CITIES, UNIVERSITIES AND THE GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
Cities, universities and the global knowledge economy looks at how universities manage both their international education activities and their community engagement strategies (see the definitions in the sidebar). Cities and universities are forging new partnerships to increase their competitiveness in the global knowledge economy.
Singapore, Qatar and others have strategies to attract prestigious, world class universities. Singapore aspires to become the ‘global schoolhouse’. Adelaide has both ‘education city’ and ‘university city’ aspirations. Perth promotes its ‘education city’ brand. Melbourne claims to be a leading ‘global knowledge city’.
What exactly are they trying to achieve? How effective are these strategies, and what benefits have they brought? Are they sustainable contributions to the economic and social life of the city?
I was a member of the Scientific Committee for the Knowledge Cities World Summit that was held in Melbourne in 2010.
“Australia’s knowledge cities: work in progress” Australian Higher Education Congress 2009.
Seminar on “Asia and the global knowledge economy”.
With Cecile Cutler “The global knowledge economy, the university and the Southeast Asian city” in Wong Tai Chee and Brian Shaw (eds) Challenging Sustainability: Urban Development and Change in Southeast Asia (Marshall Cavendish Academic, Singapore, 2006, pp 175-196).
“Creating education cities in the new global knowledge economy” South Australian Policy Online. Presented at a conference on Learning Cities in 2005.
“Cities, universities and global competitiveness”. Institute of Australian Geographers Conference, 2004.
I am a member of the International Advisory and Review Board of the International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development. The journal is published by Inderscience.
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PLANNING ASIAN CITIES: RISKS AND RESILIENCE
Stephen Hamnett (University of South Australia) and I have co-editing a book on contemporary Asian Pacific megacities. The title is Planning Asian Cities: Risks and Resilience. It was published by Routledge in May 2011.
Chapters and authors:
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1.Risks, Resilience and Planning in Asian Cities. Stephen Hamnett, University of South Australia, and Dean Forbes, Flinders University
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2.Uneven Geographies of Vulnerability: Tokyo in the Twenty-First Century. André Sorensen, University of Toronto
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3.The Dragon’s Head: Spatial Development of Shanghai. Susan Walcott, University of North Carolina
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4.Beijing: Socialist Chinese Capital and New World City. Gu Chaolin, Tsinghua University and Ian G. Cook, Liverpool John Moores University
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5.Taipei’s Metropolitan Development: Dynamics of Cross-Strait Political Economy, Globalization and National Identity. Liling Huang, National Taiwan University, and Reginald Yin-Wang Kwok, University of Hawaii
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6.Seoul as a World City: The Challenge of Balanced Development. Seong-Kyu Ha, Chung-Ang University
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7.Hong Kong: The Turning of the Dragon Head. Anthony Yeh, University of Hong Kong
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8.Singapore: Planning for More with Less. Belinda Yuen, National University of Singapore
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9.Going Global: Development, Risks and Responses in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. Sirat Morshidi and Asyirah Abdul Rahim, Universiti Sains Malaysia
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10.Governing the Jakarta City-Region: History, Challenges, Risks and Strategies. Wilmar Salim and Tommy Firman, Institute of Technology Bandung
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11.Bangkok: New Risks, Old Resilience. Douglas Webster, Arizona State University and Chuthatip Maneepong
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12.Manila: Metropolitan Vulnerability, Local Resilience. Brian Roberts, University of Canberra
Stephen and I worked together a few years ago on a special issue of Built Environment which was titled “Pacific Asian Cities: Challenges and Prospects”.
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STRENGTHENING URBAN SLUM UPGRADING AND URBAN GOVERNANCE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Around 924 million people, according to UN Habitat 2003 estimates, live in urban slums and squatter settlements. Over half of these people are in Asia. Self-help squatter settlement improvement programs have been around since at least the beginning of the 20th Century, but they attracted the support of major international institutions from the early 1970s. So why, nearly 40 years later, are there still so many people living in slums and squatter settlements, and why are conditions within them so appalling?
I was a chief investigator for a project on Strengthening urban slum upgrading and urban governance in Southeast Asian cities. It received Australian Research Council funding for 2005-2008, through the efforts of the late Dr Basil van Horan. John Minnery has joined the team and has taken on the role of co-ordinator.
The project is seeking to understand what works and what doesn’t work in slum improvement programs, and what institutional structures can be put in place to improve success. We are in the latter stages of the project, which focuses on slums in three cities: Bandung, Hanoi and Manila/Quezon City. The teams undertaking the fieldwork have completed the empirical research.
Team members, left to right in photograph:
Prof Tommy Firman (Institute of Technology Bandung)
Dr Haryo Winarso (Institute of Technology Bandung)
Dr Teti Argo (Institute of Technology Bandung)
Assoc Prof John Minnery (University of Queensland)
Cynthia Veneracion (Ateneo de Manila University)
Prof Dean Forbes (Flinders University)
Pham Thi Thu Huyen (Hanoi Architectural University)
Prof Gavin Jones (National University of Singapore)
Prof Do Hau (Hanoi Architectural University) - not in the picture
A longer paper on the project can be found here.
