost 750 people had voted and a whopping 95 per cent of those agree that Adelaide is a city of talkers, not doers.

Have your say below and vote in our poll on this page

Professor Maher met Adelaide Thinker-in-Residence Laura Lee this week. "There are a lot of major projects on the table including the new hospital and the urban village at Bowden which will essentially make or break Adelaide," he said. The "next five to 10 years" was the timeframe Adelaide would be judged, said Professor Maher, who last week won his field's top honour, the Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal.

"If you have debate and no action then nothing is achieved," he said.

Professor Maher, chairman of architecture firm Hassell and an adviser to landmarks such as Luna Park in Sydney, urged the state to "be adventurous".

"Cities like Chicago, New York and London are radically changing the way they operate and are finding ways of getting cars out of the city," he said, pointing to the impacts of climate change. Business SA chief executive Peter Vaughan said "there are some people in Adelaide who would like to keep it in 1956."

"Unfortunately, these people seem to have a disproportionate say on major issues," he said.

Agree with all this article, Love Adelaide but the city needs a major shake up.

Negativity and vocal minority anti-progress groups such as the Parklands Society are killing Adelaide.

[Shuz]

Anyone happen to catch my comment? Post 16. Post 16!

[ricecrackers]

comparing Adelaide with Chicago, New York, London etc is just ridiculous. with around one twentieth of the greater metro conurbation population of those places, we simply dont have the economic clout to just build anything we want. we are a large country town, not a city of any note. comparisons should be made with similar sized towns.

the stadium debate only exists because of the Advertiser which understands its sports-mad readership and panders to them at every opportunity. as far as the State Govt is concerned, there is no debate, as we simply cant afford it and there is no business case for it. the hospital will get built, one way or another, its just a question of where.

[Strangled Cat]

I think you missed the point about London, New York and Chicago ricecrackers. His point wasn't about comparing the size, or even the rate at which things get developed, but rather the forward thinking approach required in all facets of maintaining a city. A city with 20 times the population of Adelaide faces a lot more problems than we can imagine, but building height and development isn't one of them. If a cities of those sizes and magnitudes can stay focused on core issue that need resolving, and do it by thinking outside the square and being proactive, whilst playing a fine balance between keeping their culture but not falling into the trap of stagnation, sure Adelaide with only a 20th of their problems should be able to acheive to the same level as those larger cities relatively.

With the population and development projections for the Gold Coast, pending on the financial crisis and also what happens to Adelaide, I'm going to predict that anyone from generation X and younger is going to see the GC press Adelaide hard at being the 5th most populous city before their lifetime is up. If this city wants to stick it's head in the sand it's going to get wind blown up it's arse, and it won't be good wind because this cities reputation has already copped a hammering over the past 10 years, imagine if a plain brown skyline stays intact and unchanged for another two decades? We need more and more outsiders coming in and sharing their thought proviking opinions. This state clearly won't listen to it's citizens, so maybe we need the likes of Jeff Kennett and this guy to stir up a bit of (good) emotion.

[Prince George]

It may be true that Adelaide suffers from "analysis paralysis", but being lectured about being adventurous by Hassell is almost laughable. Fine purveyors of glassy rectangles in the Corporate Nouveau school, they're like S.O.M. without the clout, Graves or Stern without Disney, Venturi and Brown without the intellectual credentials. This feels like another vested interest stirring the pot to keep business coming.

And there are plenty of dynamic interesting cities that don't have architecture in the Hassell style.

[shaun]

comparing Adelaide with Chicago, New York, London etc is just ridiculous. with around one twentieth of the greater metro conurbation population of those places, we simply dont have the economic clout to just build anything we want. we are a large country town, not a city of any note. comparisons should be made with similar sized towns.

the stadium debate only exists because of the Advertiser which understands its sports-mad readership and panders to them at every opportunity. as far as the State Govt is concerned, there is no debate, as we simply cant afford it and there is no business case for it. the hospital will get built, one way or another, its just a question of where.

This is the attitude which is hurting our city. Adelaide is not a large country town, its a city by world standards. The day we start to act like one the better.

Adelaide has all the potential, but it lacks balls and vision.

BTW regardless of the massive boom the Gold Coast is undergoing, I highly doubt it will overtake Adelaide. Even if it did, it would just be a suburb of Brisbane.

[raulduke]

what is the issue that people have with glass towers?

its about time somebody said it, but again, i doubt much will come of it, we will continue to be stuck in second gear in Adelaide.

And how much it annoys me when people prattle on about the fringe, its every defence to critisism about Adelaide "oh but we have the fringe" etc etc, it goes for a month, in march, when a whole lot of other stuff happens and then nothing happens for the rest of the year.

[ricecrackers]

I think you missed the point about London, New York and Chicago ricecrackers. His point wasn't about comparing the size, or even the rate at which things get developed, but rather the forward thinking approach required in all facets of maintaining a city. A city with 20 times the population of Adelaide faces a lot more problems than we can imagine, but building height and development isn't one of them. If a cities of those sizes and magnitudes can stay focused on core issue that need resolving, and do it by thinking outside the square and being proactive, whilst playing a fine balance between keeping their culture but not falling into the trap of stagnation, sure Adelaide with only a 20th of their problems should be able to acheive to the same level as those larger cities relatively.

With the population and development projections for the Gold Coast, pending on the financial crisis and also what happens to Adelaide, I'm going to predict that anyone from generation X and younger is going to see the GC press Adelaide hard at being the 5th most populous city before their lifetime is up. If this city wants to stick it's head in the sand it's going to get wind blown up it's arse, and it won't be good wind because this cities reputation has already copped a hammering over the past 10 years, imagine if a plain brown skyline stays intact and unchanged for another two decades? We need more and more outsiders coming in and sharing their thought proviking opinions. This state clearly won't listen to it's citizens, so maybe we need the likes of Jeff Kennett and this guy to stir up a bit of (good) emotion.

well the flow of population to the GC from SA isnt completely different to the flow of population from Detroit to Florida, but on a smaller scale. ie rustbelt to sunbelt. SA hasnt made that transition yet to a sustainable economy to replace its manufacturing heyday of the 50's and early 60's. until such time it does, the talented youth will continue to seek greener pastures. The Howard govt did what they could to try to 'manufacture' a new economy by establishing military contracts here, building a railway in the NT and categorizing Adelaide as 'regional' to get more migrants to settle here. all this has resulted in is a maintenance of the status quo as opposed to what would have been an accelerated decline.

what you also have to understand about cities of the size of New York, Chicago, London... they have a critical mass of talented people that are able to think outside the square and solve these development problems.

we have to import Thinkers in Residence, because there's nobody left here with the necessary experience, talent or worldliness.

i've found Adelaide a much more enjoyable place to live since i changed my own attitude to just accept it for what it is, rather than what it could be... because what it could be in all likelihood will never happen in our lifetimes.

no traffic, a winter which lasts 2 weeks, a generally clean and tidy town... seriously a few skyscrapers wont do anything to improve the quality of your life.

[shaun]

Right.

[ricecrackers]

nice to see the pissant making a comeback. i was missing the little guy

sick of seeing that Jane Lizard-Smiths face



we should get some Zeppelins though

[Wayno]

sick of seeing that Jane Lizard-Smiths face

yes! she does look lizard-esque!!

[AtD]

The article is quite hypocritical. The biggest purveyor of negativity is The Advertiser itself.

[Norman]

The biggest purveyor of negativity is The Advertiser itself.

+1. Their Liberal connections are, too, becoming too apparent and unneeded.

[Shuz]

I'm just going to drop the big bombshell here and just point out that honestly, we could be doing more to drive change. We, as in Sensational-Adelaide.

I am in no way undermining what we have already done with the two submissions to the city council and the media. It's a good effort, and a much appreciated one, after all it is better than nothing. However, I believe that we need to stand up a little more. We're a majority all right, but we're still a rather silent majority. The first step of change, is to become far more vocal. Change can only be driven by those who ask for it, persuade it, drive it. The voice of one can become the voice of many. I call for each and every one of you to really voice out, let us actually take it to the streets. Petition, rallies, etc.

We are only 1500 strong here, but we are 150,000 strong out there. So what will it be? Progress, or continued stagnation? It's your choice.


I'll go into the Advertiser offices; ask them how much it'll cost to be able to put an advertisement in the paper to promote this website?

I'll go to the ACC Council offices; and ask them if we can set up a demonstration in Rundle Mall, hand out informative brochures, have petition forms concerning issues. We can use this 'evidence' to present a formidable case to the respective authorities to take action.

I'll go into the State Parliament; and ask them what are the conditions of holding a 'rally' outside Parliament House?

[Shuz]

Already; I have taken small action.

I know that not everyone may have Facebook - but for those of you who do, post in your status update;

Click 'Link', and type in the website address www.sensational-adelaide.com/forum.
Above, in the status update bar; post; Change. Yes We Can.

The end result gives you a little box, with the website logo embedded in the update and a small 'intro' about the website. Free publicity. That's 80 people on my Facebook who'll see that now.