Urbanity 2024: Urbanist, Placemaker Kate Meyrick

Passionate urbanist and placemaker Kate Meyrick will headline Urbanity in 2024.

No stranger to the Urbanity mainstage, the inimitable Urbis director is one of more than 50 speakers converging on the Gold Coast at the end of this month.

Meyrick will bring her detailed knowledge of what makes cities tick to the stage to present on radical planning ideas from around the world.

Her presentation will take a global perspective on the unorthodox policies that have delivered value to communities around the world, and what Australian cities can learn from these progressive ideas.

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Meyrick has more than 25 years of international experience in urban strategy and placemaking in Europe, Asia, Australia and the US, and will bring high calibre insights to her Urbanity address.

Last year Meyrick presented on the fairness and equity of six Australian cities and said while the nation’s gross domestic product was in good shape, its cities were not. 

The Urbis research analysed cities across parameters including housing sufficiency, green space, health, education, transport, employment, digital inclusion and cultural exclusion.

▲ Kate Meyrick: The Urbis director is Urbanity 2024’s keynote speaker.

“So, we’ve got a population that’s growing, and we’ve got equity that's declining,” Meyrick says.

“We’re all used to talking about wealth distribution, we’re used to talking about housing.

“But now we’re starting to see new forms of inequality arise. So, lack of access, not just to employment, but to education. Lack of access to green space, differentials in the way that we’re able to access cultural or recreational resources.

“In fact, we have some enormous disparities in the extent to which people are able to connect to transport systems, which means they can't move around the cities they’ve moved into.

“And they become more localised in these areas with entrenched levels of disadvantage, and unfairness.”

Urbanity 2024 marks the sixth year of Australia’s leading conference dedicated to forward-thinking urban development hosted by The Urban Developer.

To be held on the Gold Coast from July 30 to August 1, this three-day event is designed for professionals dedicated to reimagining how our cities evolve, focusing on sustainable, inclusive and technologically advanced urban environments.

Urbanity brings together property developers, leading designers and practitioners, disrupters and thought provokers to unpack key themes such as Net Zero Nation Building, Rapid Housing Solutions, Humanising Cities, Artificial Urban Intelligence, and Planning for Advanced Cities.

Final Release Tickets Available Here