The Future of Cities 3-Part Webinar Series - Session Three

Wild Horizons: From domination to integration with nature

Conversations at the intersection of regeneration, adaptation and the built environment

With Special Guests:

Lisa Miller, Wedgetail

Paul Hameister, Nature Based Cities, Hamton Property Group

This session delves into re-wilding as a significant response to the climate crises, while also restoring the vital connection between people, values, and the natural world.

Through initiatives like The Quoin, a recently purchased 5,000-hectare re-wilding demonstration site in Tasmania, Lisa Miller co-founder of Wedgetail, exemplifies how strategic investment can drive large-scale environmental regeneration and foster a more balanced coexistence between people and the environments that sustain them.

Lisa will be joined by Paul Hameister, founder of Nature Based Cities and Executive Chairman of Hamton Property Group. A seasoned property developer and outdoor adventurer, Paul is a leading advocate for integrating living landscapes into urban development. Through Nature Based Cities, he champions the inclusion of green spaces in urban design to create cities we love to live in.

Moderated by Danny Almagor, Co-Founder of Small Giants Academy, this discussion will explore how intentional investments and regenerative practices can reshape our relationship with the land and how we live into the future.

Other webinars in The Future of Cities series include:

June 18 - Rasmas Nørgaard

July 23 - Amanda Sturgeon

Meet Lisa Miller:

Lisa Miller is the Founder and CEO of Wedgetail, an organisation dedicated to accelerating the global shift towards nature-positive economic models. With a background in zoology and evolutionary biology, Lisa began her career as a scientist at the Australian Museum. However, in 2004, she transitioned into the tech industry, where she spent 18 years building and scaling product and growth teams at some of Australia’s most successful companies, including Canva.

Her passion for conservation led her to launch Wedgetail in 2022, with the mission of deploying sustainable investment to conserve and restore biodiversity. Under her leadership, Wedgetail has already committed $18 million to support over 1 million hectares in 16 countries, aiming to secure a future where both nature and humanity can thrive. Lisa's belief in ‘learning by doing’ drives Wedgetail’s hands-on approach, exemplified by The Quoin, a 5,000-hectare living laboratory in Tasmania, where new technologies and practices are tested for large-scale regeneration.

Meet Paul Hameister:

Paul is a former lawyer and investment banker who has been actively involved in property development since 1997.

His professional passion is finding and delivering solutions to complex and challenging development opportunities.

His development business, Hamton has current and completed residential projects of over $4.5bn in the last 19 years.

Paul is the first Australian to have climbed the Seven Summits (the highest peak on every continent on Earth, including Everest in 2011) and complete the Polar Hat-Trick (skiing to the North Pole, the 550km Greenland Crossing and South Pole) all unsupported and unassisted, including being a member of the first all-Australian team to establish a new route from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole (with his daughter).

He has been a member of four expeditions sponsored by the Australian Geographic Society, including a circa 1,000km expedition through unexplored Amazon jungle in the mountainous Sierra del Divisor region. In Peru with Matses tribe support (with his son).

In Nov 22, Paul and his two children completed a 400km crossing of the Sinai on food with Bedouin tribe support. Some of these expeditions have been captured in TV documentaries aired on Discovery and National Geographic Channels globally. He is involved with a number of not-for-profits, including as Founder of Nature Based Cities.

Paul received an Order of Australia Medal in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours to service to exploration and to business.

Meet Danny Almagor:

Danny is co-founder (with his wife Berry) and the Executive Chair of Small Giants. Danny was the inaugural Social Entrepreneur in Residence at RMIT, the founder and former CEO of Engineers Without Borders Australia and is the co-founder and Chair of the Impact Investment Group, and more recently created Sentient Impact Group.
‍

He has founded over a dozen for profit and non profit organisations including The Sociable Weaver, The Impact Club, Beyond Family Office and Beyond Creative. He has served on numerous boards, including many of the Small Giants family of businesses such as Tom Organic, The School of Life, The Cape ecovillage and Pacific Biotechnologies, as well as non-profit boards and advisories boards including the Jewish Museum of Australia, Stand Up, Smiling Mind, The Gross National Happiness Centre in Bhutan. Danny has been recognised through many awards including a Churchill Fellowship, RMIT Alumnus of the Year, EY Social Entrepreneur of the Year, UN PRI Social Investment Pioneer and the Medal of the Order of Australia.

Thank you for supporting Small Giants Academy, a not-for-profit organisation and an ACNC registered charity.