Australia’s premier conference for the built environment is happening this week in Melbourne from the 17th – 19th March.

The Green Cities Conference 2015 is an opportunity for sustainability, construction and design professionals to come together to collaborate on the future of Australia’s built environment, and to create greener and more sustainable cities for our growing population. This year’s theme is ‘Connect’, which focuses on connecting our cities and professionals, to create a better and longer term sustainable city partnerships across the country.

 The 3 day program of events includes keynote speeches from global sustainability leaders; tool sharing and training workshops; and green star building site tours, innovation presentations and leadership masterclasses.

The conference highlight so far has been today’s keynote presentation by architect Michael Pawlyn; his discussion of biomimicry in building design (presented live from London) looks at all the ways we can learn from nature to create a better future. Take a look at his TED Talk, and you’ll see why having him along at the conference could inspire real change in our cities.

Later in the week we will see other speeches, panels and workshops on subjects like retrofitting existing development, town planning innovations and how to future proof our cities. You can download the full three day program here.

The conference is a big opportunity for sustainability professionals to have their voices heard in the mainstream. With major support and sponsorship from companies like Lend Lease, Dulux, Veolia, CSIRO and ProBuild, we will surely see ripple effects throughout the industry that will change the way we look at and plan urban development.

We look forward to seeing what the rest of the conference has in store; if you are in Melbourne this week, come down to the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Collins Street to see what lies in store for Aussie cities and sustainable development in the next few years.