Waves of Change

Here's a great excuse to travel to Australia.

International Urban Design Conference Gold Coast, Australia 6,7 & 8 September, 2007.

The Conference theme “Waves of Change – Cities at Crossroads” will challenge us all to examine our towns and cities.

Population growth and economic prosperity have consequences on the environment and on the longer term social well-being of our communities.

The wave of environmental challenges will affect communities through global warming and likely sea level rises. The ability of urban centres world-wide to cope with the impacts of high level fuel costs will also be examined. The physical separation of home from work and recreation may need to be re-addressed in city design.

>> Day one celebrates the official conference launch followed by challenging keynote addresses about the issues confronting our cities and what we might do about it.

>> Day two is a whirlpool of presentations taking the macro view down to micro insights into local and international research, design tools and models that can lead the way towards sustainable urban habitats.

>> Day three erupts with a hot debate moderated by Jennie Brockie, followed by even more keynote addresses exploring the ways and means of building capacity within our communities, our future designers, and policy makers to implement the necessary adaptations to our cities.

The event includes workshops, debates and tours of South East Queensland, Australia’s fastest growing region showcasing the attributes of a premier tourist destination, from tall buildings to medium density housing to the hinterland “Eco-village” development.

The conference Gala Dinner will include the bi-annual Gold Coast Urban Design awards for 2007.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Mr Michael Sorkin - USA
• Prof Kongjian Yu - China 
• Mr Michael Norton - UK
• Prof Elaine Gallagher - Canada 
• Prof Ian Bentley - UK 
• Mr Jeremy Harris - USA 
• Ms Ruth Durack - AUS 
• Mr Richard Neville - AUS