The ECOEDGE Conference

Urban environments or urban disasters?
10–11 February 2005

Cities around the world are in crisis. However, while many urban centres remain mired in environmental gridlock, a range of local and international designers are responding to the challenges of social, economic and ecologically sustainable development in many varied and innovative ways.

ECOEDGE, the latest in the renowned CityEDGE conference series, will explore the question of whether cities can rightly be classified as urban environments or urban disasters. Presented by the City of Melbourne since 1999, the CityEDGE conference series provides a platform for critical discussion and debate on urban design, architectural and planning issues facing cities today.

CityEDGE brings together prominent, innovative thinkers and practitioners, both international and Australian. This allows those concerned with the development of cities to interact directly with people whose work has significantly reshaped and improved the living conditions in major urban centres around the world.

The upcoming ECOEDGE conference will explore the phenomena of cities as sites of environmental imbalance and examine the range of actions that may be taken in response, through the prism of case studies from the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States of America, South America, India, South Africa and Australia.

To launch the two day conference there will be a free public lecture on 9 February 2005, held in conjunction with the Melbourne Conversations Series at the BMW Edge theatre at Federation Square.

For further information visit www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/cityedge, phone the City of Melbourne Hotline on (03) 9658 9658 or email cityedge@melbourne.vic.gov.au