2026 FIELD TRIP

Join us for a FREE immersive field day exploring how we can bring green back into the grey.

Following the success of our 2025 event across Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park and UTS which attracted more than 120 attendees from planning, design, sustainability and development, the FIELD TRIP returns with a new site focused experience.

This year we will explore a series of urban sites, with expert presenters discussing active greening interventions in Bondi Junction.

In partnership with Waverley City Council, Westfield, AGIN and Mainstreet Australia with leading architects, landscape architects, academics, researchers and industry partners, this field day will showcase practical and scalable solutions for creating resilient and sustainable urban environments.

LOCATION - BONDI JUNCTION, NSW
THURSDAY MAY 7 10am - 4pm, followed by networking drinks

Supporting partners

🌱 WHAT TO EXPECT

A guided walking field day from 10am to 4pm, followed by networking drinks

Hear from leading architects, landscape architects, sustainability experts and delivery partners as we explore the potential of transforming underutilised hot grey spaces into thriving green landscapes, with discussions focused on:

Green place making in elevated and commercial precincts
Combating the urban heat island effect
Rooftop gardens and productive landscapes
Biodiversity integration in dense urban areas
Developments in water dentention and retention systems
Temporary and fixed greening interventions
Converting car park rooftops into climate positive community assets
Designing for climate resilience
Biodiversity outcomes in commercial precincts
Data driven greening strategies
Delivering scalable urban cooling solutions

Networking session from 4pm onwards
The day will conclude with a relaxed networking session hosted by Future Village and partners. An opportunity to connect, collaborate and continue the conversation.

🌱 EXPERT PRESENTERS

Professor Fraser Torpy, Dr Peter Irga & Gabby Duani

Professor Fraser Torpy, Dr Peter Irga and Gabby Duani lead research into green infrastructure as a nature-based solution to urban heat island effect and climate resilience in cities. Their work focuses on city-scale installations of urban parks, green roofs, green walls, and street trees, investigating how vegetation can cool urban environments, reduce energy demand and create more liveable public spaces. With an internationally recognised body of peer-reviewed publications and strong partnerships with government agencies, local councils and industry across Australia, Europe, Asia and the United States, their research directly informs the design, policy and implementation of green infrastructure in the built environment.

Luli Castello

Luli is an Argentinian architect with an engineering mindset, passionate about reconnecting cities with nature through sustainable, functional design. Her career has been shaped by a belief that the built environment should work with nature to create healthier, more resilient places for people and biodiversity. Luli founded Urban Bioma to help bring green infrastructure ideas to life in practical, achievable ways. Building on that, Luli started the Second Nature Mission: Greening Retrofits, a mission to improve existing buildings by integrating nature-based solutions that strengthen both communities and ecosystems. At the heart of her work is a drive to make cities greener, more resilient, and better connected to the natural systems that sustain them.

Professor M. Hank Haeusler

Professor M. Hank Haeusler is the ARC ITTC Centre for Next-Gen Architectural Manufacturing (Arch_Manu) Director, Lead CI of a CRC-P grant on 3D printing, and Deputy Director UNSW AI Institute. His team is specialising in post consumer plastics and their potential.

Haeusler was Founding Director of the Computational Design degree at the UNSW Sydney, the world’s first Computational Design bachelor’s degree. As a researcher, educator, entrepreneur, and designer in computational design he authored of 150+ academic publications and raised over A$16M research funding. He also is Head of Research, Foresight and Innovation at Giraffe Technology, a platform for the AEC sector and has lectured internationally at several universities.

Dr Lisa Portolan
Dr Lisa Portolan is Managing Director of Horizon Communication Group and a specialist with close to 20 years’ experience across federal and state government and agency environments. She has led major campaigns and complex regulatory communications, including work for the Treasury, nbn and NSW Health. Lisa brings a strong academic lens to her practice, with a focus on cultural studies, social impact, women’s agendas, and sustainable futures. Her approach combines strategic insight with deep expertise in behaviour change and public engagement, enabling organisations to navigate complexity and connect meaningfully with audiences on critical social and environmental issues.

Green Horizon is the sustainability and social impact arm of the award-winning communications agency Horizon Communication Group. It specialises in utilising powerful storytelling and communications programs to inspire awareness and change behaviours on the environmental and social issues that matter most.

Jared Lawler

Jared is the founder of Cloud Grow, where he leads efforts to enhance green infrastructure with advanced technology. Cloud Grow’s "bolt-on" solutions, incorporating sensors and data analytics, are designed to optimise the performance and maintenance of green infrastructure, reducing costs and improving efficiency. This approach ensures that green infrastructure is not only effectively monitored but also contributes to better air quality and a more sustainable urban environment.

Ben Perry & Peter Casimaty

Peter and Ben are the co-owners of Future Village that has designed , manufactured and built some of the world's first green infrastructure products including the first commercial planters, hanging baskets and saddle planters with water reservoirs and wicking as well as the first garden trays for rooftops, open spaces that can offer rainwater detention / retention and wicking capabilities. Future Village specialises in greening, cooling and water saving practices for public and open spaces.

Alex Georgouras

Alex is a registered landscape architect, researcher, and educator with over 15 years of experience across practice and academia. He is the founding director of Studio Georgouras, an award-winning practice specialising in public realm, urban design, and public art. Alex serves on the Willoughby City Council Design Excellence Panel and is a member of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects. He is also affiliated with the International Federation of Landscape Architects and Green Roofs Australasia. Through published work, conference presentations, and events like the International Festival of Landscape Architecture, Alex advocates for liveable, equitable, and ecologically integrated cities.

He was the recent recipient of the NSW Government's Green Innovation Grant for his project 'Skyparks' – investigating transferrable greening of unused rooftop spaces in Sydney.

Ian Collins & Eric Sturman

WaterUps was founded in 2015. Their focus was to build a company that could commercialise the age-old concept of ‘wicking’ and to allow wicking bed technology to be used in commercial, civil, and horticultural environments as well as the home garden. Seven years later our mission still rings true: to provide innovative sustainable solutions for improving food security, urban greening, and water management.

Ian is the CEO and a co‑founder of WaterUps, where he combines commercial experience with a strong interest in practical, sustainable outcomes. Alongside his business life, Ian is a highly experienced rock climber and mountaineer. More recently, he has taken up painting and is now an acknowledged, award‑winning artist.

Dr Judy Friedlander

Judy’s expertise and impact in environmental advocacy stems from her varied and professional background in high-level journalism, academia, campaigning and sustainability research. Before founding the PlantingSeeds organisation, Judy had an impressive media and journalism career. She worked as a newspaper editor and feature writer for The Australian, The Sun-Herald and The Sydney Morning Herald, and was a current affairs producer at Channel Nine. Judy’s passion for environmental issues has always been at the forefront of her work and studies with much of her media work devoted to sustainability interests and investigations. Her PhD at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney developed expertise in proven strategies for engaging corporates and the public in impactful environmental initiatives. Judy believes that biodiversity issues have long been seen as subsidiary but are finally receiving the vital attention they need – with species loss at an all-time high and practical actions now absolutely imperative. She is also a passionate believer in the ability of urban areas to regenerate and increase biodiversity. Judy is also an Adjunct Fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology Sydney.