Sufficiency in Urban and Human Settlements

Moderator:

Prof. David Ness

Prof. David Ness from the University of South Australia (UniSA), has a background in architecture, urban and infrastructure planning, and strategic asset management. David conducts research on fair, sufficient, and circular resource use, delivering more services with less resource consumption and cost. He was awarded a grant from Australian-French Research and Innovation Association (AFRAN) to organise the 1st International Forum on Sufficiency during 2022-23, after winning the Arup 2017 Global Research Challenge to adapt the circular economy to the built environment. He heads ‘Ecological Development Union International (EDUI)’, a not-for-profit association that seeks to integrate environmental improvements with socio-economic development. Within the context of the SDGs, David examines ways in which wealthier societies may dramatically ‘shrink’ their absolute resource consumption and GHG emissions, while redistributing resources to enable the disadvantaged to improve services, shelter, and infrastructure. He has advised UN ESCAP and UN Habitat on ‘green growth’ and sustainable, integrated, and inclusive infrastructure, led a training course at the International Urban Training Centre, and evaluated a major UN environmental program. He has authored over 120 publications, including The Impact of Overbuilding on People and the Planet (2019), and co-edited The Green Economy and its Implementation in China (2011).

Keynote:

Yann Francoise

Yann Francoise is the Deputy director of the Climate and Ecological Transition Directorate and the Head of the climate department at City of Paris. Yann has led since 2004 the development of Paris Climate Action strategies gathering commitments and actions of all Paris’ community, from citizens to companies. Under Yann’s leadership, the climate change department of Paris city developed a variety of tools and policy instruments to reduce Paris’ carbon footprint and to prepare the city for the expected climate change. In 2021, UNFCCC awarded Paris Climate Action developed by Yann’s department.
Yann represents the city of Paris at the Global Covenant, C40, and other international organisations. He is member of national steering committee for French GHG inventory audit, member of the board of National Carbon database, or member of IG3 IS steering committee. Yann is also a co-author of Summary for Urban Policymakers of IPCC reports (SR1.5 & AR6).

Pannelists:

Prof. Daniel A. Barber

Prof. Daniel A. Barber, University of Technology, Sydney (Australia). His most recent book is Modern Architecture and Climate: Design before Air Conditioning (Princeton University Press, 2020), following on A House in the Sun: Modern Architecture and Solar Energy in the Cold War (Oxford University Press, 2016). He is co-editor of the annual Accumulation series and of the forthcoming series “After Comfort: A User’s Guide” both on the e-flux architecture online platform. Daniel recently co-edited, with Fallon Aidoo, a special issue of Future Anterior focused on preservation and retrofit. Daniel is part of the Cohabitations editorial collective, supporting interdisciplinary and multi-sited research on climate, displacement, and design. He lectures internationally, including recently “Architecture in the Overshoot” to close the exhibition Anthropocene at the Narodowy Intytut Architektury I Urbanistyki, Warsaw, Poland. Daniel has also held academic positions and fellowships at Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale, and at the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Berlin), the Rachel Carson Center (Munich) and most recently as Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies (CAPAS), Universität Heidelberg. He is a 2022-2023 Guggenheim Fellow, working on the project Thermal Practices.

Ms. Helen Huan Ni

Ms. Helen Huan Ni received her M. Phil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge with UK Government’s Chevening Scholarship and has extensive experience in developing and managing international projects. In 2016, she founded the native environmental NGO Shanghai Green Light-Year Environmental Service Centre, promoting sustainable lifestyles in urban and rural communities in China. Her NGO work has won awards and been widely reported by international and domestic media. Green Light-Year promotes and practises ESD concepts at three levels: cognition, social emotion, and behaviour change, engaging with Chinese teenagers and youth to better understand and implement the Sustainable Development Goals. Its mission is to make the public enjoy practising SDGs and to become China’s leading ESD organization, organizing experiential and interactive events to make sustainable concepts and actions visible, accessible, and widespread within the city. Helen is a Board Member of the Finance Branch of Shanghai Overseas Scholar Association, has been a China Member of the CEC Committee of International Union of Conservation Network (IUCN), and invited as an expert in low carbon communities by Shanghai Municipal Government. Her home is a mini environmental technology museum, including a CIGS thin field solar plant, aquaponics, and vertical farm, attracting over 15000 global visitors. Helen is the 2017 winner of the Social Impact Award of the British Council Alumni Award.

Dr. Jane Lomax-Smith AM, Lord Mayor

Jane Lomax-Smith is a Pathologist with a career in research and clinical medicine. She trained in London and has worked in Boston and Adelaide where she gained a PhD in immunology.
Jane has run hospital departments and private practices including her own. She is a staunch supporter of conservation of heritage buildings and Adelaide Park Lands. She has held elected office as a City Councillor, Lord Mayor and as MP for the City when she was also Minister for Education and Tourism. She has written Commonwealth and State Government reports on funding for universities and the future of Leigh Creek. She is now the Chair of the Teachers Registration Board and the Don Dunstan Foundation which researches and promotes ideas on a range of social justice issues.