The theme of the 2005 State of Australian Cities (SOAC) national conference was the sustainability and vulnerability of Australian cities. Sustainability focuses on the economic, social and environmental realms as they are found in cities. Vulnerability deals with the economic, social and environmental risks facing cities. So where does governance fit into these themes? The question was asked but not fully answered through the papers and discussion in governance stream. It did not appear even to have been asked in the other streams.

It is now widely accepted that the idea of Australian urban governance incorporates the roles of the three tiers of government in urban areas but extends beyond this to include the roles of the private sector, civil society organisations and the community. The sustainability ‘triple bottom line’ should really be a ‘quadruple bottom line’ because it is through urban governance that solutions to urban problems are proposed and implemented. Governments, private industry and the community all have substantial roles to play in the future of Australian cities.

Given this general orientation, three main themes arose out of the papers and discussion in the governance stream:

• Change – Governance relationships have changed considerably recently. Many old assumptions about the role of government, or the role of the market or the role of the community have been overturned. Government has been ‘hollowed out’, the private sector is now a joint partner in many programs, and greater expectations are being loaded onto civil society.

• Complexity – These changes mean that the relationships are becoming more complex. Past maxims may no longer apply. New ways of addressing urban governance issues are needed.

• The old is still new – Yet many of the hoary old issues still remain unresolved: how do we coordinate and integrate activities? How do we deal with short-term political and social time-frames when the problems have long-term implications and require longterm strategic research and policy responses? What about the role of financing and resources in getting things done? And so on. These questions have been with us for a long time. Why have they not yet been solved?

The focus of most of the papers and discussion was on Australian capital cities rather than Australian cities as a whole. Much of Australia exists outside the capitals. There are areas of substantial growth and of decline in regional areas. The issues of sustainability and change and vulnerability should be applied there as well as to the metropolitan capitals.