whatever happened to the m.f.p ?

[bayman]

the 'multi function polis' & what was it supposed to do ?

[MightyEagles]

can't remember that far back.

[brod]

Remember the name, but no more...

[grant j]

It's called Mawson Lakes

[Wedgie]

Was originally supposed to be where Monarto currently is (that was the plan in the 70s).

The one of the 80s was mooted for Gillman near the Port River.
After the Japs visited Port Adelaide in 1991 they pulled the pin on the project.

The federal government eventually pulled the pin in the mid to late 90s.

[Footy Chick]

Yeah, I'm with Wedgie, the only one I remember was supposed to be at Gillman, now it's just dirt, with a few factories.

[Psyber]

Yeah, I'm with Wedgie, the only one I remember was supposed to be at Gillman, now it's just dirt, with a few factories.

Ditto - confirming Wedgie's recall.

[Pseudo]

John Button (who passed away the other week) was behind the MFP - at least in part.

The project was dead in the water as soon as they picked a site in SA. The stone cold reality (as was told to me by some research scientists over a few frothies) is that the Japanese lost interest when they found out the MFP wasn't going to be located near a golf course in Queensland. No Japanese partners = no MFP.

[cripple]

mfp really fell away as soon as the japanese recession of the late 80's, early 90's hit. Examples of sustainable MFP living do exist such as mawson lakes in part, but more specfically technology park, the barker inlet wetlands and a small estate in largs north that is almost enitrely self reliant by using solar and other such energies. As soon as japan could no longer afford such an ambitious plan and with issues such as the state bank collapse, it just died. or at least thats what my geography lecturer told me.

[Brad]

I remember it being all the rage for years then died!

[Pseudo]

Last night I picked up a copy of "The Matter Myth" by Paul Davies and John Gribbin from my reading pile. I got this about a year ago at a school fete IIRC. It was originally published in 1991. My copy has a signature in the front cover which might well be Paul Davies.

I found a glowing recommendation of the MFP in the first chapter of this book, very much to my amusement:

The most tangible result (of the Hawke government's "clever country" policy) is the plan to build a new type of city known as the Multi-Function Polis (MFP) near Adelaide. The MFP will involve research institutes, scientifically designed environmental schemes and social organisations, and advanced health, leisure and recreational facilities. There will be a strong emphasis on the networking concept, so the MFP will consist of a connection of 'villages' linked with high-tech optical communications. The MFP will in turn be linked to other cities and ultimately to the rest of the world. The economic plan places a strong emphasis on ultra-rapid communications and information networking so that information ideas and strategies can be marketed anywhere in the world, thus overcoming Australias geographical isolation.

Perhaps the most imaginitave concept in the MFP strategy is the recognition that education and scientific research are highly valuable resources that can be marketed like any other. With a global network of communications it would be possible for lectures given in Australia to be seen by students in the third world, or for demonstration medical operations to be performed on one side of the planet and monitored by doctors on the other side of the Earth. To achieve this goal the MFP will develop a "world university" by linking up with local and more distant universities and educational institutions - the logical global development of the 'Open University' pioneered in Britain two decades ago, using the basic communication systems then available.

These futuristic plans for Australia will surely become the norm throughout the world, as commodities assume less and less important and information take their place ....

Hee hee hee.... Paul Davies was a professor of philosophy at the Uni of Adelaide at the time this book was published, IIRC. I wonder if he'd cringe at the above passage today?

[Psyber]

Is that this guy or another who was in Adelaide at some time?
http://www.celebrityspeakers.com.au/brs ... ex_Text=58
http://aca.mq.edu.au/PaulDavies/pdavies.html

And there is this one:
http://www.pauldaviesam.co.uk/

[Pseudo]

Is that this guy or another who was in Adelaide at some time?
http://www.celebrityspeakers.com.au/brs ... ex_Text=58
http://aca.mq.edu.au/PaulDavies/pdavies.html

That's the one. Though the pic on the Macquarie website suggests he's had a midlife crisis since I last saw his pic

[Apachebulldog]

MFP

More F@#kING Pies

( pie in the sky )

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!