About
Planners play a critical role in shaping neighbourhoods that enable healthier, more active communities. This half day session will help deepen planners’ understanding of the public health intent underpinning many of South Australia’s performance based planning and design provisions. These foundations can strengthen confidence in development assessment and masterplanning for public health.
The workshop will introduce the Heart Foundation’s evidence based Healthy Active by Design toolkit. It will explore themacro land use elements of walkability - including neighbourhood structure, land use mix, density, destinations, and movement networks that shape how people travel through their communities. Participants will unpack where the SA planning system already embeds health supportive policy, and identify opportunities to further strengthen policy settings to support walkability, active travel and healthy living.
Following morning tea, participants will head outdoors for a guided Walkshop - an immersive, street level exploration of Bowden through a health and equity lens. On foot, we’ll examine real world features such as footpaths, shade, street trees, crossings, traffic speeds, active transport infrastructure, and connections to public transport. We’ll discuss how these design elements enable or hinder healthy, active lifestyles. This practical component brings policy into context, helping planners recognise how planning decisions translate into lived experiences and how these insights can inform stronger assessment outcomes.
Combining policy context, practical tools, and on the ground observation, this session offers a valuable professional learning opportunity for planners seeking to build capability in designing and assessing healthier, more connected South Australian communities.
Participants will also leave with a Healthy Active by Design training resource to raise awareness and build shared understanding across teams, stakeholders and decision-makers.
Please note: This PLANET course will include a walking tour of approximately 90 minutes' length. Please wear appropriate footwear and attire.
Spaces are limited - we invite you to register and be part of this hands-on learning experience.
If you have any issues registering, please contact PIA SA and we will be happy to assist.
Presenters
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Kirsten Potoczky, SA Active Living Coalition
Kirsten Potoczky MPIA is an experienced and highly regarded town and social planner with more than two decades of expertise in planning for sustainable, health-promoting cities. Her work spans access and inclusion, active transport, and high-quality open space, with a strong focus on creating urban environments that support wellbeing across the lifespan.
Kirsten is known for bringing a rigorous evidence base to her work and for proactively collaborating across disciplines to deliver practical, workable outcomes in complex urban settings. She has provided health-promoting urban planning advice on major developments including Bowden, Lightsview, Tonsley, and Playford Alive.
She was the course developer of Planning for Healthy Cities, a course she has delivered to postgraduate planning and architecture students since 2014. Over many years, Kirsten has led numerous study tours, highlighting both the opportunities and barriers to creating environments that support people of all ages, incomes and abilities to lead healthy, active and socially connected lifestyles.
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Evan Woolford, City of Charles Sturt
Evan Woolford is a Transport Engineer at the City of Charles Sturt, working at the intersection of transport planning, local government decision making and place based outcomes. He brings practical experience designing and delivering infrastructure that supports walking, cycling and public transport, alongside a first hand understanding of higher density living through living and working in the developing Bowden precinct. Evan is also a graduate of the LG Professionals SA Emerging Leaders Program and is passionate about how everyday planning and transport decisions shape healthier, more connected communities.
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Natalya Boujenko, Intermethod
Natalya Boujenko is a Director at Intermethod, specialising in integrated transport, social and urban planning. She is recognised for advancing people-centred planning and design, including her role in developing the Movement and Place approach and supporting its application across multiple jurisdictions through projects, policy and guidance materials. She is also a lead author of Healthy Active by Design for SA and South Australia’s Active Travel Design Guide. Natalya has worked with governments and councils across Australia, as well as in England and Ireland, contributing to projects, policy and best practice guidance. Her work focuses on integrating movement, place and public health to deliver safer, more inclusive and liveable cities.
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Grant Croft, Department for Housing and Urban Development
Grant Croft is recognised for his contributions to collaborative strategic planning, policy work and data-driven planning initiatives within the state’s urban development framework. In his current role as Manager, Growth Planning with the Department for Housing and Urban Development his team is responsible for collaborating with state agencies, council and industry to support evidence-based decision-making that enables a coordinated approach to growth planning.
Grant has worked on high-profile projects such as the Greater Adelaide Regional Plan and Country Regional Plans, structure planning for key growth areas and the Land Supply Dashboard, an innovative urban land supply and development monitoring platform.
Grant’s professional work also extends to participation in planning system governance and collaborative workshops, where he contributes technical expertise to discussions on regional planning and strategic planning frameworks. He has participated in State Planning Commission forums and workshops focused on regional planning, infill and employment strategy, and infrastructure coordination as part of multi-disciplinary planning teams.
Grant’s work reflects a commitment to enhancing planning transparency, improving housing outcomes, and supporting informed policy development across urban and regional contexts.
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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.
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