On Monday, August 30, the pressing issue of sustainable living in our cities will take a step towards resolution at the 3rd International Design Conference in Canberra.
Speaking at the conference, Parsons Brinckerhoff (PB) director of sustainability, Darren Bilsboroughs, says Australian cities face great challenges but stressed there are solutions.
"The risks to our city residents and their general health and wellbeing due to rapid population growth have never been greater.
"We also face threats from climate change, pollution, peak food, water and oil and from use of our ever-diminishing natural resources and biodiversity.
"With 90 per cent of Australia?s population in urban areas, planners and developers need to address a number of vulnerabilities to secure city living.
"Central to solving these challenges is innovation — in technology and also in planning."
Bilsborough says the Federal government has recognised the urgent need to ensure all capital city strategic plans meet national criteria by 2012.
"One proposed solution is to use biophilic city design principles, which are about the physical greening of our cities and a move away from car dependence," he says.
"Using this design we may be able to lift economic productivity, respond to climate change and gear the nation for 35 million people by 2049."
The International Design Conference will run from Monday, August 30 to Wednesday, September 1.
