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Presenter Biographies Bhishna Bajracharya is a Senior Lecturer in Planning at the School of Urban Development, Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Prior to taking up teaching position at QUT, he was a post-doctoral fellow at the Research School of Social Sceinces, Australian National University. His main areas of research include master-planned communities, transit oriented development and Local Agenda 21. He has written papers on planning processes and placeamaking in master-planned communities as well as on sustainability framework and incentive mechanisms for TODs in South East Queensland. He holds a Bachelors degree in Architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi University and Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) and PhD from the University of Hawaii. Ian Bentley has a background in architecture and property development. In 1972, he helped to found the Joint Centre for Urban Design, at what is now Oxford Brookes University, where he is Emeritus Professor of Urban Design. He was lead author of “Responsive Environments” (1985, since widely reprinted and translated), and has more recently authored “Urban Transformations” (1999) and with Georgia Butina Watson, “Identify by Design” (2007). He has acted as external examiner across a range of postgraduate courses in urban design, urban regeneration, cultural studies and public art, and has been a keynote speaker at numerous conferences in the UK and internationally. He is founding member of the consultancy Place-ID, and is a director of the multi-award winning Angell Town Community Project, South London. Mr Gerald Blunt Gerald is currently employed as Manager Urban Design Policy at Wellington City Council, New Zealand. He has completed a Master’s Degree in Urban Design, at Oxford Brookes University, in the U.K. and is also a registered architect. His interest in cities has been shaped by adapting and changing to various roles including being a developer, a mature architecture student, a practicing architect and by working in local government. Gerald is a strong advocate in promoting general urban design outcomes, whether by coordinating the urban design and heritage response back to developers as part of the planning application process, chairing the organising committee of the high profile Urbanism Down Under 2005 Conference or working with the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) on their Urban Design Protocol project. Gerald developed the holistic structure of the Wellington Waterfront Framework as part of a small team to help renew the community’s trust in the city's contentious waterfront project. He has worked with the implementation of this framework, including coordinating a design competition leading to the final design for the new Wellington waterfront park – Waitangi Park. Dr Caryl Bosman Caryl is a lecturer in the Griffith School of Environmental at Griffith University, here on the Gold Coast. She is a member of the Urban Research Program at Griffith University, a member of the Planning Institute of Australia and she sits on the UDIA Gold Coast housing affordability committee. Caryl holds a PhD in urban planning, a Bachelor of Architecture and a National Diploma in Architecture. She has worked in architectural practices in South Africa, London and Adelaide and taught in both architectural and planning degree programs. Her research interests focus on past and present urban development theories, practices and processes, particularly in relation to ideals of community, sub/urban development and climate change. Current areas of research include: placemaking, urban design and affordable housing. Ms Julie-Anne Carroll Julie-Anne Carroll is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Social Change Research at the Queensland University of Technology. Her presentation focuses on the findings from her PhD, which enlisted the Kelvin Grove Urban Village as a case-study for investigating how people, place and health are connected. She used both statistical and online, qualitative methods to explore this new urban environment and to discover more about the physical and social aspects of urban design contributing to healthier lifestyles among urban residents. The findings in her study have implications for the fields of health inequalities, health communication, and urban design. Mr Greg Chamberlain Greg Chamberlain has for the past 15 years specialised as an Urban Design Consultant and has produced highly successful master plans and leading-edge urban design outcomes for all forms of urban development in; Canada, the United States, China and Australia. Greg’s creative work has focused on integrated new communities and regional town centres, mixed use, retail, brownfield development, and waterfronts.
Previous international experience has afforded Greg an appreciation of varying design solutions and approaches within a global market with particular emphasis on placemaking and responses to psychographic tends. Greg recently relocated to warmer weather in Brisbane to take up the role of State Design Manager for Australia’s largest Residential developer and diversified property group; Stockland. Dr Phil Crane Phil is Coordinator of the Human Services program at Queensland University of Technology and the Coordinator of Yspace (www.yspace.net), an information clearinghouse which hosts resources and links for inclusive management, design, and planning of public spaces in respect of young people. Phil leads the Public Space Research Team at QUT. Mr Dale Dickson Tertiary Qualifications
• Bachelor of Business, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology • Graduate Diploma of Management, University of Central Queensland • Master of Public Policy and Management, Monash University
Membership of Professional Bodies
• Local Government Managers Australia (Qld) Inc (Fellow) • Local Government Chief Officers Group (Australia & New Zealand) • Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers (SOLACE) • International City/County Management Association (ICMA)
Membership of External Bodies
• Board Member of desalination company • Board Member of Gold Coast Arts Centre
Career Summary
1983 – 1990 Employed in various administrative, policy development and research roles with the following Victorian and Queensland local governments.
• Melbourne City Council • Waverley City Council • Brisbane City Council • Albert Shire Council
Concurrent with the above, pursued a professional sporting career as a senior player in the VFL/AFL with the Melbourne and Brisbane Bears Football Clubs.
1990 – 1994 Appointed to the position of Deputy Town Clerk with Gympie City Council in 1990 and in 1993 assumed the role of interim Manager of Finance – Cooloola Shire Council, with the amalgamation in December 1993 of two adjoining Councils.
1994 – 1999 Appointed to the position of Manager – Corporate and Financial Services with the Whitsunday Shire Council in February 1994. Prior to my arrival, the Council had been subject to significant and well publicised political and administrative upheaval, evidenced by a lack of senior staff continuity, widespread public criticism of the Council and intervention by the State government.
Assumed the role of Acting Chief Executive Officer and continued in this capacity almost exclusively into September of the following year as the Council’s internal difficulties were addressed. Introduced a wide range of management initiatives, which focused on improving organizational performance, strategic planning, financial management, customer service and community consultation.
Following appointment as Chief Executive Officer in 1995 maintained a focus on organisational performance and strategic planning which saw the Whitsunday Shire Council emerge from its previous “management by crisis” position to one which ensured it was well placed to embrace the reforms and pressures impacting on local government Australia wide.
1999 – 2003
Appointed to the newly created position of Director - City Governance with GCCC in early 1999 and fulfilled the role of Acting CEO for extended periods until appointment as Chief Executive Officer in July 2003.
July 2003 – current
As CEO GCCC, has overseen a program of initiatives including:
• A series of corporate governance improvements, including the establishment of an independent Audit Advisory Board and ‘Internal Ombudsman’
• Key strategies including an Advocacy Strategy which takes a “partnering” approach with both State and Federal governments to deliver improved City outcomes,.
• Organisational restructuring to achieve improved value for money and strategic alignment.
• The establishment of a ‘captive’ insurance company, a first for Australian local government.
• The introduction of a ‘City Transport’ levy to fund much needed public transport and transport infrastructure improvements.
• The establishment of the Bold Future Project Team to develop (in conjunction with the Bold Future Advisory Committee) on behalf of the Gold Coast community a plan for the next 3 decades that seeks to ensure the city’s sustainable future. Dr Mark Diesendorf Dr Mark Diesendorf teaches and researches at the Institute of Environmental Studies, University of New South Wales. At various times he has been a Principal Research Scientist at CSIRO, Professor of Environmental Science at University of Technology Sydney and Vice-President of the Australia New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics. He is coeditor and principal author of the book "Human Ecology, Human Economy: Ideas for an Ecologically Sustainable Future" (1997) and sole author of the new book "Greenhouse Solutions with Sustainable Energy" (2007). Prof Peter Droege Professor Peter Droege has twenty-five years of experience in the practice, teaching and research of urban planning and design, working with government, industry and universities. He is also an author and public speaker on urban design, sustainable development and urban environment policies. Over the past two decades, he has developed a special focus on the urban design and planning aspects of major infrastructure changes, in energy and information technology. He is the author of the recent book on transforming the urban energy system from fossil to renewable, The Renewable City. Peter Droege was a key member of former Prime Minister Paul Keating's Urban Design Task Force and served as an adviser to the National Urban and Regional Development Review. Prior to this he was urban form and concept design adviser to the initial studies for the eco-industrial Japan-Australia joint new city development initiative Multifunction Polis (MFP) planned at national level. Ms Ruth Durack After 20 years of experience as an urban design consultant, government planner and part-time academic, Ruth is a staunch advocate of a non-profit, collaborative approach to achieving urban design excellence. Ms Sarah Foster Sarah has an honours degree in Human Geography from the University of Western Australia, School of Earth and Geographical Sciences. She is currently working on her PhD, again at the University of Western Australia, but now with the School of Population Health. Sarah’s research focuses on the relationship between urban design, residents’ perceptions of safety and their walking behaviour. The research is funded by an Australian Research Council scholarship, and the Department for Planning and Infrastructure is the industry partner for the study. The project is part of the larger RESIDential Environments Project. RESIDE is a longitudinal study of people building homes in new housing estates, which has been designed to examine the impact of urban design on walking, cycling and sense of community.
Dr Graham Freer Previously Leon worked for over 10 years as a Project leader in Urban Design and Regeneration for Lewisham Borough Council in London. He has an MA in Urban Design from Oxford Brookes University and, in addition to his interest in car free cities, is a specialist in the public realm. Graham Freer runs 'New Urban Life' a consultancy that promotes the concepts of car free cities. Previously Graham has worked as a Town Planner and Urban Designer for a range of local authorities and private practices. He has an MA in Urban Design from Oxford Brookes University and has specialisms in sustainable urban form and the use of the internet as a means of promoting sustainable travel behaviour. Prof Elaine Gallagher Elaine Gallagher is currently the Director of the Centre on Aging at the University of Victoria, Canada. She has an internationally established track record in relation to research on falls and fall-related injury prevention among the elderly. A Full Professor in the School of Nursing, she holds adjunct appointments at the University of Victoria Centre on Ageing and the Gerontology Program at Simon Fraser University. The Canadian Association of Nurse Researchers named her “Researcher of the Year” in 2002. Prof Jan Gehl Jan Gehl is Professor of Urban Design at the School of Architecture, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He is also the founding partner of Gehl Architects - Urban Quality Consultants. His research on public spaces and public life began in Copenhagen, but was quickly applied to many other cities in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. His ideas and approach to the design of public spaces incorporate cutting edge technology without losing sight of what best supports and enhances people’s experience of everyday life in the public realm. Mr Peter Ham Peter has a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Queensland and has completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Management through Deakin University. He began his career with the Queensland Electricity Commission and was involved in the design and construction of the Tarong, Callide “B’ and Stanwell Power Stations.
Peter left the electricity industry to become the Engineering Manager for the Cairns Mulgrave Water Supply Board where he was responsible for the supply of potable water to Cairns and the surrounding regions. This involved all areas of production management including construction supervision of augmentation works.
After completing his business qualifications, Peter ventured out into the world of management and commenced employment as the General Manager of the Clarence River County Council in January 1994. Also from that date, Peter held the position of Secretary to the NSW Floodplain Management Authorities, as well as Secretary to the Northern Region Local Emergency Committee.
Peter continued his career in the water industry as Manager of Water and Sewerage Reticulation at Maroochy Council, followed by a move to Gold Coast Water where he has held the positions of Coordinator of the Project Management Office; Program Manager for the Pimpama Coomera Waterfuture Project; and currently is the Executive Coordinator for Major Infrastructure Programs. The Pimpama Coomera Project is a comprehensive implementation of integrated urban water cycle management including the largest urban water recycling scheme in Australia. A community of more than 120,000 people will reap the benefits of water sensitive urban design, with Class A+ water reticulated to their premises.
Mr Charlie Hargroves Charlie, a graduate in Civil Engineering from the University of Adelaide, is a co-founder and the Executive Director of The Natural Edge Project, a non-profit partnership on innovation for sustainable prosperity. The Projects flagship collaborative publication ‘The Natural Advantage of Nations: Business Opportunities, Innovation and Governance in the 21st Century’ (Earthscan 2005) was awarded the Banksia Award for Environmental Leadership, Education and Training in 2005 and the team is now working on an update of ‘Factor 4’ with Ernst von Weizsacker, and a response to the Brundtland Commission’s ‘Our Common Future’ including a foreword from Gro Brundtland. Charlie and the team from TNEP have developed a range of projects focused on education, training and strategy for sustainable development, including working with international partners such as the European Climate Exchange, Chicago Manufacturing Centre, World Technopolis Association, UNESCO and Rocky Mountain Institute, along with Australian partners including Santos, KBR, VicUrban, Griffith University, QUT, RMIT, CSR Limited, Hatch, and the Queensland EPA Sustainable Industries Division.
Mr Jeremy Harris Mayor Jeremy Harris served for more than ten years as the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, the 12th largest city in the United States. He retired from politics in January 2005. Prior to becoming Mayor, he was Honolulu's longest serving Managing Director, a position he held for nine years. Mayor Harris is currently a senior visiting faculty member in energy and environment at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, and an advisor on sustainability to the National Academy of Science in Washington D.C. Professor Gordon Holden Gordon Holden is an Architectural and Urban Design educator and is currently the Head of the School of Architecture at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand where he is also Deputy Dean and Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor of the Faculty of Architecture and Design. Gordon was recently elected President of the international body - Commonwealth Association of Architects.
He has contributed to and has lead Architectural education nationally and internationally over a period of thirty five years, including twenty five years at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia the final eight years as Head of the School of Architecture, Interior and Industrial Design. His research expertise is in Urban Design theory methods and practice as well as in architectural education.
He taught Urban Design at QIT and QUT within courses in architecture, landscape architecture and town planning and he established Australia’s first urban design course at QUT in 1988.
Gordon acts as an Urban Design consultant, mainly in providing expert assessment of projects and preparing reports, but also in analysis and design proposal work. He has organised and contributed to numerous Urban Design
conferences and publications and he has acted a juror and chair of several urban design awards. In 2000 he
Mr Ben Lee Ben Lee recently received the 2004 Ernest H. Hara, FAIA Distinguished Service Award from the University of Hawaii School of Architecture. Raymond Yeh, Dean of the School of Architecture, said the “award recognizes outstanding leadership in and service to the architecture profession in Hawaii serving as an inspiration to others in the field.” He is “recognized for his distinguished record of service and his significant leadership role in Hawaii and at the City and County of Honolulu.” Appointed in 1985 as the first architect to hold a Cabinet level position in the City and County of Honolulu, he became Managing Director in 1998 and is responsible for the day-to-day management of the City. He serves as the principal advisor to Mayor Jeremy Harris on planning, design and land use issues. Mr David Mepham David is employed by Gold Coast City Coast as the Coordinator of the Transport Futures Unit. He also lectures part time for Queensland University of Technology in planning and urban design. He has a particular interest in the areas of Transit Oriented Development, pedestrian accessibility, community transport and the specific transport needs of older people and people with disability. He is currently involved in the planning of the Gold Coast Rapid Transit. Mr Richard Neville Richard Neville is Australia's most controversial Futurist. He has been a practising futurist since 1963, when he launched a magazine that widened the boundaries of free speech on two continents. His aim is always the same: to stimulate, alert and inform people about the rapid approach of the future. What are the patterns behind the blur? What are the driving forces of change? How will our lives be affected? Richard looks at work, learning, lifestyle, cities, high tech, the new economics, weather, the seven deadly threats facing the world, and more. As well as dealing with the perils and promise of what lies ahead, Richard offers his audience a range of take-away tools for decoding the future. Mr Michael Norton OBE Michael Norton is a speaker, social innovator and author of ""365 Ways to Change the World"". He is a man intent on changing the world - and enlisting others to do so on a daily basis. His infectious enthusiasm and ingenious approach to social innovation is both practical and influential. A merchant banker turned social activist, Michael Norton has devoted the past 30 years to running voluntary organisations, picking up an OBE on the way for services to charity. He wears his social conscience lightly and is determined to put the fun back into doing the right thing, showing how the smallest actions can have an impact on a local community as well as the wider world.
Dr Daniel O'Hare is an Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the School of Sustainable Development, Bond University. He has worked as Senior Lecturer and coordinator of the postgraduate Urban Design Program at QUT from 1993 to 2006. He holds a PhD and coursework Masters in Urban Design from Oxford Brookes University, and Bachelor of Town Planning from UNSW (University Medal). His main research interests are urban design for tourism; cultural landscape interpretation and management; and urban design for walkable cities. He has a number of publications in these areas, in journals including Urban Design International, International Journal of Heritage Studies, and conference proceedings published by Australian, UK, and Chinese universities, government departments and professional organisations.
Mr Robert Prestipino Robert is a Qualified Urban Designer and Registered Landscape Architect with over 20 years experience in the design and revitalisation of public spaces. His passion for the improvement of the urban environment has lead to the establishment of Vital Places, a company that promotes best practice in the improvement of places for people and business. Mr Liam Proberts Since commencing architectural practice in late 1990 Liam has focussed an expansive approach to design in creating a vibrant design culture in business and creating unique and valued architecture for his clients and the region. His experience and contributions range across residential ,educational facilities and public projects.
A product of inner Brisbane Liams focus on subtropical living provided solutions for the urban renewal of his city. As co -founder of Fairweather Proberts his influence has encompassed wider areas of design and architecture. His collaborative approach has included working with artists and other design specialists in producing a diverse range of architecture that is commercially aware and embraces sustainable outcomes. Ms Virginia Rigney Virginia Rigney is Curator Public Programs at the Gold Coast City Art Gallery. Her work there over the past four years has been concerned with developing ways to build community understaning and bonds through an appreciation of both the heritage and contemporary cultural issues of the city and the objects within the city collection. Projects have included the exhibitions Sold the Gold Coast Real Estate Dream, All the Glitters Contemporary Visions of the Gold Coast, Surfing the 60s- the Emergence of Surf Culture on the Gold Coast and work for the exhibition Scott Redford and the Gold Coast, . She has also been involved in developing public programs on issues such as Highway Heritage and Surf Culture and writing the chapters about the Gold Coast Collection for the recently published book on the Gold Coast City Art Collection . Virginia studied at the ANU and Sydney University and began work in the mid 1980s on the redevelopment of the Powerhouse Museum Sydney, then at the AGNSW on Bicentenial exhibitions and later at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She became Assitant Keeper and later Curator of Twentieth Century Collections at Glasgow Museums in Scotland and worked on a number of projects for the the 1990 European City of Culture. Returning to Australia via a few years in Asia she worked freelance as a curator in Sydney , Perth and Darwin before joining GCCAG in 2003.
Ms Vivian Romero investigating how neighbourhood form inhibits or encourages children’s independent journeys to school. She initiated her expertise through her brief profession as a school facilities site planner and through her Master’s of Urban and Regional Planning degree at the University of California, Irvine. She is primarily interested in how neighbourhood form enlivens daily experiences from a user’s point of view. A/Prof Peter Skinner Peter Skinner FRAIA is Associate Professor and former Head of Architecture at the University of Queensland, where he teaches architectural design studios and architectural technology. In 2000 he won the RAIA Robin Dods Award with Elizabeth Watson-Brown for the design of the St Lucia House. Current architectural design research explores prototypes of higher-density, lower-impact housing models for the subtropical city. Peter is an active critic and contributor to the debate for higher standards of urban design in South-East Queensland and regularly reviews architecture for the leading professional journals. Peter is a Queensland RAIA Chapter Councillor and, in 2007, has served as the RAIA Awards Jury Director for Queensland. Mr Michael Sorkin Michael Sorkin is the principal of the Michael Sorkin Studio in New York City, a design practice devoted to both practical and theoretical projects at all scales with a special interest in the city. He is involved in the planning and design for a highly sustainable 5000 unit community in Penang, Malaysia. He is the Director of the Graduate Urban Design Program at the City College of New York. From 1993 to 2000 he was Professor of Urbanism and Director of the Institute of Urbanism at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Previously, he has been professor at numerous schools of architecture including Cooper Union, Columbia, Yale, Harvard, Cornell, Nebraska, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Minnesota. Sorkin lectures widely and is the author of many articles in a wide range of both professional and general publications and is currently contributing editor at Architectural Record and Metropolis. Ms Caroline Stalker Caroline is an architect/urban designer with over eighteen years experience leading and participating in major urban design projects throughout Queensland and in the UK, working at both strategic and detailed design levels. Her project work has encompassed a range of scales, from centres design, to regional centres revitalisation, school masterplanning, design guidelines, greenfields masterplanning as well as individual public spaces, medium density housing and public buildings.
Caroline has a particular commitment to delivering outstanding design quality and specialist skills in working across disciplines to achieve integrated urban design outcomes. Her work has won both Planning Institute of Australia and Royal Institute of Architects awards. Caroline is recent past president of the Urban Design Alliance of Queensland, and was chair of the 2005 Gold Coast Urban Design awards jury. Mr James Tuma James Tumal eads the design studio for urbisJHD in Brisbane. A landscape architect and urban designer, James has recently returned from several years in UK where he successfully built the office of a leading practice in London and
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