One Day Symposium 10 July 2012
Race against Time: Population, Urban Growth and Miracles of Technology
Population and urban growth are leading to problems such as increasing traffic congestion, the depletion of conventional energy sources and greater environmental pollution. For example, population growth has led to more houses, more facilities, more energy and more cars, while urbanisation means more roads, more trees cleared, more concrete, greater urban sprawl and an increase in kilometres travelled. Moreover, the combination of these factors means that increasing numbers of people live, work and recreate in greater proximity to pollution sources.
Whilst new technologies may alleviate some of these problems, for example solar energy, modern public transport networks and better urban planning, this requires a substantial investment of money during global economic conditions that are increasingly restrictive to this type of activity.
With around 20% of the world’s population living below the poverty line, millions of people in developing countries are cooking on primitive stoves that release dangerous pollutants into indoor air. While in the developed world, many thousands of people are displaced every year by natural disasters such as floods, tornadoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, and are subsequently forced to live in cramped and unclean conditions, unable to regain a reasonable standard of living.
As part of the 10th International Healthy Buildings Conference, which will be held from 8-12 July 2012, there will be a one day symposium which will focus on balancing and reconciling the problems of equity and environmental pollution that come with inevitable population growth versus the cost of new technologies to mitigate these issues. More information about the program for the conference and symposium is provided below.
Convenor: Professor Peter Sly, Deputy Director, Queensland Children’s Medical Research and Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on Children’s Environmental Health
Venue: Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Queensland, Australia
Program of the Symposium: The program of the Symposia will on the one hand have a very strong international component, but on the other hand will include very relevant local and regional issues. It will include plenary presentations, submitted papers sessions, interactive panel discussions, and poster sessions. The discussions will be led by panels of top practitioners and academics in this broad field.
Tentative Program
Plenary #1: Peter Newman (Director, Curtin Sustainability Policy Institute)
Plenary #2: Professor Kalpana Balakrishnan, Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Occupational Health and Head of the Department of Environmental Health Engineering at Sri Ramachandra University, India
Panel Discussions
WHO Guidelines on Household Fuels
Chair: Michal Krzyzanowski (WHO, Bonn)
Panellists: TBA
Experts Design a City for Healthy Living – Get Rid of Cars and Clear the Air?
Chair: Peter Newman (Director, Curtin Sustainability Policy Institute)
Panelists: Australian and international experts in urban planning and innovations, demographers, transport planners and social scientists
Infrastructure challenges – empowering users
Chair: Janis Birkeland (University of Auckland, NZ)
Panelists: David Hood (President, Institute of Engineers); Peter Kemp (Mycologia, Australia); others TBA
Symposia Registration Fees
| Early Bird Registration (before 31 March 2012) |
$350.00 |
| Standard Registration (after 31 March 2012) |
$400.00 |
| On-site Registration (after 5 July 2012) |
$450.00 |
Symposia registration includes:
- admission to the symposia sessions on your day of choice, all coffee breaks, and lunch that day.
- a symposia program.
Sympsoia registration does not include any social functions.
