Search

The two main stadiums for the Sydney Olympic Games were developed by the private sector with State assistance to reduce government costs and risks. In the post-Olympic period, both stadiums have experienced major revenue shortfalls which threaten their viability. This has been caused by competition from pre-existing, though smaller, State-owned stadiums and lack of potential major sporting and other events. In part to help the Olympic stadiums, the government produced a masterplan for major urban development at the Olympic Park. This paper illustrates the risks of partnership development of specialized infrastructure, and the way in which special events can lead urban development.

The two main stadiums for the Sydney Olympic Games were developed by the private sector with State assistance to reduce government costs and risks. In the post-Olympic period, both stadiums have experienced major revenue shortfalls which threaten their viability. This has been caused by competition from pre-existing, though smaller, State-owned stadiums and lack of potential major sporting and other events. In part to help the Olympic stadiums, the government produced a masterplan for major urban development at the Olympic Park. This paper illustrates the risks of partnership development of specialized infrastructure, and the way in which special events can lead urban development.

The contemporary remaking of inner city Pyrmont-Ultimo in Sydney is analysed in terms of the visions of planners, developers, politicians and residents. Developers and government agencies selectively remembered the blue-collar history of this place in their place marketing efforts. These 'memories' were sanitised to make them more appealing to contemporary lifestyle-oriented residential markets. The need to sanitise and repackage particular urban places can be regarded, following Bourdieu, as a strategy of the field of planners and developers, as they struggle to gain ascendency in the game of land and property development. Their 'feel for the game', it is argued, is reflective of a 'planning habitus'.

The role of planning in Sydney's economic development since the mid-1970s is explored, focusing on its role in reducing spatial disparities across the region. Planning policies during the period of each State government-Labor (1976-88), Liberal-National (1988-95) and Labor (199~resent)-are reviewed. The paper analyses a hierarchy of factors underlying the relative failure of policies to lessen disparities, notably intra-government failure to produce effective policies, the influence of prevailing ideology, local institutions and political culture, and the wider context of globalisation and the mode of capitalist accumulation. Each of these has been significant in limiting planning's role in addressing uneven development across the region

The contemporary remaking of inner city Pyrmont-Ultimo in Sydney is analysed in terms of the visions of planners, developers, politicians and residents. Developers and government agencies selectively remembered the blue-collar history of this place in their place marketing efforts. These 'memories' were sanitised to make them more appealing to contemporary lifestyle-oriented residential markets. The need to sanitise and repackage particular urban places can be regarded, following Bourdieu, as a strategy of the field of planners and developers, as they struggle to gain ascendency in the game of land and property development. Their 'feel for the game', it is argued, is reflective of a 'planning habitus'.

The role of planning in Sydney's economic development since the mid-1970s is explored, focusing on its role in reducing spatial disparities across the region. Planning policies during the period of each State government-Labor (1976-88), Liberal-National (1988-95) and Labor (199~resent)-are reviewed. The paper analyses a hierarchy of factors underlying the relative failure of policies to lessen disparities, notably intra-government failure to produce effective policies, the influence of prevailing ideology, local institutions and political culture, and the wider context of globalisation and the mode of capitalist accumulation. Each of these has been significant in limiting planning's role in addressing uneven development across the region