WORKSHOPS

TIME AND DATE: Thursday 25 May 2023, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

TIME AND DATE: Thursday 25 May 2023, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

ABSTRACT: Indigenous Australians have been calling for a voice to parliament since 2017. In May 2022, Anthony Albanese was elected as Australia’s 31st Prime Minister. In his acceptance speech he announced that he would be supporting Voice, treaty truth: the Uluru Statement from the Heart. By doing so he triggered an important national shift towards self-determination for Indigenous peoples. A voice to parliament will require Indigenous communities to have a say in decisions that impact them or their Country.

As Indigenous professionals and/or community engagement specialists who work on planning projects, this political decision will change the future of our work. However, there is a lot of uncertainty around how we can incorporate Indigenous voices into decisions respectfully, and successfully. We see this as an important opportunity to create an interactive session, where planning and other relevant industry professionals can share their thinking around how self-determination can be integrated into the planning process.  

We propose an interactive session to work through:
What is self determination How this aligns with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
What is the significance of this movement for Indigenous peoples across Australia What will this mean for planning projects
What can we learn from our collective experiences?
How can planning be part of the solution?

We will use the opportunity to present our current thinking on incorporating self-determination in planning projects, and use case studies for participants to apply these concepts to their work. Participants of the session will walk away with a better understanding of self-determination, what it means for planning, and how to begin to integrate self-determination into their projects.

TIME AND DATE: Friday 26 May 2023, 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

ABSTRACT: Climate change is driving an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, with implications for the affordability and availability of insurance in Australia. The devastating back-to-back disasters in recent years, from more severe bushfires to intense flooding, have highlighted the need for policy settings that more precisely, consistently, and deliberately consider the relationship between land use planning, extreme weather risk and new homes being placed in harm’s way. The ICA will unpack a state-based policy framework it proposes will limit the development of new homes in areas at high-risk of extreme weather events, by reviewing land use planning arrangements based on risk assessment relating to location, hazard and climate projection. In the case of precipitation, this would involve water catchments, considering both the likelihood and consequence of flooding now and into the future. Whilst this framework has been developed for NSW specifically, it can be replicated and scaled in other states and territories around the country. This workshop will provide an overview of the growing climate risk from an insurers perspective, the importance of improved land use planning arrangements (linked to enhanced building standards), to reduce this risk and seek feedback from attendees. 

TIME AND DATE: Friday 26 May 2023, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

ABSTRACT: Bringing communities along on the urban change journey is critical to the future sustainability of our cities.  Studio THI’s research has shown that communities who are knowledgeable about sustainable urban growth are more supportive of change and are more willing to participate in the transition journey.  

We believe our system needs to have a stronger focus on proactively building the urban change readiness of communities, but there are no silver-bullet solutions. Each of us needs to identify the ways in which we can best influence and build community knowledge of sustainable urban growth, with our individual actions combining to collectively shift the dial on community preparedness. During this workshop, Studio THI will guide you through a series of interactive activities to explore how you are best placed to influence community preparedness for urban change, specifically exploring:
- Your community’s critical preparedness issues and challenges 
- The areas in which you’re best placed to impact and influence 
- The potential range of strategies and initiatives you could implement to build your community’s preparedness
- what might you lead, what might you support? 

You will leave this workshop with: 
- A repeatable 1.5 hour workshop process you can implement within your own organisation to stimulate discussion on how you might build your community’s preparedness for transformational urban change
- Clarity on where you can best influence or impact the preparedness of community in your current role and remit 
- Actionable ideas you can implement to better prepare yourself, your team and your community for urban change

By participating in this workshop you will also become part of a growing movement of practitioners proactively building our system’s preparedness for transformational urban change.