Amanda Sturgeon (AS): My first questions are about you, and the key trend you would pick to address the climate change and biodiversity crises.
Kaylee Salvatore (KS): My name is Kaylee Salvatore. I am a Yuin Budawang woman and director of COLA Studio (Country Oriented Landscape Architecture). I want to extend my respects to Elders past and present, and acknowledge the Traditional Custodians from the different countries we’re on today. My key trend is to be centring Country in design. That includes amplifying the voices of Traditional Custodians throughout design projects and including them in decision-making. If we did see an at-large adoption of Country-centred design, I think we would start seeing outcomes that are in line with the regenerative and sustainable ethos.
Alex Lawlor (AL): Hi, I’m Alex Lawlor and I’m an architect working at Architectus as the National Lead for Urban Futures and Resilience. I’ve got a background in sustainability in terms of governance and policy. I think that the biodiversity question would be helped if we were pricing carbon. Currently, we don’t do anything because there is no penalty, except to future generations.
Tom Rivard (TR): Hi everyone, I’m on Gadigal Country. I’m originally from Maine in the States – I grew up on Kennebec Country, where pine forests meet the sea, and I retain a great love for both of those ecosystems. But I fell in love with cities when I studied in Philadelphia, and I retain this love of cities when they are slightly loosened, slightly unpredictable.
I’m an architect; I work as an urban designer and environmental city maker at Realm Studios. Over the past couple of years, we have had the great honour to be working closely with Indigenous knowledge holders in understanding what designing with Country is, and how we fit our professional practices into that.
My vision about what we do – “we” being people in the built environment – is that we not build. I think we have a bigger challenge ahead of us, which is to repair and restore and reassemble.
Daniel Jan Martin (DJM): My name is Daniel
