Season 2 - Illawarra-Shoalhaven

Small towns on the NSW coastal fringe are tackling new issues.

How can they prepare for increasingly severe droughts and floods with existing urban design?

In this series, Climate Resilience: Shoalhaven, we’re on the south coast of NSW where the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Joint Organisation (ISJO) is making changes to existing practices and relationships with developers, communities, utilities and even themselves.

ISJO is a collaboration of four councils: Kiama, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven and Wollongong. Part of its brief is to address critical matters of water on the frontline of a changing climate. It’s a big job and it’s iterative - that is, as we learn we keep refining. 

Our focus is on water sensitive urban design (WSUD). Talking with engineers, environmental managers, policy advisers and the ISJO project coordinator, we firstly look at urban development practices. Then we consider the idea of urban areas as a sponge and benchmarking for water sensitivity. Finally, we discuss future collaboration between councils and local water utilities.

Whether you work for a regional or urban council or are a concerned member of the community, you will find inspiration in these stories of climate resilience, produced and presented by former ABC documentary maker Gretchen Miller.

The podcasts are proudly funded by the NSW Government in association with Local Government NSW through the Increasing Resilience to Climate Change Program. Produced and hosted by Gretchen Miller. Sound engineering by Judy Rapley.

* You can also follow the Climate Resilience podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and iHeart Radio.

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