GINA Inc accepts $110,000 for Cities Alive Australia congress in Brisbane in 2012

Brisbane, Australia, January 22, 2009:

The first meeting of Green Infrastructure Network Australia Inc. (GINA Inc) today accepted $110,000 to organize the Cities Alive Australia Green Infrastructure Congress in Brisbane from October 17 to 20, 2012.

These organizing funds are from:

• Brisbane City Council which has voted $30,000 support in 2011 and $70,000 support in 2012.
• Brisbane Marketing which has allocated $10,000 for publicity that attracts visitors from interstate and overseas.

Cities Alive Australia Green Infrastructure Congress 2012 is booked in the Brisbane Conference and Exhibition Centre at Brisbane's Southbank. The congress is expected to attract an estimated 2,000 people and at least 150 display stands.

It will focus on bold urban greenery for hot, dry conditions, with four important themes:

• Climate change action planning.
• Superior water harvesting, storage and use in urban buildings.
• Much-improved solar power through power-cell cooling.
• Food from the roof.

Cities Alive Australia congress chairman, Geoff Wilson, said the two monetary awards will stimulate efforts to interest up to 19 professions in the built environment in the sound economic future for green roofs and green walls and allied technologies in Australia.

Good support is also expected from municipal government, plus the water, solar power and food industries.

There has been a reasonable response to our efforts, but the 2012 Cities Alive Australia congress in Brisbane will be a massive show-case for myriad design ideas and very innovative merging of allied technologies such as better water management, much-improved use of solar power, and ingenious and less expensive food from the roof, Mr Wilson said.

The Cities Alive Australia congress in 2012 will be organized under license from the World Green Infrastructure Network (WGIN), based in Toronto, Canada.

Australia is one of six founding member nations of WGRIN, which now has 15 member countries, with another five in prospect.

The first Cities Alive congress was in Toronto, Canada, on October 20 to 22, 2009 The second will be in Mexico City, Mexico, in October 2010, while a third is still being negotiated (perhaps in India) for October 2011.

Other congresses are expected to occur in cities where green roofs and green walls and allied technologies are now advancing rapidly.