Designing with Nature

Designing with Nature is an afternoon of short talks exploring how we can shape our cities, homes, and gardens in harmony with the natural world. Grounded in the idea that good design works with nature, not against it, local experts will discuss approaches to nature-led design that enhance and protect urban biodiversity as well as benefiting our health and wellbeing.

Featuring Dr Thami Croeser (RMIT), Dr Georgina de Beaujeu (Geelong Gardens for Wildlife), and Dr Mary-Jane Walker (The School of Lost Arts), this event will highlight practical and creative ways to design with, and for, nature.

Join us to discover how thoughtful design can help build a more sustainable future.

Tea, coffee, and biscuits will be provided after the talks.

Speaker Bios 

Dr. Thami Croeser is the Deputy Associate Director, Regenerative Environments & Climate Action, at RMIT’s centre for Urban Research. He is an urban planner with a focus on bringing nature back into cities in practical ways, at large scale.Thami actively advocates for cities to convert heavily asphalted streetscapes into tree-lined green corridors, to give us a chance of handling future heatwaves and floods and reconnect urban residents with native flora and fauna. Thami’s highly applied research approach blends urban design, urban greening and geospatial analysis to show how cities can accelerate policy implementation in urban forestry, climate adaptation and urban ecology. His most recent research describes three key frontiers in using nature to protect urban residents from heatwaves.

Dr. Georgina de Beaujeu is an environmental consultant. biodiversity specialist and the Founder of Geelong Gardens for wildlife. She is a strategic and collaborative leader with over 15 years’ executive experience delivering policy, strategy, business planning, and system change across government, private, and the not-for-profit sectors. Georgina specialises in integrating biodiversity, climate resilience, and social equity into policy, planning and performance frameworks that deliver real outcomes for people and nature. Backed by a PhD in landscape-scale biodiversity planning, she brings an evidence-based, cross-sector approach to sustainable development and organisational transformation.

Dr Mary-Jane Walker is both a scientist and an artist. The intersection of these two spheres is the space in which she works through her arts practice, writing and facilitation. She has a PhD in Genetics from the University of Edinburgh and graduated in art from RMIT University. Her interests are in using the creative arts to communicate about complex ideas including creative thinking, action on climate change, biophilic design and threatened species. She works to connect science and the arts. She worked at the Innovation Centre which was part of the London Design Centre and has been a member of the curatorial working group for Geelong Design Week. She is the founder and Director of The School of Lost Arts in Geelong and founder and Creative Director of Maptivate, an interactive mapping platform company.