On Wednesday 20 March, almost 90 people attended the Malvern Town Hall to hear presentations by leading industry experts, including:-

· Lailani Burra - Chief Executive Officer, id. - The Population Experts

· Steve Dunn - former Executive Director, Victorian Planning Authority

· Kathy Mitchell - Chief Panel Member, Planning Panels Victoria

· Jeremy McLeod - founding architect behind the award-winning Nightingale Housing Model

The symposium aimed to help the community better understand the reasons behind demographic and built-form changes, and to help increase their understanding of the planning influences that affect Stonnington. Following the presentations, the experts took part in an informative and lively panel discussion with panellists responding to questions from the audience.

Feedback from the community on the symposium has been positive with participants saying:

“I thought the Architect who presented about different housing models was excellent. We need more developments like that in Stonnington”

“I like that we could listen to the issues from very experienced speakers. I am going home to talk to my friends and neighbours and going to take it all on board.”

It is hoped the symposium will assist the community in participating and providing meaningful feedback into the Housing Strategy community engagement work currently being undertaken by Council.