Larry Beasley to headline Green Cities event coming to Melbourne in March

International experts, from developers to urban planners, architects to politicians, will be in Melbourne next month to speak about building sustainable environments.

Green Cities 2015, co-hosted by the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) and the Property Council of Australia (PCA), will be taking place on 17-19 March. Experts will be speaking about how to build cities that people fall in love with, design inspired by nature and the economic benefits of good design. Attendants will have the opportunity to learn from international examples of urban planning, technological innovation and development to learn about how to contribute to sustainable environments in Australia.

Headlining the event will be urban planner Larry Beasley CM. Widely considered one of the world's best urban planners, Beasley has been responsible for much of the shape of Vancouver's inner city, heading up suburb revitalisation projects and heritage conservation projects in what has since been called the "Vancouver model of new urbanism". He's advised planners in Dallas, Rotterdam, and Abu Dhabi. At Green Cities 2015, he will be speaking on "Rekindling the urban love affair", explaining how to create cities that are not just economically and environmentally viable, but also comforting and engaging.

Panelists will also discuss ethical investment strategies, and how insurers manage climate change related risk. Green Cities, as much a networking opportunity as a series of presentations, will host a women's leadership breakfast among other events.

As part of this year's event, Green Cities launched a sustainable innovation competition, called Weapons of Mass Creation 2015. The competition saw submissions from companies and organisations such as Stockland, Mirvac and the University of Sydney. The 23 organisations pitched technology innovations, planning strategies and novel designs to the judging panel, which will be presented to the audience on Wednesday 18 March. The winning innovations will receive national publicity in the GBCA's Green Building Voice and the Property Council's Property Week.

On the third day, attendees will get up close to sustainable buildings, with a tour of Melbourne's Green Star sites.

The event itself will be as "green" as possible, with energy use and waste offset.

Urban planners, architects and landscape architects including representatives from Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria, HASSEL, ASPECT studios, Fit Landscape, Cox Architecture, Conrad Gargett and Exploration Architecture will all be present at the event. Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle will launch Green Cities 2015 on 17 March.

Since its launch in 2007, 9,000 people have attended Green Cities.