Upcoming Events – The Sustainability Society

TSS holds a variety of networking, idea sharing and learning forums which contribute to both:

Supporting our sustainability leaders within the built environment community, and

Engaging with the wider built environment practitioner network to highlight sustainability issues and build the capacities to respond

We work in collaboration with other aligned networks and organisations to create the ‘joined-up’ thinking that is required for the future.

Green Thinks Wellington- Autumn Edition!

Introducing Green Thinks!

We’re excited to kick off our inaugural Green Thinks event with a morning discussion dedicated to the theme of regeneration. Join us as we explore innovative ideas for creating a sustainable future!

Register here to attend

Green Drinks Wellington- Summer Edition!

Join us as we welcome the vibrant energy of summer and embrace the promise of a new year 2025.

As we step into 2025, it’s the perfect time to reflect on our goals and aspirations. Let’s harness the warmth of the season to inspire positive change in our lives and communities. Come connect with like-minded individuals and fuel our collective efforts towards a brighter future!

Register here to attend

Green Drinks Wellington- Spring Edition!

Join us for some refreshments and korero with a springy twist on Wednesday, 25th of September 2024.

Embrace the spirit of taking action! Join us for Auckland Green Drinks on the 25th of September as we celebrate the arrival of spring, hosted by our Organisational Member Morphum Environmental.

Register here to attend

Seminar: Ecological Build Zones

Join us live for a seminar on Ecological Build Zones on Thursday 19th of September 2024.

Zoning regulations are often perceived as restrictive, setting limits on what can be built within an area. But could we utilise green infrastructure to create an ‘Ecological Build Zone’ where zoning restrictions are relaxed for achieving biological targets? What are the challenges we face to bring such ideas to fruition?

Green Drinks Auckland – Spring Edition!

Join us for some refreshments and korero with a springy twist on Wednesday, 11th of September 2024.

Embrace the spirit of taking action! Join us for Auckland Green Drinks on the 11th of September as we celebrate the arrival of spring, hosted by our Organisational Member Awa Environmental.

Register here to attend

Webinar: Tāmaki to Tauranga passenger rail

Join us online for a webinar on Tāmaki to Tauranga passenger rail on Friday 6th of September 2024.

The “golden triangle” of Auckland – Hamilton – Tauranga accounts for almost half of Aotearoa New Zealand’s population with under 5% of the land area. We lack a passenger rail connection between these three important cities, one that can help achieve emissions targets, reduce vehicle use and improve resilience. A big question looms: how can we fund, construct and operate such a link? The event will also include Q&A sessions to encourage meaningful dialogue and exchange of ideas.

Webinar: Māori Urbanism

Join us online for a webinar on Māori Urbanism on Friday 16th of August 2024.

This webinar aims to explore the unique perspectives of Māori values in the context of sustainability and urban development.

During this webinar, we will have distinguished speakers who will provide insights into Māori urbanism and its significance in contemporary urban planning and design. The event will also include Q&A sessions to encourage meaningful dialogue and exchange of ideas.

Green Drinks Auckland and Wellington

We are excited to transition to a quarterly Green Drinks in 2024 (our eighth year hosting this event). Next up in Auckland and Wellington on Wed 29th May.

What is ‘low-fi’ Green Drinks? It’s people with a connection to sustainability getting together for a regular catch up. Simple really. We just want to offer a little incubator for ideas and connections.

Sustainaganza Forum October 2023 I Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington

Sustainaganza 2023 was our inaugural one day forum for innovators and changemakers working to shape our future cities and communities.

We are facing a myriad of complex challenges across Aotearoa and this forum will bring together leaders working in different disciplines right across the spectrum of urban development to explore and experiment with how to tackle these wicked problems in bold and collaborative ways.

Stay tuned for our future plans to grow this system wide conversationaround Aotearoa’s city shaping.

Sustainability Research Symposiums

The Sustainability Society is initiating a regular forum to provide a platform for researchers who are exploring sustainability in relation to aspects of our built environment. We want to support an ongoing dialogue between researchers and practitioners who share a focus and expertise in sustainability.

Our next online forum will be held soon and we are currently inviting any researchers whose work intersects with an aspect of sustainability across the built environment to get in touch with us – sarah@sustainabilitysociety.org.nz.

Waterwalks

We hosted our third series of waterwalks around the country in 2022.

These walks are intended to reconnect the local community and built environment practitioners with a local waterway and provide different stories about it’s history, present and potential futures.

These were held in Auckland, Wellington and Nelson with the help of some of our talented water network in those centres. For the first time in 2022 they were hosted online so that they didn’t need to be postponed due to our changing COVID conditions and therefore we are excited that these recordings can continue to be a resource for people who want to learn more about some of our urban waterways across Aotearoa.

Watch the recordings from these waterwalks here

Please get in touch if you are interested in hosting a waterwalk in your region to explore then history and story of our urban waterways across Aotearoa.

Thanks to our organisational members Tonkin & Taylor and Morphum Environmental for partnering with us to present these waterwalks.

Climate Change Foundations Webinar Series

TSS, in partnership with Engineering NZ, hosted a three part webinar series in late 2021 focussed on foundational knowledge of climate mitigation and adaptation (both physical and transitional).

The recordings of these sessions are available on our vimeo channel here

TSS Webinar Series

We had a hugely successful webinar series in 2021 despite the challenges of COVID and had some very generative sessions that addressed a wide range of sustainability issues and opportunities across Aotearoa’s built environment including:

Te Mana o te Wai – Shaping our Future Work – Watch recording of the session here

RMA reform in Aotearoa and it could form a new approach – Watch recording of the session here

Urban Ecology and the Role of nature in our Future Cities – Watch recording of the session here

Circularity and Doughnut Economics and it’s application in the Built Environment – Watch recording here

Developing Communities of Practice around Rapid Urban Transformation – recording coming soon

Webinar Series – Mobility Through a Water Quality Lens

There is no question that urban roads and the level of vehicle traffic they carry affects water quality in receiving environments. It has been estimated that 10% of all microplastics in the oceans are derived from tyre wear, and sediments, heavy metals and hydrocarbons are washed into our streams and rivers every time it rains. The question needs to be asked, what would our future transport networks look like if we placed improving water quality outcomes as the primary driver?

The Sustainability Society hosted a series of three webinar panels in February 2021 to investigate this question.