Research, Policy & Communicatio Award of Excellence:Greener Places
Recipient:Government Architect (GANSW)
Sponsored by: SESL Australia

Greener Places advocates for and supports the creation of a connected network of new green places and actively promotes the integration of green infrastructure as a driver in the conception and development of projects. This landscape-led initiative is the first urban Green Infrastructure policy for NSW, reflecting the NSW’s Government’s collective vision and expectations in planning, designing and creating a sustainable NSW.
This is a valuable document likely to underpin all built projects in NSW. Rather than present new research on the definition of green infrastructure, it evaluates how existing knowledge needs to be integrated into current policy and legislative frameworks. In this regard it is comprehensive, innovative and essential framework for the next step, which is likely to include more detail on implementation including legislation, statutory planning, the investigation into possible funding mechanisms and the development of a state-wide GIS data base of existing green open space. As a government policy, Greener Places is likely to have a far reach and hopefully influence all development across the state.
Research, Policy & Communication Landscape Architecture Award: Interpretive Wonderings
Recipient: Interpretive Wonderings Team
Sponsored by: SESL Australia

Interpretive wonderings is an important and beautiful body of design research, a collation of “interrelated events that originated from an invitation to map the landscape of an aboriginal community owned station property in southern NSW”. The research, the product of a collaboration between cultures, through art and design, on Country, challenges the conventions of ‘mapping’ and cartography, while also illustrating a rich visual interpretation of Culpra Station.
The work offers a critical approach to the environmental challenges we now face, illustrating how the sharing of knowledge systems might broaden and deepen our understanding of place, and thereby shed new light on how we might sustain Australia’s fragile landscape for future generations. It shows the diversity of our industry and the power of the landscape in the collective understanding of place. At the same time, it establishes a valuable framework for collaboration between indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in the future, and as such is an important step on the path to Reconciliation.
Research, Policy & Communication Landscape Architecture Award: Brilliant Cities
Recipient: AECOM
Sponsored by: SESL Australia

Brilliant Cities is a rigorously researched and compelling document, beautifully communicated and succinct in its message, that begins to situate green infrastructure as a mainstream urban system via a cost-benefit analysis and clear communication. AECOM augmented their research with insights from interviews with councils, statutory bodies and developers to better understand of the financial and regulatory challenges involved. The scope is kept deliberately small (photosynthetic infrastructure: trees, plants, and grass) the methodology is clear, the terms clearly defined, and the claims and proposals backed up by solid referencing to research and case studies around the world.
The research identifies four steps cities must take to enhance green infrastructure in cities: quantify its value; us master plans to integrate it with the city; harness community support for regulatory change; and apply smarter management strategies. Each step is addressed in some depth in the document, and includes the challenges associated with each step as well as possible solutions. Despite, or perhaps because this is a small document, it feels powerful. It has the potential to provide landscape architects with the tools to advocate for the integration of green infrastructure in NSW and thereby contribute to the long-term sustainability and liveability in the region.