Stephen Yarwood (born 23 March 1971) is an Australian urban

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

and the former lord mayor of the

City of Adelaide The City of Adelaide, also known as the Corporation of the City of Adelaide and Adelaide City Council is a local government area in the metropolitan area of greater Adelaide, South Australia and is legally defined as the capital city of Sout ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, serving from 2010 to 2014. Yarwood became a central ward

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

in the City of Adelaide in 2007, and in 2008 was elected to the position of deputy lord mayor. In 2010 he won the mayoral election. Elected at 39 years old, Yarwood remains the youngest lord mayor in the city's history.

Early life and education

Yarwood was born in

Whyalla, South Australia Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta ...

. After moving to Adelaide, he attended Norwood Morialta High School and graduated from the

University of South Australia The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Austral ...

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.

Early career

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 principal planner at the City of Playford. 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 to 2009. Yarwood won the Lord Mayoral election in 2010, with 3169 votes, 884 votes ahead of the second-placed candidate. During his time as Lord Mayor, Yarwood oversaw the redevelopment of the Rundle Mall and Victoria Square, the implementation of the citywide 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 Cycling infrastructure is all infrastructure cyclists are allowed to use. Bikeways include bike paths, bike lanes, cycle tracks, rail trails and, where permitted, sidewalks. Roads used by Motor vehicle, motorists are also cycling infrastructu ...

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.

Later career

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". 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'.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yarwood, Stephen Living people Mayors and Lord Mayors of Adelaide People from Whyalla South Australian local councillors 1971 births