Postponed - Designers in Government – showcase and reception

All levels of government – from local councils to state and Commonwealth agencies – have instrumental roles to play in advocating, shaping and delivering good design across the built environment. At this informal reception, designers working within government will showcase their work in a Pecha Kutcha-style format over refreshments.

Alexandra McRobert, NSW Land and Housing Corporation

Matthew Sales, Senior Architect, Blacktown City Council

Julia Pressick, City of Sydney

Benjamin Cohen, City Renewal Authority  

Susie Young, City of Newcastle

Benjamin Cohen is a Project Director/Urban Designer at the City Renewal Authority Canberra and leads the development of a new waterfront park on the foreshore of Lake Burley Griffin. His approach to design within government focuses on utilising a bottom up approach to community engagement as a key driver for ensuring places are human centric, place focused and sustainable.

Alexandra McRobert is a Concept Designer at the Land and Housing Corporation, working on precinct analysis and master planning to deliver well-designed, contextually appropriate social housing across NSW. She is a registered architect with experience across the private, academic, and government sectors focussed on delivering design quality and diverse housing outcomes.

Matt Sales is a Senior Architect in the City Architects Office at Blacktown City Council with a mission to achieve excellence in all designed environments. Matt leads a small team that has a big impact by providing expert Architectural and Urban Design advice to all Council directorates as well as being responsible for the design and delivery of a range of public domain projects and community facilities.

Julia Pressick is an urban designer at the City of Sydney. She currently works in the Development Assessments Unit, with a focus on achieving design excellence across concept plans and development applications within the City. Julia comes to urban design with a background in architecture. She has been working as an urban designer for over 20 years and has experience at state and local governments, as well as working within architecture and landscape architecture studios across Australia and NZ. Julia has extensive experience working as an urban design expert in the Land and Environment Court at all scales of development.

Susie Young is a landscape architect, urban designer and strategic urban planner with City of Newcastle. She has been committed to design, planning and investment in quality public realm and local centres in Newcastle for more than 25 years.  She initiated Bathers Way for Newcastle and is currently co-lead on the Place Strategy for Broadmeadow and Hamilton North.  The strategy requires the collaborative efforts of multiple agencies and contributors and is set to be the largest urban renewal project outside of the Sydney metropolitan area.

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The annual Festival of Urbanism is an initiative of the University of Sydney's Henry Halloran Trust and is hosted in partnership with Monash University.