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03 Blue Zones & how to make them

We need connected, resilient and healthy communities for living and working if we're to achieve the sustainability transition.

Discover how sensitive architecture, urban design and the emerging discipline of lonelygenics can help solve the loneliness epidemic and generate stronger communities.

Learn from our expert speakers in residential development, architecture and lonelygenics.

They'll share what great looks like if we want higher densities in our cities and a more engaged productive and happy workforce.

You've heard of those magical Blue Zones – where people often live to 100 and beyond, eat well, have good exercise and a happy social life? How good would it be to live there?

But maybe it’s not all about the food and exercise.

As The Economist last year found residents of a Spanish village that looked set to be declared one of the world's special Blue Zones did not always eat the best food, and probably drank a little too much. What may be more significant is that its residents did most things together with friends, neighbours and family. It turns out the most important ingredient in Blue Zones could be social connections.

At this event you'll discover how to create better residential and work communities. How Australian experts are drawing on global best practice to inform the work of developers, designers, architects and urban planners.

We're making a Blue Zone!

Come visit, stay for lunch

Read more about our speakers and this topic

Petie Walker on Stockland’s social impact challenge

Stockland, along with its consortium partners Link Wentworth, City West Housing, and Birribee Housing, finalised contracts last week for the development of the Waterloo Renewal Project in Sydney with Homes NSW.

Blue Zones are a path to better lives – let’s discover how to create them

There’s enormous and growing interest in social impact from big investors. Sustainability and socially minded capital want assurance that it’s helping deliver better places to live and work.

Blue Zones and how solving our loneliness epidemic can be easier than we think

The thing about our housing crisis is that along with it has come a loneliness epidemic. Perhaps the two things are related.

Speakers:

Petie Walker is the Executive General Manager, Sustainability & Delivery at Stockland. 

Petie has over 25 years’ experience in the property sector across Australia and Asia, with expertise in project delivery, as well as corporate operational and strategic leadership and governance across design, construction, development and asset management.  She joined Stockland in 2017 and is the Executive General Manager of Sustainability and Delivery, with responsibility for sustainability, First Nations, strategic procurement, design and project management functions.  Petie is a non-executive director of community housing provider, Homes North, and a member of the Smart Cities Advisory Board at Macquarie University in Sydney. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Change Management from AGSM, a Bachelor of Applied Science in Construction Management from the Queensland University of Technology and is a Graduate of the AICD Company Directors course. 

Kellie Payne is an Architect and a Director of Bates Smart.
She approaches architecture with a simple but profound belief: it must serve the people who live within it, the places it inhabits, and the planet it touches. With over 30 years of experience, her work is rooted in a deep understanding of how people move through and connect with space, whether at the intimate, human scale or within the broader skyline of a city. Kellie helps lead Bates Smart’s sustainability team that focuses on how architects and designers can make places that are high performance, socially equitable and economically durable. This includes working with clients to prioritise sustainability efforts across all project phases, from premises selection through to final delivery. Key recent clients include Charter Hall, Lendlease and Commonwealth Bank of Australia—organisations all intent on creating a better built environment.

Professor Xiaoqi Feng is the Professor of Urban Health and Environment in UNSW’s Faculty of Medicine and Health and an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the George Institute for Global Health, Australia.
Xiao is a top-ranked researcher in cities and health, leading research programs informing urban planning strategies that improve cities and health sustainably and equitably for millions of people. She is the Founding Co-Director of the Population Wellbeing and Environment Research Lab (PowerLab) and the Chair of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Committee in her faculty as well as the Chair of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology’s Capacity Building and Education Committee. Xiao coined the term "lonelygenics" which will be explored in the event.

Gabrielle McMillan is the co-founder and CEO of Equiem, a global leader in tenant experience technology for commercial real estate. Since launching the company in Melbourne in 2011, she has grown Equiem into a platform used by over 300,000 people across more than 120 million square feet of office space worldwide, with operations spanning Australia, the UK, Europe, and the USA. Under Gabrielle's leadership, Equiem has transformed the way landlords and property managers engage with tenants, turning office buildings into vibrant, connected communities. The platform offers a suite of tools that enhance tenant satisfaction and streamline building operations, including communication channels, amenity bookings, and data analytics. Equiem's innovative approach has been recognized with numerous industry accolades, and Gabrielle herself has been honored in Business Insider’s "Coolest People in Australian Tech" and Bisnow’s "NYC Power Women"
Gabrielle is a frequent speaker at global real estate and technology events, sharing insights on the future of work, tenant engagement, and the role of technology in creating sustainable, human-centric workplaces. Her vision continues to shape the evolution of commercial real estate, emphasizing the importance of adaptability and innovation in meeting the changing needs of tenants and landlords alike.

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Navigating Sustainability 2025: Blue Zones & how to make them

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