The principle vehicle for the promulgation of these objectives is the biennial State of Australian Cities (SOAC) Conferences. For the past six years, the ARCN has sponsored the organization of three national State of Australian Cities Conferences : in Parramatta in 2003, Brisbane in 2005 and Adelaide 2007.
SOAC 2009 will be held in Perth from 24-27 November, 2009 and co-hosted by the four public universities in WA - The University of Western Australia, Curtin University of Technology, Edith Cowan University and Murdoch University. The Conference Co-chairs are Professor Roy Jones (Curtin) and Dr. Paul Maginn (UWA).
Please click on the link below to be directed to the official Conference website:
www.promaco.com.au/2009/soac
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.
Objectives
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