Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Sunday 14 March
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Across March we’ll be Reading the City; shining a light on the many ways we understand and talk about Melbourne itself. From the city as an abstract concept to the physical landscape in all its permutations, we’ll be hearing from visual artists and architects, policy makers and designers, novelists and historians. The City of Literature becomes the focus, and you’ll never read it the same way again.
Urban Sprawl, Melbourne 2030 Sunday Forum
In the first of two Sunday Public forums, the Centre teases out some of the issues and pitfalls in how we conceive of Melbourne’s growth. The state government 2030 initiative has fans and detractors, but what does it all really mean? High density or urban sprawl? More roads or improving public transport? Are our options ‘boom or bust’ or ‘boom and bust’? What price for growth?
Chaired by Sally Warhaft, the panel will include Rob Adams, Michael Buxton, Elliot Fishman and Jane-Frances Kelly.
Featuring
Sally Warhaft
Sally Warhaft is a Melbourne broadcaster, anthropologist and writer. She is the host of The Fifth Estate, the Wheeler Centre’s live series focusing on journalism, politics, media, and international relations, and The Leap Year ...
Rob Adams
Professor Rob Adams is currently the Director City Design and Projects at the City of Melbourne and a member of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization. With over 46 years' experience as an Architect and Urban Designer and 35 years at the City of Melbourne, Rob has made a significant contribution to the rejuvenation of central Melbourne. His recent focus has been on how cities could be used to accommodate and mitigate rapid population growth and the onset of climate change.
Michael Buxton
Professor Michael Buxton joined RMIT in 1998 after 12 years in senior management with Victorian Government Planning and Environment agencies, and with the Victorian Environment Protection Authority.
He formerly headed the intergovernmental process for Australia’s National Greenhouse Strategy, the group responsible for the development and implementation of environmental policy in Victoria, and has ten years experience in local government.
He is a former lecturer at Monash University, Melbourne, and has published extensively on environmental and planning issues.
Elliot Fishman
Elliot is one of Australia’s leading experts on sustainable transport and oil vulnerability. He has worked both internationally and around Australia on a variety of transport issues, with a special interest in energy and infrastructure planning.
He has advised the Prime Minister’s Office on petrol prices and acted as Expert Witness on Canberra’s Senate Inquiry into Australia’s Fuel Supply and Alternatives.
In 2009, Elliot produced Australia’s first Peak Oil Contingency Plan, commissioned by a local council.
He has written numerous articles for The Age, the Herald Sun and industry journals on transport, energy and sustainability as well as regular appearances on Channel Seven’s Sunrise program.
Elliot is currently the Director of the Institute for Sensible Transport.
Jane-Frances Kelly
Since moving to Australia in 2004, Jane-Frances Kelly has worked as a senior adviser to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Boston Consulting Group, the Vice-Chancellor at Melbourne University, the Chief Commissioner at Victoria Police, and the Victorian and Queensland Premier’s Departments.
Since 2009, Jane-Frances has been Cities Program Director at the Grattan Institute, an independent public policy think tank.
She played a central role in the 2020 Summit, and has also spent two mid-winters working with Noel Pearson.
Previous to this, Jane-Frances worked at the UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, where she led the team which produced the first UK Government’s Strategic Audit. She has returned to work in the UK on several occasions, most recently from March-May 2009.