ACT workshop, Urban systems transformation

On 19 November 2018 Future Earth Australia held the third in a series of national workshops for its project ‘Urban systems transformation: sustainable cities’. The Australian Capital Territory workshop was hosted by by Future Earth Australia, the Australian National University (ANU), and CSIRO at the Australian Academy of Science’s Shine Dome and included stakeholders from territory government, city councils, local businesses, NGOs, and research groups.

ACT

 

Mr Guy Barnett of CSIRO Land and Water opened the workshop and welcomed participants, and Professor Xuemai Bai welcomed the group on behalf of ANU. The event commenced with presentations by Professor Kate Auty, ACT Commissioner for Sustainability the Environment, Professor Barbara Norman, Canberra Urban and Regional Futures, Dr Hitomi Nakanishi, University of Canberra, and Ms Susan Heylar, Director, ACT Council of Social Service. There was also a discussion around participants' visions for a sustainable future in the ACT. Using an online poll, we generated a word cloud of answers to a number of questions. For instance, when asked ‘What is your current perception of the ACT?’, the words diverse, sprawling, car, and progressive were the most commonly answered.

ACT

 

To read more about the event in the ACT, read our outcome paper