Regiopolis: Rethinking Australian Regional Cities

Regeneration of many cities is essential to enable their sustainable re-development but importantly to maintain their viability and creativity in this global and rapidly changing world. The predominant focus of Australian planning and design literature is concentrated upon its coattail cities and the problems and challenges these burgeoning metropolises presently. Even state and commonwealth government policies preference these places against the rest of the Australia’s urban and regional centres biasing the focus of the majority of research activities and interrogations. For example, the recent round of the Commonwealth-funded National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) (2010-2013) projects concentrated over 80% …

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The Digital Work Hub Project: a catalyst for urban and regional revitalisation in SEQ

A 2013 collaborative Regional Development Australia project between the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Logan/Redland, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, examined opportunities and challenges for establishing a network of digital work hubs across South East Queensland. The global megatrends influencing the future of work as highlighted by Deliotte & AMP Capital 2013 Its (almost!) all about me. Workplace 2030: Built for us, concludes that workplaces of the future will be designed to connect and facilitate as interconnected hubs providing the catalyst for diverse, vibrant work precincts. Presently however, Australian cities with their agglomeration of knowledge workers and innovative high value added …

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Association’s Australian Regional Development Conference Initiative

The inaugural conference was an unqualified success that saw over 50 presenters take the stage in Albury NSW. The conference has it’s own blog to enable delegates to continue the discussions on-line and will soon publish both peer and non-peer-reviewed papers along with the program podcasts. Visit the ARDC blog here: http://regionaldevelopment.org.au/blog The Awards dinner had over 200 attendees. The conference will return to Albury in 2015, call for papers will open soon.

Mayor of Albury City welcomes delegates to the Australian Regional Development Conference

It’s a great pleasure to welcome you to Albury for the Australian Regional Development Conference. As one of Australia’s leading regional cities, we welcome this discussion and debate to Albury. AlburyCity is a very proud supporter of this event. The challenges facing regional areas cross borders and territories. But the proper planning, discussion and debate of new ideas they are challenges that can be overcome. The Australian Regional Development Conference will focus on issues surrounding economy, planning, environment and community development. The aim of the conference is to advance economic and social outcomes for regional Australia. The conference provides the …

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Energy minister vows to curb the spread of solar farms

Solar farms must not become “the new onshore wind”, Greg Barker, the energy minister has said DECC admits that the spread of solar farms has been “much stronger than anticipated in government modelling” and some have been sited “insensitively”. Ministers have vowed to curb the growth of massive solar farms that blight the countryside, pledging they will not allow it to become “the new onshore  wind”.  In a solar strategy released on Friday, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said: “We want to move the emphasis for growth away from large   solar farms.” It unveils plans to instead put more …

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Property Webinar: Retrofits Environmental Upgrade Finance

Financial mechanism for commercial and light industrial property WEBINAR: Property Retrofits: Environmental Upgrade Finance DATE: Thursday 11 September 2014 TIME: 1-1.45 PM SPEAKER: Mr Eli Court DURATION: 45 minutes, 30 minutes presentation followed by 15 minutes Q&A This 45-minute live webinar session will cover: Environmental upgrade financial mechanism for commercial and light Australia’s commercial and industrial building stock needs upgrading, to reduce energy costs, cut greenhouse gas emissions, improve the work environment for staff and customers and boost productivity. However, the up-front costs of retrofits can be daunting for building owners. Environmental Upgrade Finance offers a new, low risk financing …

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Why Join? Association for Sustainability in Business

The Association for Sustainability in Business provides a platform for industry and academic leaders to share sustainability knowledge, the Association is committed to supporting the sustainable business practices of their members. The Association is creating a community for industry to work together on challenging sustainability issues. Our Purpose The purpose of the The Association for Sustainability in Business is to: Promote continuing professional development for sustainability through conferences and seminars Encourage collaboration and information sharing through industry networking events  Share best practice and knowledge in sustainability The Association for Sustainability in Business – Why join? We provide a peer-to-peer network for the exchange of information …

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Zero Carbon Urban Residential Projects – webinar invitation

This 45-minute live webinar session will cover:

There is much being said by Australian governments about urban renewal. In NSW the proposed urban renewal is more to allow for increases in population. Planning for the future growth of cities is a desirable requirement. We should be looking further than just planning for increasing urban population….find out about Zero Carbon Urban Residential Projects at this webinar hosted by the Association for Sustainability in Business.

Key take outs:
Finance, design and construction of Zero and Low Carbon Urban Residential Developments
Case studies of projects

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Who’s the greenest of us all? Wind farms, light rail and the ACT government

When it comes to renewables, the ACT government clearly feels it has the wind, so to speak, in its sails. Buoyed by two successful solar auctions, Environment Minister Simon Corbell recently announced plans for wind farm auctions to take place. But dreams are expensive, and as ACT citizens will, either directly or indirectly, be paying the bills, some questioning of the vision seems in order. Labor governments love targets, and the ACT’s target is that by 2020, 90 per cent of the energy consumed in the city will come from renewables. Production will be underwritten by a feed-in tariff of …

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Australian Regional Development Conference

The Australian Regional Development Conference will be held in Albury NSW on the 15 – 16 October 2014. There is also the addition of 6 optional workshops being held on Friday 17th October 2014. – See more at: http://regionaldevelopment.org.au/#sthash.qEZuQYbd.dpuf Over 60 speakers will discuss the broad issues of economic, planning, environment and community development in regional Australia. The aim of the conference is to advance economic and social outcomes for regional Australia. The conference provides the opportunity to discuss the challenges, opportunities and future of regional Australia. The Australian Regional Development Conference will be held in Albury NSW on the …

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