From Flight Paths to School Runs: Mobility, Migration and the Making of Independence
Description
From Flight Paths to School Runs: Mobility, Migration and the Making of Independence
Date: Tuesday, 08 September 2026
Time: 1:00pm - 2:30pm
Location: Nelson Meers Foundation Auditorium, Chau Chak Wing Museum
How do beings—human and non-human—learn to move through the world, and what social, cultural, and environmental conditions enable or constrain that movement?
This session rethinks transport by exploring mobility as something learned, enabled and shaped across species, cultures and environments. It begins with one of the world’s most extraordinary travellers: the bar-tailed godwit, whose young undertake a 9,000-kilometre migration alone at just a few months old, relying on instinct and fragile ecological networks that span continents.
We then turn to children in Australia, where independent mobility has declined significantly over recent decades. Despite growing evidence of its importance for development and wellbeing, fewer children today are able to navigate their neighbourhoods freely—a shift shaped by urban design, risk perceptions and social norms.
Finally, we examine mobility through the lens of migration and parenting. Different cultural approaches to care, autonomy and aspiration shape how families move through cities—and across the globe—with many making significant daily and life-changing journeys for their children’s futures.
Together, these perspectives reveal mobility not simply as movement from A to B, but as a deeply social and environmental practice. From birds crossing oceans to children crossing streets, this session asks: what makes movement possible—and what happens when those conditions change?
Speakers
Judy Harrington, BirdLife Australia
Jennifer Kent, University of Sydney
Simon Gatward, Photographer
Christina Ho, University of Technology Sydney
Chair
Emily Moylan, University of Sydney
Speakers Bio
Judy Harrington
Judy Harrington is a retired “Bird Nerd” and Educator. She worked at Sydney Olympic Park for many years as an Environmental Ranger and is a long-time member of BirdLife Southern NSW. She was involved for many years in monitoring shorebirds in the Parramatta River estuary and with other environmental projects in the area. Educating people about birds is her passion – particularly encouraging children to look and learn at Nature around them: as a long-time teacher, Grandmother and bird lover. She even met and worked with Jeannie Baker when she started on her book “Circle” -showing her the Godwits in the local wetlands.
Jennifer Kent
Associate Professor Jennifer Kent is based in the Discipline of Urbanism at the University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning. Her research sits at the intersection of urban planning, transport and health, and she specialises in combining quantitative and qualitative data with understandings from policy and social science to trace the practical, cultural and political barriers to healthy and sustainable cities. Key issues examined to date include parenting and private car use, school travel, companion animals and transport, urban loneliness, and the translation of health evidence into planning and transport policy. Jennifer's research is supported by external funding and has informed state and federal urban planning agendas. She publishes widely in leading journals across planning, public health and transport, and her work is highly cited within these fields.
Simon Gatward
Simon Gatward is an award-winning event photographer based in Drummoyne. With a deep passion for visual storytelling, his practice focuses on uncovering the extraordinary beauty within our surroundings and weaving meaningful narratives through the camera lens.
Dr Emily Moylan
Dr Emily Moylan is a Senior Lecturer in Transport in the School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney, where she is leading a research program in the stochasticity of transport system performance. Emily’s research builds on diverse data sources to explore the variability in travel across people, places and time. She is committed to applied research for the public sector demonstrated by her collaborative projects with NSW Health, NSW Dept of Planning and Environment and Transport for NSW.
Christina Ho
Christina Ho is an Associate Professor of Social and Political Sciences at UTS, in the Faculty of Design and Society. She researches migration, cultural diversity and inequality in education, with a focus on experiences of Asian migrants. She is the author of Aspiration and Anxiety: Asian Migrants and Australian Schooling.
Festival of translocal Urbanism 2026
Sydney Festival 7-11 September
National events September – October 2026
Translocality describes the interconnectedness between different places and people, beyond national boundaries. The circulation of people, goods, knowledge and capital, though an ancient process, is facilitated and impacted by new technologies, bringing new opportunities and challenges for cities and regions. Increasingly important, a translocal lens highlights these deep and intersecting relationships between people and places over time – from the legacies of colonisation and environmental change to contemporary patterns of migration and cultural diversity. Through panel discussions, debates, exhibitions, and tours, and featuring thought leaders from academia, the arts, industry, and civil society, the 2026 Festival of translocal Urbanism examines and celebrates the complex social, economic and environmental connections between local and global communities.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
