March 4, 2025
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Our Mainstreaming Program aims to shift WSC principles and practices from being novel to becoming embedded as normal practice in city and town planning, building and management. In 2024, we delivered the webinar series as an avenue to disseminate knowledge from experts and practitioners.
The webinars play a valuable role in:
- bridging gaps in knowledge
- identifying and exploring emerging issues
- building capacity by sharing WSCA and other resource outputs
- facilitating and increasing cross-boundary connections.
Throughout the year, we presented 8 webinars:
- Engaging local government decision makers, with Shelley Shepherd (Urbaqua)
- Economic evaluation in regional Victoria, with Associate Professor Sayed Iftekhar (Griffith University), Jamie Ewert (Alluvium) and Ben Furmage (WSCA)
- Understanding the lifecycle costs of water sensitive investments, with Sally Boer and Dr Dale Browne (both from E2DesignLab)
- Applying WSUD to small infill developments, with Milissa McGrath (Josh Byrne and Associates) and Melissa Manley (Department of Communities, WA)
- Enabling community resilience to fire and floods, with Dr Adriana Keating and Euan Hind (both from MSDI)
- Protecting headwater streams: Ideas for Aitken Creek, with Belinda Hatt and Rhys Coleman (both from Melbourne Water) and Jamie Ewert (Alluvium)
- From theory to practice, influencing decision makers, with Professor John Thwaites and Chris Chesterfield (both from MSDI), Greg Claydon (eWater) and Cheryl Batagol PSM (Alluvium)
- Building community water literacy, with Dr Lucy Richardson (Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub) and Dr Kien Nguyen-Trung (WSCA).
Illustration from the Water for Wellbeing Pilot – Melbourne. Part of the Building community water literacy project
The webinars attracted 580 attendees (from 857 registrations) from over 20 countries. And reflecting this success, we are expanding the series into 2025 to address emerging challenges and opportunities in both Australian and international contexts. Possible ideas for 2025 include:
- Scaling Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Growth Corridors
- Lessons from Developing Countries
- Inclusive Design: Integrating Aboriginal Water Knowledge in WSUD
Stay tuned for updates.
