SPEAKERS

Anna Chauvel

Anna Chauvel is a city shaper, landscape architect, and urban designer driven by a belief that great places can improve people’s lives. Her work focuses on creating public spaces that foster connection, inclusion, wellbeing, and a sense of belonging. As co-founder of PLACE Laboratory, Anna helped shape a practice dedicated to advancing human-centred, place-based design. Since joining Placemaking NSW in 2025, she has brought this passion into a client-side leadership role, guiding complex public domain and precinct projects that shape the future of communities. Anna is committed to challenging conventional approaches to create cities that are more inclusive, equitable, and responsive to diverse experiences. Her leadership is grounded in curiosity, collaboration, and a desire to create meaningful places that enrich everyday life. Across strategy, design, and delivery, Anna’s aspiration is simple: to help shape better places for people and leave a lasting positive impact through the public realm.

Philip Vivian

Philip Vivian is an architect and urban designer who specialises in city transformation. He has studied Global Cities and Urban Design at the London School of Economics and Columbia University, New York. He is the Managing Director of Bates Smart, having led the Sydney studio since 1998. A specialist in large scale architecture and urbanism, Philip has helped shape Sydney’s architecture, transport and public domain. He has led the planning and implementation of Sydney Metro overstation developments at Victoria Cross, Gadigal South and Parramatta.

Dean Cracknell

Dean is a Co-Founder and Director of social enterprise Town Team Movement, creator of Placemaking.Education,Co-Instigator of the Tasmanian Alliance for Placemaking and one of the 100 global PlacemakingX People.

Following a 12-year career in urban planning in two local governments, he now works in the gaps in between:

• people and places
• local governments and local communities
• organising and action
• social, economic, and environmental improvement

Nicole Dennis

Nicole Dennis MPIA is a nationally recognised community engagement strategist and urban planner with over 20 years of experience working at the intersection of people, place, and planning.
Nicole founded Cobalt Engagement on a simple but powerful conviction: that the best placemaking outcomes begin with genuine trust between communities and decision-makers. She designs bespoke, place-led engagement strategies that go beyond tick-box consultation to create the conditions for lasting change, shaped by the lived experiences of the people who call a place home.
With a background in urban and regional planning, Nicole has delivered strategic engagement programs across the public and private sector, navigating complex planning challenges through meaningful public participation, transparent knowledge sharing, and targeted stakeholder conversations. Her work spans city-shaping projects, resilience and adaptation planning, regional planning, and community-led place activation.
Nicole is a member of the Planning Institute of Australia (Women in Planning Committee), the Engagement Institute, Urban Land Institute NSW (Women's Leadership Co-Chair), and Women in Construction.

Sara Kelly

Sara led the Broadmeadow Place Strategy project for City of Newcastle and now plays a key role in driving its implementation. She is dedicated to guiding the community through complex planning processes, ensuring their values are championed. With a planning career in Local Government spanning fifteen years, Sara has worked in development assessment, strategic planning, compliance and project management.

Michael Rodrigues

Michael Rodrigues is NSW’s first ever 24-Hour Economy Commissioner, having been appointed in April 2021. In December 2023, the Commissioner’s role was made statutory, and the Office’s remit was expanded from Greater Sydney to all of NSW.

• In the role, Michael leads the Office of the 24-Hour Economy Commissioner in NSW Government and is responsible for delivering the NSW 24-Hour Economy Strategy.     
• Michael has been a passionate and vocal advocate for NSW’s 24-hour economy for many years. He launched global lifestyle brand Time Out in Sydney in 2007 and served as Managing Director until 2021.  
• Motivated by the challenges facing Sydney’s night-time economy, Michael also founded and chaired the Night Time Industries Association from 2018-2021, which played a critical role in overturning the lockout laws.
• Fun Fact: Before diving into the world of media and night-time advocacy, Michael Rodrigues was a Civil Engineer in Sydney and a Senior Lawyer in Dubai, after graduating from UNSW.

Anika Hoffman

Anika is an accomplished landscape architect with experience across a diverse range of project types, both in Australia and internationally. Her portfolio spans open space and master plans, parks and recreation, residential, defence, and public realm projects, reflecting a versatile skill set and an ability to adapt to varied cultural and design contexts. She is highly regarded for her strong communication and presentation skills, which support her in building productive relationships with clients, consultants, and stakeholders. Anika plays a key role, ensuring alignment between project vision, client expectations, and technical delivery. With involvement in all stages of the design process—from early concept development through to detailed documentation and construction—Anika brings consistency, clarity, and attention to detail to every project. Her collaborative and proactive approach helps drive design outcomes that are both practical and refined.

Paris Kirby

Paris Kirby is a Senior Placemaking Specialist at Auckland Council's Urban Development Office, working across programmes in Auckland's city centre. With over a decade of experience running her own placemaking agency Social Ritual, and a background as a practicing artist (MFA), Paris brings a creative, people-centred lens to the built environment. A certified Healthy Streets and Human-Centred Design practitioner, she is focused on the growing convergence between placemaking and urban health. In 2025, Paris presented at the International Conference on Urban Health in Wellington and co-hosted a placemaking hui in Auckland with PlacemakingX and Project for Public Spaces.

Mike Horne

Mike Horne has over 30 years local and international experience; working across masterplan, civic, residential, education, infrastructure, open space and ecological projects - for both private and government sectors. Mike has been instrumental in numerous landmark projects including Central Park Sydney, Sydney Park, Sydney Olympic Park and Sydney University Public Domain.

Mike led Turf’s public domain design for the Stratford Waterfront: a new cultural and educational district in London’s Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park 2015-2017. Prior to establishing Turf, Mike worked for the NSW Government - first as Principal Landscape Architect at the NSW Government Architect and from 1995-2000 seconded to the Olympic Coordination Authority as Manager, Games Design. Mike has taught in the Urban Design Masters program at University of Sydney and undertaken many speaking engagements; including the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and Harvard Design School. At Turf, Mike is in his 18th consecutive year designing Central Park Sydney: from masterplanning implementation & handover of public domain with Jeppe Aagaard Andersen of Denmark.

Mike also led the City of Sydney’s internationally acclaimed, multi award winning Sydney Park Water Reuse project. He was Public Domain lead on the Waterloo Estate Masterplan team (for LAHC). He also designed Gosford’s new waterfront park; working in collaboration with client Hunter Central Coast Development Corporation, and key stakeholders Central Coast Council and Darkinjung Land Council.

Other recent significant projects include Sydney Place with Foster & Partners for Lend Lease, Sub Base Platypus Stage 2 for Harbour Trust and the Bradfield City Masterplan for Western Parkland City Authority.

Cat Burgess

Cat is a highly-skilled industry leader with more than 30 years at the forefront of design and marketing, with a major focus on places, cities, culture, and innovation. In 2019 Cat became Head of Frost*Place, specialists in place visioning and branding to address the challenges and opportunities of urban life. Cat is passionate about the power of design to champion innovation and human-centred outcomes. She has worked for many of Australia’s largest brands including Qantas, Woolworths, Dan Murphy’s, Mirvac, John Holland, NRMA and the Sydney Opera House. Cat specialises in large, city-shaping projects. Her experience includes Quay Quarter, Darling Park, Central Park Sydney, as well as flagship projects in China, Seoul, Malaysia, and New Zealand. She is a respected expert speaker, past Chair of the NSW Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA), and a lead Placemaking Juror for the Australian Good Design Awards in 2024 and 2025.

Tom Oliver Payne

Tom Oliver Payne is the National Place Strategy Director at Hoyne, leading place strategies for major precincts across Australia. Educated at the University of Sydney and London’s Bartlett School of Architecture, he works at the intersection of city strategy, identity and human experience, uncovering the deeper DNA of sites and translating it into clear, future-focused direction. Over more than a decade, Tom has delivered city-shaping projects across urban renewal, town centres and greenfield developments, and teaches Urban Design and Placemaking at the University of Sydney.

Codee Ludbey

Codee Ludbey is redefining how cities think about security and resilience. Not as a constraint on public life, but as an enabler of great places. As Managing Director of Core42, he leads strategic security design across major public precincts, transport networks, and cultural destinations throughout Australia and the Asia-Pacific. His work fuses design thinking with protective strategy to make security legible, testable, and enduring. A quiet architecture of safety that supports trust, movement, and belonging. From city-shaping masterplans to complex infrastructure, Codee helps teams integrate resilience to protect what makes a place worth experiencing. Alongside his practice, Codee’s doctoral research at the University of Technology Sydney explores protective placemaking and how perceptions of safety, design culture, and city governance shape the future of public space security.

Aunty Donna Ingram

Aunty Donna is a proud Wiradjuri woman with extensive facilitation, interview, and research experience in a range of cross-cultural settings, including as part of policy and review processes for Government and non-profit organisations. Donna has a rich background, working in Aboriginal affairs for Governments and various community organisations in Sydney for almost 40 years. Donna is proud of her role as a Cultural Representative for the local Aboriginal community in Sydney and has presented Welcome to Country at many major events over the past 11 years. Donna was elected to represent her community as a Councilor on the former Sydney Regional Council of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and contributed to policy development as part of this role

Dr Annie Burgess

Dr Annie Burgess is a social researcher and placemaking specialist with extensive experience researching urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lived housing experience, as well as leading place-based engagement and community-led design and evaluation. Originally trained in architecture, Annie now works as a specialist at the intersection of research, placemaking, and urban design, embedding community knowledge, stories, and lived experience meaningfully and authentically into the built environment.

Andrew Coward

Andrew is an experienced placemaker, built environment strategist, and engagement specialist with over 15 years of experience working across Australia, South East Asia and Japan. With a focus on the nexus between place strategy and ‘real world’, on ground implementation, his consultancy works with a range of major Australasian development and funds management clients, local councils, state governments and community organisations to create thriving, successful destinations and vibrant, connected communities. Andrew is the Sydney District Council Chair of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), a founding member of its Asia Pacific Placemaking Product Council, a member of the NSW Government’s 24-Hour Economy Advisory Group and was previously an advisory board member of the Design Futures Council in Australia. His consultancy recently won the Best Main Street Place Activation award in Australia as part of the 2023 Main Street Awards.

Chris Patfield

Dedicated precinct Place Manager with experience in operational management of public spaces, capital delivery, place governance, place activation and place measurement. Trained as an urban planner, Chris also has relevant experience as a strategic and statutory planner working on many complex projects as a consultant. Now working in the public sector, Chris is a passionate advocate for realising the vision of Parramatta being a global city full of world class experiences and opportunities to gather, create and accelerate. Chris is also an MBA candidate at the University of Sydney.

Dr Sarah Barns

Sarah Barns has spent two decades developing digital tools and methods for surfacing the hidden intelligences of places and the people who shape them. Her work asks a consistent question: how do we build digital systems and experiences that honour and enliven the multiple, layered stories of places, to help cultivate belonging and long-term value? She is the founder of Studio ESEM and STORYBOX.CO, a trusted adviser to cultural organisations and local governments, and author of Platform Urbanism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). Her current fellowship at RMIT University's Centre for Urban Research addresses civic AI practices for place-based communities.

Dylan Goh

Dylan Goh is an independent street dancer, producer and arts marketer on Gadigal and Bidjigal Country with a decade of experience in the creative industries. He currently works as a Producer at City People. Dylan’s work champions underrepresented artforms and communities, particularly queer and diasporic youth, and he brings a deep commitment to inclusive governance, cultural literacy, and transnational artistic exchange. He is the Australian founder of Palette Session, a not-for-profit experimental dance collective in Sydney and Seoul, and Co-Chair of Cypher Culture. Dylan is also the youngest trustee at the Sydney Opera House and an inaugural member of Festival Commons by Sydney Festival. As a dancer, Dylan’s artistry is rooted in the gay dance of punking / w*acking which emerged from underground gay clubs of Los Angeles in the 1970s such as Paradise Ballroom and Ginos. He currently leads community jam sessions for local punkers / w*ackers through Sydney City.

Sacha Coles

Sacha Coles is a Sydney‑based designer and landscape architect recognised for his contribution to urban placemaking and the role of landscape in shaping inclusive, enduring public environments. Working across landscape, design, art and public space, his project‑led practice explores how people move through, gather within and emotionally connect to cities. Sacha’s landscape‑led approach creates places that support wellbeing, social exchange and delight, while responding sensitively to site, climate and cultural context. His work spans major civic spaces, waterfronts and urban precincts across Australia and internationally. As a speaker, Sacha offers a reflective and engaging perspective on placemaking, sharing insights into how creativity, collaboration and care can shape more equitable, human‑centred cities. He contributes actively to design discourse through teaching, public forums, juries and media, and is widely published and invited to speak on the future of public space.

Tim Judd

Tim has over 24 years’ experience in transportation and land use planning, road safety, public transport and active travel. Tim is a board member of Streets for People, a Board Director for Westcycle, a member of the Cycling Walking Australia and New Zealand Design Innovations Working Group and a panel member of Main Roads WA/IPWEA Road Safety Panel. Tim has also been actively involved in developing the Healthy Streets framework and is an accredited Healthy Streets Assessor and undertaken over 200 Road Safety Audits as a senior road safety auditor. Tim’s works on advancing our understanding of streets and the role of street design within places.

Jackson Morphett-Field

Jackson leads the City Activation and Community Events team at City of Parramatta Council, delivering a diverse portfolio of community events, grants, street entertainment and place-based activations across the LGA. With experience delivering major outdoor festivals, programming multi arts venues, leading creative programs, and local government economic development, he takes strategy from plan to practice delivering safer, more vibrant public spaces.

Dr Michael Cohen

Dr Michael Cohen is the director of City People, an Australian organisation committed to strategising, planning and implementing arts and cultural programs that build stronger communities and better places. City People's projects include creative placemaking strategy, implementation planning and project delivery. Current clients include Singapore National Arts Council, NSW Health Infrastructure, Transport for NSW and Bradfield Development Authority. With a background as a practising artist, Michael subsequently spent eight years working as a creative producer for NSW State government. Here he worked at the forefront of strategy and implementation for arts and culture-led placemaking projects in some of the most visited precincts in Australia. City People was founded in 2017 because the directors saw a gap between arts and cultural policy for places and the actual experiences of people on the ground. With over 50 years in combined experience as practicing artists, placemaking creative producers and arts strategists for governments, they decided to fill this gap as experts who could speak the language of artists, communities and government.

Hamish Dounan

Hamish Dounan is a Director at CONTEXT and a Registered Landscape Architect with more than two decades of experience leading the planning and design of significant public places across Australia and internationally. His work spans urban precincts, transport and infrastructure, parks, and civic spaces, with a strong focus on culturally significant sites. Hamish has led the design and delivery of major city-shaping projects including Campbells Cove Promenade at Circular Quay, part of Sydney’s cultural ribbon, Parramatta Light Rail Stage 1, Berrys Bay Masterplan, South Head, and Middle Head, working closely with government agencies, design review panels, and multidisciplinary consultant teams. His experience covers strategic visioning through to detailed implementation, with a deep understanding of how design excellence, community outcomes, and complex approval processes intersect. In addition to professional practice, Hamish is a member of the NSW Government Architect’s State Design Excellence Review Panel, where he contributes to the assessment and advancement of significant projects across the state. At the Australian Placemaking Summit, Hamish brings a practitioner’s perspective on the role of landscape design in shaping meaningful, inclusive, and enduring places within Australia’s cities and towns.

Frank Vassilacos

Frank is an experienced people leader, strong collaborator and passionate planning strategist with over 15 years’ experience within the local government and private sectors, having led multi-disciplinary teams to achieve integrated and pragmatic outcomes. Frank is particularly experienced in the fields of statutory and strategic planning, transport and water infrastructure delivery, economic development, activity centre development and placemaking. With a strong focus on community engagement and effective communication, he is passionate about establishing and fostering positive stakeholder relationships.

Lorraine Lock

Lorraine is a senior cultural placemaking, media and marketing specialist with extensive experience leading creative precincts, major city activations and night-time economy initiatives in inner-city Sydney. She works at the intersection of culture, small business, government and the creative industries, developing place-based strategies that drive visitation, economic impact and cultural identity. Recent work includes leading Vivid Sydney and Great Southern Nights initiatives for Hollywood Quarter, the Oxtravaganza and Eastside Unlocked festivals, and creative micro-precinct strategies. Known for collaborative leadership, strong government and stakeholder relationships, and translating cultural vision into measurable economic and community impact, she is currently the Precinct Manager at Hollywood Quarter and Rainbow Precinct and founder of Precinct Lab.

Obelia Tait

Obelia is an urbanist and Director of Inhabit Place, working at the intersection of data, design and lived experience to shape better public spaces. With a background in architecture and urban planning, she has delivered projects across the public and private sectors over 25 years. Her work now focuses on understanding how people actually use space—capturing real-world behavioural data to reveal patterns of connection, exclusion and everyday life that traditional approaches often miss. Through this work, Obelia advocates for a more inclusive, human-centred approach to cities, embedding evidence into how we plan, design and manage public space to better reflect the needs of the communities who rely on it.  

Dan Smith-Light

Dan Smith-Light is the Director of Operations at Kensington Street Hospitality Precinct in Chippendale and is a Director at the Chippendale Collective, one of the 24 Hour Economy Uptown Program districts. Dan has experience delivering large-scale activations, and place-based initiatives in inner-city Sydney. He operates at the intersection of hospitality, events and precinct development, driving initiatives and programming that increase visitation, commercial performance and community engagement. Dan has led high-impact events and street activations, including most recently, the full street closures for the IAC welcoming party (4,000 pax) and SXSW Sydney programming (2,000 pax). His work focuses on activating urban spaces through curated experiences that support local businesses, enhancing the cultural identity of the precinct while also delivering a memorable experience for visitors.

Stephen Burton

Stephen Burton is a creative placemaking strategist and founder of POMO, he is also the host of Spotify’s only dedicated Placemaking podcast: The Placemakers. He works at the intersection of urban narrative, community co-design, and built infrastructure. His work helps cities and regional centres transform functional spaces into places people genuinely value, by embedding history, ecology, and culture creatively and directly into the public realm. Unlike traditional consultants, Stephen bridges strategy and delivery, ensuring that big ideas are realised on the ground. He has led award-winning projects across Australia.

Heleana Genaus

Heleana Genaus is a multi-disciplinary leader dedicated to the vibrancy and economic resilience of Sydney’s inner-urban hubs. As a practicing architect (Gear Projects) and local business owner (Rising Sun Workshop), she brings a dual perspective to urban renewal—balancing technical design expertise with the lived reality of the precinct. Currently serving as the District Coordinator for the Newtown Enmore Business Community, Heleana acts as a vital bridge between local enterprises and government. Her work is uniquely complex, navigating the strategic priorities of two distinct local government areas: the Inner West Council and the City of Sydney. Heleana is a fierce advocate for "place-first" policy, ensuring that the eclectic, bohemian character of the Newtown, Enmore, and Erskineville precinct is protected while fostering sustainable commercial growth. At the heart of her work is a commitment to ensuring these iconic Sydney neighbourhoods remain inclusive, creative, and economically thriving.

Rebecca Cadorin

Rebecca Cadorin is an Associate and Senior Lighting Consultant & Inclusive Urban Designer at Arup, specialising in night-time placemaking, safety and experience‑led design in public spaces. Her work integrates lighting, public art and inclusive design to support wellbeing, belonging and participation after dark particularly for women, girls and gender‑diverse people.

Sarah Mathews

Sarah is a community leader and placemaking advocate with over 15 years of experience in marketing, community engagement, and social impact initiatives. As the founding CEO of the Little BIG Foundation and Director of the Flour Mill Business Collective, Sarah is focused on developing programs and events that bring people together, foster connection, and create vibrant spaces that help to reduce loneliness. Prior to this, she held senior marketing roles across the corporate and not-for-profit sector and coached Senior Executives from around the world on leadership and management capability.