A leading North American specialist in the field of sustainable urban planning will hold a public lecture in Queenstown on Monday (November 14), Queenstown Lakes District Council strategy and planning manager Vicki Jones said.

Sebastion Moffatt was holding a series of lectures in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch during a two week visit to New Zealand, entitled Bridging to the Future.

"The Council was offered this unique opportunity to host one of the lectures and we are delighted to be able to tap into Sebastion's vast knowledge and experience," Ms Jones said.

The Queenstown lecture would focus on the issues facing our district, drawing on Mr Moffat's resort town experiences.

He would address one of the greatest challenges facing cities today; being how to manage critical systems during periods of rapid change, complexity and surprise on all fronts - environment, economic and social.

Mr. Moffatt received the 'Grand Prix' for his team's submission to the world's first international competition on Sustainable Urban Systems Design (Tokyo, 2003), in which nine teams from existing cities defined 100-year transitions to sustainability.

He was now managing a collaborative follow-up project to create long-range plans and pilot projects for the urban regions of Greater Vancouver, Shanghai, the northern provinces of the Netherlands and the state of Goa, India.

The free lecture would take place at 5.30pm at the Queenstown Council Chambers.

ENDS

For further information about the lecture please contact convenor Murray Ward 021 708 0664.

By: Tamah