ILI Biennial Conference 2023: Nature-based Solutions | Leadership in nature restoration and climate resilience

09:30-16:00 Friday 24th November in the FitzGerald Debating Chamber, Student Centre, University College Dublin

Organised by the Irish Landscape Institute for Landscape Architects, Civil Engineers, Ecologists, Architects, Urban Planners, Environmental Engineers, City Managers, Community Groups, Artists, Nature-based Enterprises, Transport Planners, Heritage Consultants, you…

Agenda 

08:30 Registration will open to allow for early parking. Teas & coffees served.

09:30 Welcome and introduction to the themes for the conference:

• • • Mark Nugent – ILI President
    • Gillian Dick – Manager of Spatial Planning – Research & Development team within the Development Plan Group at Glasgow City Council.  We are delighted to have Gillian who is a passionate expert on place-based NbS. She is our MC and peer debate facilitator.

10:00 Introductory speaker:

• • • Nature-based Solutions | leadership in nature restoration and climate resilience – author, documentary maker, podcaster – ‘A Nature-based Approach: listening to the land speak’

10:30 Theme 1: NbS – celebrating co-creation, inclusion, sustainability & beauty

• • • Case Study: Connswater Greenway, Belfast City
      • Anthony McGuigan – Director, The Paul Hogarth Company
      • Michele Bryans – Chief Executive, East Belfast PartnershipAnthony will present the Connswater Community Greenway project in East Belfast sharing his work on the project along with the story of its development into an urban community that is increasingly living the ‘Green Way’.Michele will present the rich and diverse aspects of community engagement that supported the project.

New European Bauhaus: the impact for Irish towns and cities

• • • • Nicola Matthews – National Contact Point for New European Bauhaus (NEB). Nicola will present on the possibilities of the NEB and explore ways to engage with it at Landscape Architecture and the local authority level. This will include an outline of what has happened to date and recent calls/research.

Case Study: The Ripple Project, Ballina, County Mayo – Ireland’s first New European Bauhaus Award, presented in Brussels, June 2023

• • • • Kevin Loftus – founding director at ACT Studio
        Róisín Byrne – Founding Principle of Róisín Byrne Nature-based Landscape Architect
        Kevin and Róisín will present on the Ripple Project, delving into how co-creation was key to this innovative project in Ballina.

12:30 Lunch

13:30 Theme 2: Net gain for nature? Prove it!

Case Study: collaborative work between ecologists and landscape architects

• Dr Stuart Connop – Associate Professor in Sustainability, SRI, University of East London
• John Little – Grass Roof Company
  • John Little and Stuart Connop will present their experiences of how researchers and landscape designers can learn from nature, and from each other, about how to renature urban landscapes through nature-based solutions approaches.

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG)

• Pat Roberts – Principle Ecologist, MKO Ireland
  • Pat will explain the basic principles of BNG and discuss the application of matrices and the importance of interaction between landscape architects, project managers and ecologists in the delivery of BNG. He will look at the potential barriers and obstacles to the delivery of effective BNG and how they may be overcome.

15:30 VIP address

Please Note: All presentations will include a Q + A session plus an opportunity for delegate discussion.

16:00 Finish

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Running in parallel onsite with the conference will be the:

• Exhibition | Nature-based Solutions: illustrating projects by members of the Irish Landscape Institute alongside ‘Designs for Ballina’ – created by participants of the joint ILI and Connecting Nature Enterprise Platform CPD programme 2023