Webinar: Building a Sustainable Future – The role of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for off-site construction {ONLINE}
Date: Wednesday, 18 November 2020
Time: 9:30 AM (AEST)
Fee: Free for prefabAUS members with a Digital Subscription | $35 for non-members
Momentum is rapidly growing around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, otherwise known as the SDGs takes a systemic view of sustainable development and the need to better integrate environmental sustainability, social justice and economic growth and prosperity.
The SDGs outline 17 goals which together represent a road map of local-global action focused on the coming decade. It makes clear that society is at a key decision point on multiple intersecting challenges, including climate change. The transformative change demanded by the SDGs requires innovative new knowledge, approaches and partnerships that take into account new, more distributed ways of connecting and creating change. So how will industry, the government and the community engage with the SDGs, and what does this currently look like?
The aim of this presentation is to draw attention to the SDGs (e.g. what they are, how they work, who is leading on them) as a shared framework for sustainability and why the prefab community is well placed to contribute to the SDGs agenda. To this end 4 possible options for off-site construction engagement will be outlined, and practical ways for taking the sustainability agenda forward.
Meet the Speaker: Wendy Steele
Wendy Steele is an Associate Professor in Cities and Sustainability at the Centre for Urban Research (CUR) at RMIT University in Melbourne. She is also an expert commentator on urban planning, policy and governance.
Wendy’s research focuses on cities in the current climate of change. With an emphasis on urban resilience and sustainability, critical infrastructure, urban policy and planning, and climate adaptation at the local scale, her work helps shape solutions to modern building challenges.
Wendy is passionate about helping planners navigate the changing landscape in ways that benefit whole communities. Her latest book, ‘Planning Wild Cities’ (Routledge 2020), discusses the relationship between people and cities, with town planning at the centre.
Wendy holds a PhD and Master of Urban Planning (Hons Class 1) from Griffith University, as well as a Bachelor of Arts from University of Queensland.
She is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow (2013-2015) and Discovery (2015-2017) grant award recipient. She is also an international board member for the journal Urban Policy and Research, and a co-convenor of the Critical Urban Governance Program within the Centre for Urban Research.