ADELAIDE has invited thinkers of world renown to consider bold paths forward for city and state, and several of their reports have been received – but will we choose to act on their criticisms and suggestions? More importantly, who will lead the way forward?

The question of progressive leadership and its notable absence within Adelaide forms a punchline to Rethinking Adelaide: Capturing Imagination, the published summary of Charles Landry after his period as a Thinker is Residence concluded in October, 2003.

Landry has proved to be a leading light in the government program thus far, successfully engaging with project sponsors Playford Council, State Government and Property Council of Australia – but the English urban planner extended a much wider call to action in his report. This was precisely why he requested that his report be made public in January this year: to generate wider discussion of his ideas, his challenges and criticisms of Adelaide. Subsequent debate from the private sector has been notably muted.

The State Strategic Plan issues another call for leadership. It announces many destinations and targets but doesn't intimate who will grasp the initiatives. Several themes are consistent with the tone of Landry's work (under the objective of Fostering Creativity) and fellow Thinker in Residence Herbert Girardet (the objective of Attaining Sustainability). It is therefore surprising not to see the input of Landry or Girardet credited in the document. Such acknowledgement would have validated the government's belief in the Thinkers in Residence program, and provide exactly the sort of generous, inclusive gesture from leaders that Landry says is necessary to start the process of change.
Is radical change possible for Adelaide in the prevailing political and economic climate? This is doubtful, as embracing the full scale of plans and visions outlined in the State Strategic Plan sits at odds with the government's sober fiscal outlook. Des Cummerford of the Planning Institute of Australia suggests it isn’t possible to facilitate both ideals, as reshaping the physical networks and urban structure of Adelaide will require significant capital input – and, because business has been especially slow to respond to Landry's ideas, much of the change would need to be instigated by government.

The State Strategic Plan states that implementing Landry's ideas is a "priority action", with a view to achieving task Task 4.1: Raising Adelaide from fifth to a Top 3 ranking in the Creativity Index of Australian cities by US economic development professor Richard Florida. It will be the dedicated task of Margie Caust, taking leave of her Capital City Committee position for three months, to find means of initiating some of Landry's challenges.

Adelaide is not alone in addressing a need for significant urban renewal. Many western cities have seen their initial functions and economic framework usurped, and now must change to prosper anew. The visiting thinkers have played a significant role in placing Adelaide's situation in an international contex. It is a puzzle, therefore, why John Montgomery – an internationally respected urban planner (and former colleague of Landry), who came to live in Adelaide 18 months ago from London – found no call here for his talents and recently left for Brisbane.

Identifying and acting on new economic opportunities is the basis of a new book being written by Montgomery – City Dynamics: The Fall and Rise of Creative Urban Economies. The conclusion of an extract entitled Cities and Wealth Creation from the unfinished book has particular resonance for Adelaide: "The main objective for successful city-region economies must be to achieve growth in new industries and in micro and small business ... To grow, an economy needs to be dynamic, to have networks of exporting, competing and collaborating firms, needs to have a diverse division of labour and must be continually trying out new ideas, products and processes ... The only prudent option is to diversify the economy as far as possible. This, in turn, means identifying possible growth sectors. My research for my book leads me to conclude that there are only five or six sectors where new work will lead to additional wealth creation, globally, over the next 25 years."

Some of the book was completed in Adelaide, mainly the compiling of notes and cases Montgomery has applied elsewhere, such as the acclaimed Marble Bar creative precinct in Dublin. However, a planned chapter on the revitalisation of Adelaide's West End/ Hindley Street has been scrapped from the text. Montgomery notes with disappointment that the momentum which saw artists come into the precinct has stalled; several important art studios, including Greyhawk, recently moved out.

What Montgomery sensed during the late-1990s in Adelaide, when he came to participate in the pivotal City as a Stage conference, was a desire to drive urban renewal. “It could have been the Barcelona of Australia,” he mused.
Yet Montgomery, who migrated with his family under the "Distinguished Talent" program, arrived in time to see progress falter with a change of State Government, a change in Adelaide civic government and the subsequent political re-organisation and shift in priorities of the attached bureaucracies.

As new urban progress projects failed to materialise, Montgomery grew impatient – especially as work offers recently crystalised for him in Canberra and Queensland – and he fired an ill-tempered broadside at what he considers a "dangerous complacency" prohibiting progress.
Montgomery regrets the tone of those comments – especially his swipe at Adelaide being an "above-ground cemetery" – though the facts on which he based his criticisms ring true. 16,000 small businesses have been lost in the past two years. Unemployment percentages are higher than in other parts of the country. It will require rigorous exploration of new ideas to stimulate new industry sectors and employment opportunities – particularly in small business and manufacturing.

Described by some as difficult and precious, Montgomery is, nonetheless, an expert in his field and possesses the skills required to steer serious urban renewal. His view is consistent with Richard Florida, Charles Landry and the State Strategic Plan, yet he did not find work here and was derided by the deputy premier for holding a contrary view of Adelaide's economic and social standing. People such as Montgomery, declared Mr Foley on ABC TV, should "get on their bike and get out of town". The view implied that Montgomery had nothing to offer. It also suggests that if your thinking doesn’t fit within the existing, accepted framework, then you don’t belong. If this is the case, it seems that the global view remains beyond Adelaide’s field of vision.