Cities in systems of cities: Adelaide, Australia and the world
Peter Hall is Professor of Planning and Regeneration at the Bartlett School of Architecture and Planning, University College London and President of the Town and Country Planning Association. Full Image (66.58K)
Cities in systems of cities: Adelaide, Australia and the world
A lecture by Professor Sir Peter Hall, University of London
Wednesday 11 March 2009 Allan Scott Auditorium, UniSA City West Campus, Hawke Building 50-60 North Terrace
Co-presented by the Centre for Building and Planning Studies and the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre, UniSA
The concept that "cities are systems within systems of cities" was coined by the American geographer Brian J.L. Berry in 1964. Despite huge advances in the way that urbanists view cities, it still has huge relevance for urban policy today. The outstanding features of the contemporary world are global-scale competition between urban economies, in which city administrations and private sector leaders seek to develop specialised niches in a globalised economy, and the growth of the so-called knowledge economy, based on advanced services, which have largely replaced manufacturing and goods-handling in the cities of the developed world. Together these mean that the factors for urban success are now different from those that obtained in the 1960s. Quality of urban life becomes a new and significant factor in attracting a "creative class" - but the question becomes: exactly what quality is most significant?
