Greener Cities Start with Partnerships

I check my socials and see Dr Kim Loo, a western-Sydney based GP and member of Doctors for the Environment Australia – has posted another story lamenting the lack of tree canopy, restricting access to nature for many of her chronically sick clients.

A week later I’m in dialogue with the Australian Medical Association (AMA) who are interested to learn about the developments being made in Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI), furthering our mission towards resilient, nature-positive cities that support communities against the impacts of climate change.

Here in the Autumn of ‘25 – after another cranky summer – I am reflecting on 15 years spent publicly advocating for climate action in the public realm (see bio notes below), most recently collaborating on the Australian Urban Green Infrastructure Handbook, a landmark moment in this freshly minted sector.

The Handbook has been warmly embraced by industry and the professions and has generated fresh nationwide engagement in urban greening. 

A National UGI Roundtable is gaining momentum with 12 peak industry bodies rallying behind the cause (read our position statement), urging for a national strategy to address major barriers to accelerating urban greening.

These include formal Asset Class recognition and changes to infrastructure co-funding thresholds to allow for the ‘bundling’ of smaller packages of green and blue infrastructure – on par with the way governments fund traditional grey infrastructure.

The Roundtable also seeks development of valuation methods to determine the benefit of more public, and private, investment in urban greening. The NSW Government has started this with the Framework for Valuing Green Infrastructure and Public Spaces.

Partnerships are the new leadership

We collectively need to make a stronger case for UGI as essential infrastructure for housing, health and a changing climate.

In furthering this goal we can all be more professionally effective through listening, building trust and collaborating, both within the UGI sector and through active engagement with other key sectors – including Health and Local Government.

The power of collective action can be seen in inspiring partnerships such as the work of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA), the Australian Institute of Horticulture, Cancer Council and Cancer Institute NSW, in the ShadeSmart program that promotes planning and design for shade and UV skin cancer prevention.

In Western Australia, AILA are actively engaging with the WA Government to explore funding pathways for a metropolitan urban greening strategy for Perth and Peel. Perth has the lowest canopy baseline of an Australian capital city, along with the increasing threat of climate change and the pernicious Shot-Hole borer (both currently decimating Perth’s urban forests).

In Queensland, working towards the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, AILA has formed a partnership with the Planning Institute of Australia, Australian Institute of Architects and the Design Institute of Australia. Together they advocate for a Green Grid supporting an urban Olympic Forest in South East Queensland. This is part of their collective Olympic strategy, Green Pathways, Gold Places. 

The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal No 17 reminds us: partnerships are the new leadership.

Top image © S. Pfautsch: Sydney Olympic Park. The bid for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and a commitment to a ‘Green Games’ and sustainable Olympic village catalysed Australia’s green building movement.

About the Author

David Martin is a registered Landscape Architect, Collective Impact Strategist, collaborated on the Australian Urban Green Infrastructure Handbook and is part of the National Urban Green Infrastructure Roundtable.

David’s advocacy for climate action spans several years. In 2010 he was Registrar for the AILA NSW International Ideas Competition for innovative responses to urban sea-level rise. In 2011-13, part of a 25-member expert working group tasked with preparation of the Australian Climate Change Adaptation Standard – making the case for the first national level definition of ‘green infrastructure’. In 2014-15 he contributed to CSIRO workshops to identify a national green infrastructure research agenda. 2014-20 he collaborated to develop the national UGI handbook.