The climate crisis is here but is the built environment sector ready?
The Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning was proud to present the 2024 Symposium: Climate Action in Cities this week, bringing together local and global voices to campaign for urgent and meaningful change across Australia’s built environment sector.
This year’s Symposium connected academic, government and industry experts to influence the national agenda for the transformation of our urban spaces.
Climate policy and sustainable cities expert, and member of the Symposium convenor team, A/Prof Anna Hurlimann, said practical tools, and capacity building, are desperately needed within a sector struggling with limited policy direction.
“Home to over 50 per cent of the world’s population, the world’s expanding cities and infrastructure are responsible for up to 72% of greenhouse gas emissions. This makes urban spaces one of our greatest climate challenges but also our greatest opportunity,” A/Prof Hurlimann said.
The Symposium featured international guest keynote speakers Sarah Ichioka and Deb Chachra.
Sarah Mineko Ichioka is a strategist, urbanist, author and Founding Director of Desire Lines, a consultancy for environmental, cultural, and social-impact organisations and initiatives. She has worked with institutions across the US, Asia and Europe and written for the Financial Times, Dezeen, Monocle, BBC London, Wallpaper and Bloomberg CityLab. She holds degrees from Yale University and the London School of Economics & Political Science.
Professor Deb Chachra, PhD is an author and Professor of Engineering at Olin College of Engineering. She works globally at the intersection of technology and culture, with a focus on infrastructure and the built environment. Deb's writing has appeared in the Atlantic, Time, the Guardian, and Nature. Deb held a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT and received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering from the University of Toronto.
Panel highlights included local industry and government experts Alison Scotland, Trent McCarthy, Toomas Mirlieb, Dr Jonathan Spear, and Kelly Grigsby.
Over two days, the Faculty presented a series of thought-provoking keynote lectures, interactive sessions, panel discussions and site visits. Each session unpacked urban solutions to the climate crisis from different angles, from research to policy to industry, while offering tangible solutions to drive positive sector-wide change.