Event Outline 

This event is designed for professionals in all locations. 

This course is designed to introduce the strategic issues, challenges and opportunities of planning for communities that address and minimise the impact of disaster events on people, place, livelihoods and prosperity. It is intended to provide the context for other ‘deeper dive’ PLANET courses on flood, bushfire and coastal risk. The focus of the session is not jurisdictionally specific – the risk-based growth management and adaptation concepts discussed are applicable across any jurisdiction in Australia. The session will cover:

• Introduction to 'the hazards' – the understanding that all planners should have on climate risks and why they matter in land use planning 
• Strategic issues of the why we plan for climate risk and why it is so critical to think about hazards as a core determinant of settlement pattern and growth management practice – not just as a site-based constraint 
• Socio-economic issues of insurability, investor confidence, and the role settlement pattern and growth management directions play in enabling long term economic prosperity or ‘baking-in’ economic stagnation or decline   
• The policy and funding landscape of disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation – and why risk responsive planning is good economic policy• Data and risk information needed to make good long term growth decisions 
• Strategic, growth management and statutory land use planning methods and tools that make a practical difference  
  

Designed For

People who need to understand more about how natural hazards can adversely impact short- and long-term growth management objectives, and how to minimise, mitigate or actively reduce risk in the built environment and the socio-economics of place – whether at the village or metropolitan scale. The course is particularly designed for strategic planners, statutory planners and policy makers at local and state level.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course attendees will be able to:

• Identify natural hazard risks across the built, social, economic and natural environments – including important concepts and trends and timescales;
• recognise the language and terminology associated with climate hazards and impacts, resilience and adaptation – including the concepts of acceptable and tolerable risk;
• be aware of the short and long term social-economic contexts of settlement-scale decision-making in areas at natural hazard risk;  
• understand the relationship between developing in at risk locations and the repeated / long term reconstruction and insurance costs of doing so; and  
• understand some of the practical risk management, adaptation and strategic/statutory methods and tools that can be employed as part of plan-making to avoid or reduce risks from climate hazards. 

Registrations close 29 September 2026.

Presenter: 

Stephen Dredge MPIA (Fellow), Director, Meridian Urban Stephen is the founder and Director of Meridian Urban, an Australian planning and policy advisory firm. He is an urban planning executive with over 20 years of Australian and international experience across a range of fields including land use planning, urban policy, disaster resilience, reconstruction, and adaptation. He is a trusted advisor to all levels of government and communities across Australia in risk-based land use planning, resilient urban growth management, disaster risk reduction, and adaptation. He has designed and delivered multi-year and multi-million dollar planning programs that have influenced for the better where and how our settlements develop. He is an industry leader in strategic planning and policy development, delivering these services for both governance reviews and urban policy changes and national, state and local levels. He has also pioneered many innovations in the integration of natural hazard risk management and climate adaptation into land use planning practice that are embedded across multiple Australian planning jurisdictions.  Stephen also has practical experience in governance, administration and communication in the response and recovery phases of multiple disaster events since 2012 which provides him with unique insights in the application of disaster resilience policy and strategy to on-the-ground practice.

Important Note: 

Please login 10 minutes before start time to test your audio and visual.

This course is delivered to attendees nationally but will be hosted in Australian Eastern Standard Time (Brisbane QLD), for a time converter for your state please see HERE

Terms & Conditions

Registrations cancelled more than 14 days prior to the event date will not incur any fees and a full refund will be granted.

If you cannot attend and you are within 14 days of the event date, you can transfer your ticket to another person.

In all other situations we cannot issue a refund or credit.

PIA collects and maintains personal and sensitive information in line with our privacy policy. To view the PIA privacy policy please visit the PIA website.