It could well be the case that with the disappearance of the Holden car plant at Elizabeth, Adelaide is in danger of being a distressed city with its unemployment, run-down buildings, an inequality with its impoverishment part of the population, an underperforming public school system, declining living standards, and a limited skill base due to young people leaving to find work in Sydney or Melbourne.
It is true that a faltering Adelaide has begun the process of adapt and respond to economic change.in the form of re-invention--of slowly transforming into becoming a post-industrial city. This is a transition from producing and providing goods to one that mainly provides services. In a post-industrial society, technology, information, and services are more important than manufacturing actual goods. This, it is argued, is the path to recovery.
The subsidised casino, convention centre and sports stadium are designed to encourage urban development, give Adelaide a competitive edge in the competition between Australia's cities, and a new image as an attractive city in contrast to the rusting industrial image. Adelaide brands itself as a destination that seeks to attract visitors and a creative class of new residents in the CBD.
What I do find disturbing is that there are still a large number of empty shops in the CBD. The above picture is of an empty shop is in the western part of Hindley St, which is in the northwestern area of Adelaide's CBD.
The empty retail shops in the CBD of Adelaide are quite noticeable when I walk around the city on my visits from Encounter Bay these days. I interpret them as one of the signs of the difficult economic times associated with Adelaide's slow transition from being an industrial to a post-industrial city. This is still a city undergoing de-industrialization, with a stagnant population, high poverty and unemployment rates and increased homelessness.
