Cities in a Sunburnt Country - a panel of co-authors
This new book considers how Australians have provided water and sewerage for growing, sprawling urban centres. In this land of drought and flooding rains, we may need to rethink water use strategies, including embracing centuries of Aboriginal knowledge, seeing water as a resource to be conserved, rather than wasted or exploited.
Panel
Dr. Margaret Cook is an environmental historian who specialises in the history of ‘natural’ disasters in Australia, especially floods. The history of floods in the Brisbane River catchment was the subject of her PhD (UQ 2018) and is now a book, A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods (UQ Press, 2019).
Lionel Frost is an associate professor in the Department of Economics, and Head of the Monash Business School (Peninsula Campus). He is author of several books and articles on Australian and US urban history and Pacific Rim history, including contributions to the Cambridge History of Australia (2013), Cambridge World History (2015), and Cambridge Economic History of Australia (2015). He is current president of the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand.
Dr. Ruth Morgan is an environmental historian, whose prize-winning work on the histories of water and climate has been generously funded by the Australian Research Council and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She is a lead author in Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report.
Martin Shanahan is Professor of Economic and Business History at the University of South Australia and Elof Hansson Visiting Professor in International Business and Trade at Gothenburg University, Sweden. A recipient of the Butlin Prize in Economic History, he has also written on wealth and income distribution, international cartels, and water markets.
Moderator
Ms Claire Smith, Department of Management, Monash Business School
The annual Festival of Urbanism is a series of conversations where researchers, practitioners, community advocates and industry leaders come together to debate the threats and opportunities facing our cities and regions.
Melbourne: 12 - 17 September 2022
Sydney: 19 - 23 September 2022
Cities and regions are at a precipice – from the climate crisis to rising social inequality and the ongoing global pandemic – the future has never seemed more uncertain. Unsustainable patterns of land and resource-use persist despite extraordinary technological advances over the past century. The pervasive rise of digital platforms has disrupted every facet of society from how we work, travel, shop and socialise to our experiences of home. Urban planning, as a future-oriented discipline, has often embraced new technological solutions at the expense of meaningful community engagement or systemic change. Yet the promise of the so called ‘smart city’, while often unrealised, brings with it a space to explore alternatives, and opportunities for more socially just and environmentally resilient places.
In this context, the 9th Festival of Urbanism asks how our future cities and regions will change, and what interventions are needed to address the mistakes of the past. From reinstating the voices of First Nations’ communities, to transitioning to zero carbon models of development and ensuring affordable homes for the many rather than rising housing wealth for the few, this year’s Festival of Urbanism engages with a wide range of topics through a combination of live and online events, podcasts and films. With diverse speakers and thought leaders from academia, industry, policy and advocacy communities, discussions at the 2022 Festival of Future Urbanism promise to inform, challenge and inspire.
Join us to debate and define opportunities to bring about better urban and regional futures.
Event Details
- Date:
- 15 September 2022 at 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm
- Venue:
- Online
- Register here:
- https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/cities-in-a-sunburnt-country-a-panel-of-co-authors-tickets-390810192807
- Categories:
- Architecture
Description
This new book considers how Australians have provided water and sewerage for growing, sprawling urban centres. In this land of drought and flooding rains, we may need to rethink water use strategies, including embracing centuries of Aboriginal knowledge, seeing water as a resource to be conserved, rather than wasted or exploited.
Panel
Dr. Margaret Cook is an environmental historian who specialises in the history of ‘natural’ disasters in Australia, especially floods. The history of floods in the Brisbane River catchment was the subject of her PhD (UQ 2018) and is now a book, A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods (UQ Press, 2019).
Lionel Frost is an associate professor in the Department of Economics, and Head of the Monash Business School (Peninsula Campus). He is author of several books and articles on Australian and US urban history and Pacific Rim history, including contributions to the Cambridge History of Australia (2013), Cambridge World History (2015), and Cambridge Economic History of Australia (2015). He is current president of the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand.
Dr. Ruth Morgan is an environmental historian, whose prize-winning work on the histories of water and climate has been generously funded by the Australian Research Council and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She is a lead author in Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report.
Martin Shanahan is Professor of Economic and Business History at the University of South Australia and Elof Hansson Visiting Professor in International Business and Trade at Gothenburg University, Sweden. A recipient of the Butlin Prize in Economic History, he has also written on wealth and income distribution, international cartels, and water markets.
Moderator
Ms Claire Smith, Department of Management, Monash Business School
The annual Festival of Urbanism is a series of conversations where researchers, practitioners, community advocates and industry leaders come together to debate the threats and opportunities facing our cities and regions.
Melbourne: 12 - 17 September 2022
Sydney: 19 - 23 September 2022
Cities and regions are at a precipice – from the climate crisis to rising social inequality and the ongoing global pandemic – the future has never seemed more uncertain. Unsustainable patterns of land and resource-use persist despite extraordinary technological advances over the past century. The pervasive rise of digital platforms has disrupted every facet of society from how we work, travel, shop and socialise to our experiences of home. Urban planning, as a future-oriented discipline, has often embraced new technological solutions at the expense of meaningful community engagement or systemic change. Yet the promise of the so called ‘smart city’, while often unrealised, brings with it a space to explore alternatives, and opportunities for more socially just and environmentally resilient places.
In this context, the 9th Festival of Urbanism asks how our future cities and regions will change, and what interventions are needed to address the mistakes of the past. From reinstating the voices of First Nations’ communities, to transitioning to zero carbon models of development and ensuring affordable homes for the many rather than rising housing wealth for the few, this year’s Festival of Urbanism engages with a wide range of topics through a combination of live and online events, podcasts and films. With diverse speakers and thought leaders from academia, industry, policy and advocacy communities, discussions at the 2022 Festival of Future Urbanism promise to inform, challenge and inspire.
Join us to debate and define opportunities to bring about better urban and regional futures.