Stephen Yarwood

Stephen Yarwood
Stephen Yarwood in November 2010
79th Lord Mayor of Adelaide
Preceded by Michael Harbison
Succeeded by Martin Haese

Stephen Yarwood (born March 23, 1971) is an Australian Urban Futurist and the former Lord Mayor of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, serving from 2010-2014.

Yarwood became a central ward councillor in the City of Adelaide in 2007, and in 2008 was elected to the position of Deputy Lord Mayor.[1] In 2010 he won the mayoral election. Elected at 39 years old, Yarwood remains the youngest Lord Mayor in the city's history[2] and the youngest Lord Mayor of any Australian capital city.

Early life and Education

Yarwood was born in Whyalla, South Australia. After moving to Adelaide, he attended Norwood Morialta High School and graduated from the University of South Australia in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts (Planning), later completing Graduate Diplomas in Regional & Urban Planning and Environmental Studies and an MBA from Masters of Business Administration from the University of Adelaide.[3]

Personal life

Yarwood is married to Emily, and has two children, Megan and Oliver. He lives within the City of Adelaide.

Early career

Prior to his time on the Adelaide City Council, Yarwood worked in South Australian State Government as an Urban Planner, was the Research Officer to the Environment, Resources and Development Committee of the South Australian Parliament and the Principle Planner at the City of Playford.[3]

Yarwood was the recipient of a Multi-Function Polis Scholarship to study “Future Cities” in Japan’s Science and Technology City Tsukuba in 2002 and attended Aarhus Business School Summer School program in Denmark in 2009. He has researched city planning and governance, worked and/or led delegations to Canada, USA, Scandinavia/Europe, the Middle East, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, China, India and New Zealand.

Adelaide City Council

Yarwood was elected as central ward councillor to the Adelaide City Council in 2007 and served as Deputy Lord Mayor from 2008-2009.[1] Yarwood won the Lord Mayoral election in 2010, with 3169 votes, 884 votes ahead of the second-placed candidate.[2] During his time as Lord Mayor, Yarwood oversaw the redevelopment of the Rundle Mall and Victoria Square, the implementation of the city-wide Wi-Fi network and CISCO smart cities agreement, the first sister city agreement in 30 years with Qingdao, China, environmental initiatives including accelerated trees plantings and an ambitious carbon neutral action plan, integrated transport vision that included significant walking and cycling infrastructure and hosting the premier cycling conference “VeloCity Global”.

Yarwood was the Chair of the Adelaide Park Lands Authority, Dual Chair of the Reconciliation Committee and also sat on the Capital City Committee and Rundle Mall Management Authority.[4]

Later career

Yarwood has continued his work with cities as an Urban Futurist. He is considered an international specialist on the “future urban citizen” and the relationships between people, technology, infrastructure, society, cities and quality urbanism.

In 2015, Yarwood founded city2050,‘a consultancy specialising in long term transformative strategic planning’ for cities. city2050 provides training, speaking and consulting services, working with “cities, states, nations, corporations and communities”.[5]

In 2016, Yarwood was announced as a founding member of the Airbnb Mayoral Advisory Board, alongside three former mayors from the U.S. and Italy. The aims to strengthen Airbnb’s partnerships with cities worldwide; reviewing policies, providing feedback on upcoming Airbnb products and initiatives, and providing Airbnb with ‘valuable insights gained from years leading some of the world’s greatest cities’.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 "Yarwood wins deputy mayoral vote". ABC News. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 27 October 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  2. 1 2 Castello, Renato. "Yarwood beats more fancied rivals to become our youngest Lord Mayor". The Advertiser. News Limited. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Alumni Network". UniSA.
  4. ↑ "The Right Honourable Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood, Adelaide City Council" (PDF). University of South Australia, Business School.
  5. ↑ "city2050". city2050. Retrieved 2017-08-08.
  6. ↑ "Airbnb Hires Ex-Mayors to Advise on Pressure From City Governments". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2017-08-08.
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