Profile:

Mike Flehr, M.A. (WIU), M.P.I.A.

I established Urban Strategic Intelligence in 2005 as a consultancy specializing in Strategic Planning and Global Urban Intelligence, after spending 9 years with Adelaide City Council as a Strategic Analyst. Prior to joining ACC I was in private practice as a general planning consultant for 10 years.

I was educated in urban & regional planning in Australia and the United States, and have spent much of my career in private practice, consulting to state and local government and private clients, with brief forays into the wine industry and the world of programming.

My primary interests include global trends in cities and city planning, and the collection and application of strategic level information to local planning. I am particularly interested in the future of cities and regions, and how to anticipate and plan for that future effectively.

Over recent years I have presented conference papers on the future of Cities in Australia and Japan, and had a co-authored paper presented at the Digital Cities conference in Chicago in 2002. I am currently working on a number of private projects relating to the changing nature of Cities in the much changed social, economic, environmental and geopolitical context of 21C. 

My views have often been considered heretical or innovative (depending on perspective), but I have found that solid research, natural cynicism and very wide interests are powerful tools for determining the facts. 

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS: 

Master of Arts: Geography & Regional Planning, Western Illinois Univ., Macomb, Il. USA 1981/82

Diploma in Technology in Planning: South Australian Institute of Technology, Adelaide SA 1975/77

CONFERENCES: 

Country Planning Officers Group Annual Seminar:  "Major Projects – What about the Public?” Barossa Valley, October 2007

Country Planning Officers Group Annual Seminar:  “Strategic Intelligence – the Planner’s Edge.” Seppeltsfield, October, 2005

The City Limits: Rethinking the Significance of the City in a Globalizing Age    “The Crash of Culture : Observations on the impact of global business on global citizens and local cities”. Keynote address to international conference at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, Japan, January 2005.

Planning Institute of Australia – Winter Planning Seminar – Adelaide, 2004   Session organizer and moderator – Technology and the Future of Cities

Digital Communities Conference: Chicago, Illinios October, 2001   “Cities @ the Speed of Light” S. Yarwood/M. Flehr: presented by S Yarwood. This paper was also presented at the United Nations University, Tokyo

6th Annual Pacific-Rim Real Estate Conference: "Arresting the decline in the number of Office Users in the Adelaide CBD" with Rob Kooymans (UniSA), presented by Rob Kooymans, Sydney, January 2000 

Main Street Conference: Keynote Address, Albany WA 1996   Paper introducing Australia New Zealand City Centre Network

RAPI Winter Planning Seminar: Adelaide SA 1997    Seminar with Prof. Stephen Hamnett: “Future Cities – the Impact of Technology”; Seminar Panel with Dr. Ray Bunker and Ms. Shanti Ditter

Articles

"Contrarian, or just Curious" with Deborah Jade Holder, Place, April 2007, pp 28-30 

"What implications are there to achieving a Population Target of 2 million?"  Expert Comment  SA Planner, April, 2007

"Government Intervention in Tourism Development: Case Studies from Japan and South Australia " M. Cooper & M. Flehr, Current Issues in Tourism pp 69-85.

“Mike’s World … or … Stuff that planners really NEED to know”  SA Planner – p29, regular column starting October 2005.

“When will thought become action? ” Expert interview for story on Dr. Tim Flannery, Place Magazine, Aug/Sept 2005, p11.

“Preparing our Cities for the Juggernaut of Change ”, Place Magazine, July 2005, p54

“Land Use Impacts of Telecommunications ” in Shaping our Communities: The Impacts of Information Technology” - Planning Commissioners Journal, 1996

"Transferable Development Rights" article for Mt. Lofty Ranges Review Newsletter, 1989