Conference Speakers

Landscape is spatial, economic, political, environmental and social – a product and reflection of our collective imagination. From civic responsibility to cultural specificity, from the topological to the philosophical, the production of landscape is a situated public project.

The Anthropocene era and the effects of large-scale urbanisation and climate change pose massive risks to human life and natural systems. Can prioritising everyday experience above utility increase empathy and our connection with each other and our environments? Can landscape incrementally change the way we think and behave, to generate hybridised resilient cities that are both ecological and sociological?

This year’s conference will share tools and methods to address these critical design challenges. Combining presentations by, and conversations with, thinkers and practitioners from the arts and sciences – both nationally and internationally – the festival will explore public life through the lenses: Life + Death, Love + Longing and Participation + Spectacle.

Ana Abram

Amphibious Lab (UK)
Ana's work is based on understanding of physical, social and political context, through complex design synthesis while engaging with territorial, urban and ecological systems.

Emma Appleton

Office of the Victorian Government Architect (VIC)

Emma has advised on the procurement, design and delivery of significant projects, and champions the role of multi-disciplinary design thinking in shaping great cities.

Sue Barnsley

Sue Barnsley Design Landscape Architects (NSW)
The practice has been involved in a number of influential urban projects and have been recognised for design excellence locally and internationally.

Jacky Bowring

Lincoln University (NZ)
With research interests in memory and emotion, Jacky has explored this terrain in both designed works and scholarly investigation.

Sacha Coles

ASPECT Studios (NSW)
Sacha has led the design and delivery of significant award winning public landscapes on a local and global scale.

Tanya Court

University of Adelaide (SA)
Tanya's work seeks to extend understandings of what constitutes landscape architectural practice though a variety of means.


Carmen Fiol-Costa

ARRIOLA&FIOL (SPN)
Carmen’s focus is on urban regeneration founded on the principles of design excellence, social well-being and environmental responsibility.

Martí Franch Batllori

Estudio Martí Franch (SPN)
EMF is an interdisciplinary practice of independent experts in the field of urban and environmental design, exercising internationally.

Natalie Jeremijenko

Environmental Health Clinic (USA)
The Environmental Health Clinic facilitates public and lifestyle experiments that can aggregate into significant human and environmental health benefits.


Andreu Arriola Madorell

ARRIOLA&FIOL (SPN)
Andreu was Associate Director in the Institute of Urban Development and Olympic Games, Barcelona and has won international competitions such as Wagramerstrasse, Viena and La Rose de Cherbourg, Paris.

Adam Nitschke

Parks Victoria (VIC)
Adam has worked on major design projects including the St Kilda Foreshore Promenade, Point Nepean, the Grampians Peaks Trail, Albert Park and the Shipwreck Coast.

Jenny B. Osuldsen

Snøhetta (NWY)
Jenny has been deeply involved in many of Snøhetta designs, both in competitions and in a wide range of small and larger projects.

Maj Plemenitas

LINKSCALE (UK)
Maj is a recipient of numerous professional and academic awards and is actively researching, innovating, publishing, exhibiting his work and lecturing internationally.

Chris Sawyer

Site Office (VIC)
Chris is one of the founding members of Site Office in Melbourne and is currently Adjunct Professor of Landscape Architecture at RMIT University.

Katrina Simon

University of NSW (NSW)
Katrina's research interests are in design research, mapping, cemeteries, and the impacts of earthquakes and other disasters on cites, focusing on Christchurch, NZ.

David van der Leer

Van Alen Institute (USA)
David is an urban thinker and activator, and in 2014, he was selected in the Urban Land Institute’s 40 Under 40 list of leading land use professionals.

Cees van der Veeken

LOLA landscape architects (NL)
Cees teaches at the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam and has experience as a juror, commissioner, visiting critic and supervisor.

Nick Wood

How About Studio (UK)
Nick Wood is an Architect and Founder of How About Studio, a London based design practice working internationally on projects ranging from event based installations, to furniture and permanent buildings.