World cities are home to the vast bulk of humanity.

Urban environments are also responsible for 75% of global emissions. 

In this international discussion, experts explore the transformative power of Green Infrastructure (GI) in urban landscapes and examine innovative ways to make cities smarter, greener, and more communal - places where people can live for generations to come.   

• The transformation of 'concrete jungles' into liveable green hubs does not happen overnight nor by accident.  It needs tremendous imagination, willpower, and collective effort. How can we do this?
• How can we deeply rethink resources, their value, and the concepts of ‘scarcity’ and ‘abundance’ to make a sustainable, habitable world?
• How can we integrate nature, infrastructure, and technology?  
• What are some of the most innovative green tech solutions leading to change for the better? 

Host

Anthony Bourke: Professor of Architecture at the University of Technology Sydney and TV Presenter; Australian host of the popular TV series Grand Designs Transformations, Restoration Australia, and Grand Designs Australia (all on ABC TV)

Panellists

Remy Sietchiping: Internationally recognised expert and UN strategist on Urban Planning and Geographic Information Systems; Chief of Policy at UN-HABITAT, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, Nairobi, Kenya.

Germain Briand: Owner and director of the internationally acclaimed company, The Urban Canopee, on a bold mission to accelerate our cities’ greening through innovation to fight climate change and re-connect people with nature.

Jua Cilliers: Recognised global leader in urban planning and green infrastructure solutions, 'A Defender of the Future', Head of the School of the Built Environment, University of Technology Sydney.

Rob Stokes: Leading Australian spokesperson on city planning and the importance of Net Zero Cities; former New South Wales Minister for Planning and Public Spaces.

Global Gamechangers is presented by the UTS Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, as a series of public conversations about the issues that matter. Find out more at uts.edu.au/partners-and-community/events/global-game-changers

Watch the video recording of this talk on YouTube.

Impact Talks at UTS is produced by UTS Impact Studios, a podcast studio that unlocks academic research through engaging and accessible podcasts.

Sound engineering is by Alison Zhuang.

Six problems. Six solutions.

• Natural disasters and local communities.
• Sustainable building on a large scale.
• A carbon tax and climate economics.
• Engaging the public on climate change.
• The potential of algae to replace common materials.
• Recycling glass in new ways.

Hear three minute presentations from leading UTS experts and industry practitioners on solutions related to rethinking disaster recovery, new materials to drive a circular economy, climate-adapted businesses, and ways our cultural institutions are addressing the climate crisis.

Speakers

Professor Elizabeth Mossop, Creative Industries Strategic Lead and Academic Director, Northern Rivers Living Lab, UTS

Associate Professor Stefan Lie, Co-Director, Material Ecologies Design Lab, UTS

Dr Mona Mashhadi Rajabi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Climate Risk and Resilience, UTS Business School

Dr Unnikrishnan Kuzhiumparambil, Senior Research Fellow, Climate Change Cluster (C3), UTS

Dr Jenny Newell, Curator for Climate Change, Climate Solutions Centre, Australian Museum

Carmel Reyes, Climate Action and Sustainability Manager, Powerhouse

Sam Kernaghan, Director of Resilience at the Committee for Sydney offers a response to the climate solutions discussed.

This event was part of Climate Action Week Sydney, supported by City of Sydney.

Impact Talks at UTS is produced by UTS Impact Studios, with sound engineering by Alison Zhuang.

In this extraordinary 'year of elections', voters in many parts of the world are being asked, not just to choose between parties and candidates, but to decide whether they still believe in the democratic system itself?

Fintan O'Toole asks why systems and values that had been taken for granted for so long are now in such peril. He argues that a central part of the problem is the distortion of the sense of victimhood.

There are profound injustices but the rising far-right movements have little interest in remedying them, Instead, they take the language of resistance to oppression and distort it into a self-pity in which even those who are highly privileged can feel sorry for themselves -- and imagine themselves to be victims of some other group.

The result is a politics of tribalism in which defeating the Other is much more important than gaining anything tangible.

How can we combat this drift into tribalism and restore the sense of common purpose without which democracy becomes hollow?

Fintan O'Toole (keynote speaker) is one of Ireland's leading political and cultural commentators. Fintan is a columnist with The Irish Times and Leonard L. Milberg visiting lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University.

He is the winner of both the Orwell Prize and the European Press Prize, and the author of more than 25 books. His most recent book, We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958, was named 2021 Book of the Year by the Irish Book Awards and as one of the ten best books of 2022 by the New York Times.

Dr Anna Funder (moderator) is an award-winning author and UTS Luminary. Anna is the author of Stasiland, All That I Am, Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life and the novella The Girl With the Dogs. Anna’s novel Wifedom was a Sunday Times Bestseller and New York Times Notable Book of 2023.

Roy Green AM (moderator) is an Emeritus Professor and Special Innovation Advisor at UTS. Roy is on the Board of CSIRO and the SmartSat CRC, and he is a member of the CSU Council and Australian Design Council and Committee for Sydney Economics Advisory Council.

The Vice-Chancellor's Democracy Forum (VCDF) is UTS’s premier public lecture series. This is the second of the 2024 forum series, held on 26 September 2024.

Each year, the Vice-Chancellor invites significant thinkers across various fields to engage in open dialogue on topics crucial to today's society and its advancement.

Impact Talks at UTS is produced by UTS Impact Studios, with sound engineering by Alison Zhuang.