Abstract: The economic and social importance of knowledge production is clear, and it is an emerging social phenomenon and research agenda in the urban planning discipline. The impact of what has been broadly labelled the knowledge economy has, however, been such that even in the absence of precise measurement it is the undoubted dynamo of today’s global market and an essential part of any global city. Knowledge production, and where, how and by whom it is produced, is first of all an urban phenomenon poorly understood in an era of strong urbanisation. This paper focuses on urban knowledge precincts as the magnet infrastructure impacting knowledge production of cities. The paper discusses two important issues: knowledge based urban development within the paradigm of the knowledge economy; and knowledge precincts as an instrument to seed knowledge production in cities. The paper concludes with conditions for knowledge precincts as the incubators of knowledge production and innovation in Australia.

The State of Australian Cities (SOAC) national conferences have been held biennially since 2003 to support interdisciplinary policy-related urban research.

This paper was presented at SOAC 3 held in Adelaide from 28 to 30 November 2007.

SOAC 3 was jointly hosted by the University of South Australia, the University of Adelaide and Flinders University.

Themes and Key Persons

SOAC 3 focused on the contemporary form and structure of Australian cities.
The conference proceedings were grouped into six key sub-themes, each the focus of one of more conference sessions:

City Economy - economic change and labour market outcomes of globalisation, land use pressures, changing employment locations.

Social City – including population, migration, immigration, polarisation, equity and disadvantage, housing issues, recreation.

City 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.

City Structures – the emerging morphology of the city – inner suburbs, middle suburbs, the CBD, outer suburbs and the urban-rural fringe, the city region.

City Governance – including taxation, provision of urban services, public policy formation, planning, urban government, citizenship and the democratic process.

City Infrastructure – transport, mobility, accessibility, communications and IT, and other urban infrastructure provision.

Paper Review Process

Conference papers published from SOAC 3 were produced through a process of integrated peer review.

There were originally 147 abstracts proposed, 143 were invited to submit papers and 107 papers were finally published.