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Building cities is Australia's next export industry

By Edward Blakely - posted Thursday, 4 November 2010


Cities that build and retain and form human capital will be the strongest, most resilient and competitive in the world. The Government has established a Cities unit and a new program that requires all of our metropolitan areas to develop integrated urban plans in the next two years.

This is not just a good idea it is an idea to move us in the right direction for building a new economy. We must have great cities housing innovative knowledge producing environmental and design industries to both save our cities and create a new economic engine for the nation.

Our nation's export wealth flows through our cities and so are the real enduring resource to build wealth. So, as we improve the infrastructure of our cities, as the Christie report suggests with respect to transportation for Sydney, we are also positioning the nation to produce a new global export sector in city building.

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For the first time in human history most people live in urban locations. The cities, especially in the developing world are expanding at an alarming rate. China will build more than 100 new cities of more than one million people each in the coming decades.

Throughout Africa, Latin America and the Middle East cities are being built or re-built to match the needs of the influx of people leaving farms or immigrating to urban squatter or legitimate dwelling systems. We have to make these places more livable and sustainable for a stable world.

As the world looks for solutions for growing population in an urban form to face climate change, and as it urbanizes, Australia is remarkably well-positioned to provide solutions for better communities across the world.

Australia (in coastal cities) is one of the most densely settled nations in the world except the City State's like Hong Kong and Singapore. Our capital cities are among the top 25 livable places on the planet. We have an enviable record in diversity and equity. So, we start the process to rebuild the nation's urban infrastructure with a good base.

We need to look at our resource base for city building.

First, we have every weather type and condition of the fastest growing part of the world like China, India and the Middle East and Africa.

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Second, city building is a mature industry in Australia with world's best practice design engineering and construction firms. We generated most of this base since the World War II years and in the boom immigration years from 1970-2000.

Third, we have the world's most advanced and largest securtised real estate market in the world. Australian real estate, engineering and architecture firms are in an unusual position to export city building technologies and techniques to our neighbor nations and around the world.

Fourth, Australia is home to many world class development firms from finance like Macquarie to development such as Westfields to Lend Lease, Stockland, Mirvac, Multiplex and world leading design and engineering firms and many more.

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The US Study Centre will host an international conference on November 14-15, 2010 at Parliament House in Brisbane on Future Cities: Comparing US-Australian Cities.



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About the Author

Edward J. Blakely is Honorary Professor of Urban Policy at the United States Studies Centre, Sydney University. Professor Blakely is an international expert on urban planning and development and most recently head of recovery in New Orleans. He also served as the Chair of the Sydney Metropolitan Plan Reference Panel 2003-2004. He can be heard on the radio Sunday nights at 8PM on internet radio 1000mikes.com. Blakely City Talk broadcasts the same podcast anytime.

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