International conferences coming to a city near you!

The second half of 2025 is set to see two major international conferences of relevance to landscape architecture land in Aotearoa New Zealand for the first time. They are:

The 8th international Adaptation Futures Conference (AF2025) will be held in Ōtautahi Christchurch, New Zealand from 13 to 16 October, 2025. It is hosted by the University of Canterbury Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha with regional Oceania and international partners.

The official event site is: adaptationfutures2025.com

Adaptation Futures is the flagship event of the United Nations World Adaptation Science Programme (WASP). It is described as the premier international climate change adaptation conference series for enabling practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and academics from across the world “to gather to network, collaborate, learn, and inspire”.

Co-designed and curated by local and international experts, the programme includes an exciting calendar of workshops, field visits, arts outreach events, and pre- and post-event discussions. It is a rare opportunity for some of the world’s leading minds to gather and look at how to scale up local and global climate change adaptation responses.

More than 200 sessions are aligned with the event’s core themes of:

  • Indigenous innovation and leadership 

  • Ocean, islands, and futures

  • Cities, settlements and infrastructure

  • The food, water, and biodiversity nexus

  • Health, wellbeing, and future generations

  • The art of adaptation, communication and education

  • Beyond adaptation. 

The 21st International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH 2025) will be coming to Tākina in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington in November.

The official event site is: icuh2025.org

The NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities won a bid to host this international event which has come to our region for the first time, and is regarded as a major coup for the University of Otago research centre alongside support from partners Wellington City Council, Business Events Wellington and Tourism New Zealand.

The event’s five themes are:

  1. Healthy built environment: Building equitable, climate-resilient cities

  2. Nourishing landscapes: Natural environments and food systems

  3. Place matters: Local and cultural insights for urban wellbeing

  4. Lifelong wellness: Ensuring inclusion for all in urban environments

  5. Regional spotlight: Indigenous solutions to Urban Health challenges - strategies, rights, actions and experiences

Keeping tabs on international events - more to follow

IFLA: Keeping tabs on events being organised by the InternatIonai Federation of Landscape Architects is as easy as paying a visit to iflaworld.com/events

The big ticket item on the horizon is of course the largest event for the profession of landscape architecture - the IFLA World Congress, being hosted this year in Nantes, France from 10-12 September. More details can be found at ifla2025.com

SOAC: The urban design community will be interested to know the State of Australasian Cities Conference 2025 is taking place in Brisbane, Queensland, from 9-12 December. The programme is yet to be finalised.

SOAC is the flagship event of the Australasian Cities Research Network (ACRN) and aims to provide a supportive forum for urban researchers, policymakers and practitioners to come together to share and discuss research related to Australasian cities. The conference has been running biennially since 2003. It came to Aotearoa New Zealand for the first time in December 2023 - as reported on at ArchitectureNow.

International Everts, #Around-the-motu, #Around-the-worldStephen Olsen