Roads to regenerative urbanism

Date: Tuesday, 16th September 2025

Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm

Location: Chau Chak Wing Museum

A recent study from the US estimates that roadways account for 25-35% of urbanised land mass. As (predominantly) public spaces, roads present unique, but often forgotten, opportunities in regenerative city agendas. This panel conversation considers strategies such as: slowing streets to make roads safer spaces to share; regenerative co-uses such as solar panel roads and biodiversity corridors; as well as the politics of reclaiming roads and the role of roads in acts of protest.

Chair

Dr Jennifer Kent, Senior Research Fellow, Urban and Regional Planning and Policy

DECRA and Robinson Fellow, University of Sydney

Panel

Sara Stace, President, Better Streets

Eamon Waterford, CEO, Committee for Sydney

Professor Kevin Krizek, Professor of Environmental Design and Transport, University of Colorado Boulder

Dr Jennifer Kent is a Senior Research Fellow in Urbanism at the Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning. Jennifer’s research interests are at the intersections between urban planning, transport and human health. She specialises in combining quantitative and qualitative data with understandings from policy science to trace the practical, cultural and political barriers to healthy cities. Key issues examined to date include parenting and private car use, the links between health and higher density living, the interpretation of health evidence into urban planning policy, the health impact of extended commute times, and cultural and structural barriers to sustainable transport use.

Sara Stace, Better Streets is a national charity that empowers people and organisations to advocate for better street outcomes in their mentions - to get more kids walking and riding to school, create safer streets with slower traffic, install more crossings, build cycleways, and support businesses with outdoor dining and trees.

Eamon Waterford is the CEO of the Committee for Sydney, an urban policy think tank advocating for the whole of Sydney, focused on developing solutions to the most important problems we face. The Committee is supported by over 150 of Sydney’s key business, academic and civic institutions.  

Prof Kevin J. Krizek is Professor of Environmental Design at the University of Colorado Boulder and former Senior Advisor for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment at the U.S. Department of State. Trained in transport science, his current work examines how cities actuate policy to ensure access to services across different modes of travel. His recent book presents a practical, future-ready agenda for urban transport planning. He has shared these ideas in his TED Talk, nationally published essays, and in The End of Traffic and the Future of Transport. International appointments include Radboud University; Fulbright Specialist, Medellín, Colombia; and a U.S.–Italy Fulbright Scholarship.