MC Rosemary Nixon opened the meeting, and the reflection was delivered by President Elect, Philip Cornish. Honorary Secretary, John Saunders proposed the loyal toast due to President Catherine Baxter absence on leave.
Following the meal service, Hon Secretary John returned to the podium to welcome guests – these are listed under the meeting article. He then called Trevor Nink to the podium to update and remind members about the annual Thomas Baker Oration next week, 14 May. Our Guest speaker is Dr. Megan Clark AC, Chancellor of Monash University, former director of the CSIRO, inaugural head of the Australian Space Agency.
We have a good number of bookings to date as it is a must not to be missed lunch! He reminded members to make sure they are booked to attend URGENTLY to allow us to confirm numbers to the Sofitel.
Honorary Secretary John Saunders then invited Peter Berg to introduce our guest speaker Mark Allan - Enterprise Fellow Urban Analytics at the University of Melbourne Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructure and Land Administration (CSDILA). Mark’s topic was: ‘Intelligent Future Cities – Designing for Resilient and Sustainable Communities.’
Mark leads the CSDILA urban analytics team and as a former Director at the City of Melbourne is a recognised leader in the field of urban design and master planning with expertise in the delivery of sustainable urban precincts and has a legacy of major projects of national and international significance. His research interests include digital twins, people-centric urban regeneration and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Mark gave a very interesting and informative presentation on the work he and his team are engaged in at CSDILA highlighting the challenges arising from the fast growth of urban areas, how these challenges can be met which includes the importance of the use of sophisticated technology in urban planning to create future intelligent cities. He used Melbourne as an example of a modern city that is confronting issues with an increasing population.
Marks’ talk covered 3 areas – Urban Challenges; Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) No.11 and Urban Digital Twins
1. The Urban Challenge is a big issue. Mark described cities as being complex and dynamic – the world’s economic engines and safety valves. Melbourne has added over 1 million people in the decade 2010-2020 (4.08m to 5.16m). 142,000 new residents were added in 2023-24, approximately 2,700 a week. Melbourne has experienced a very high rate of change with the spread of its urban area and also has built the biggest homes in the world.
2. As one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, SDG 11 focuses on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. There are 10 integrated targets in SDG 11 and Mark highlighted 4 of these – housing, transport, urbanisation and green public spaces.
a. With housing, the City of Melbourne has a localised target which by 2030 aims to significantly improve access for all to adequate, safe affordable housing and basic services.
b. On transport, 20th century solutions are obsolete with driving being the least efficient mode of transport. Mark highlighted this with slides showing a sprawling complex road system network and congested road traffic with the high usage of cars.
c. On urbanisation, the State Government of Victoria - Plan Melbourne 2017-2050 sets out an Inclusive and Sustainable Urbanisation Plan with the objective that Melbourne develop a more integrated transport network to connect people to jobs and services. Mark showed a slide on what a more integrated rail network of inner and outer Melbourne areas will look like. Of interest to the audience was the concept of a 20-minute neighbourhood which has the ability to meet most of our everyday needs locally within a 20 minute journey from home by walking, cycling, riding or taking local public transport.
3. Green Public Spaces – Mark emphasised the importance of providing access to safe, inclusive green public spaces in urban areas. An example of this is the proposed City of Melbourne Greenline project planned to regenerate 4 kilometres along the north bank of the Yarra river.
Mark concluded his presentation with an explanation on Digital Twins which is a dynamicrepresentation of real-world objects or systems. Urban Digital Twins model and tests scenarios ahead of building smart cities in the real world. Urban planning benefits of Digital Twins are the managing of data; improved decision making; situational awareness; simulation and predictions and visualisations and engagement. A Spatial Digital Twin can be used in location sharing that gives a virtual representation of a physical location to share data related to that location. Effective use of Digital Twins relies upon – open data sources; collaboration; ethical and conclusive engagement and placing people at the centre of technology.
Mark’s presentation illustrated the significant issues we face with the growth of population in urban areas and how important it is to prepare for these with smart forward urban planning that creates future resilient and sustainable cities. Peter Berg In thanking Mark noted that the CSDILA team is receiving international recognition with the urban planning work that they are engaged in.
The video of Mark's address can be viewed here.
The full meeting recording can be viewed here
