Safety in urban planning and public places – Zanthea Chulio
North Brisbane-based urban planner and IAP2 Australasia member back from a tour of South East Asia as part of competitive Australian ASEAN Emerging Leaders Program (A2ELP)
Urban and social impact enthusiast and community engagement professional Zanthea Chulio left Brisbane on Saturday 10 August 2019 to begin the eight-day intensive of Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore and Jakarta focusing on the theme of “Smart Cities”.
The Australia ASEAN Emerging Leaders Program (A2ELP) is a three-month leadership program for 15 social entrepreneurs from ASEAN and Australia.
The A2ELP program allows participants to build knowledge of scalable and sustainable business models, develop skills to engage a range of stakeholders, see innovative social ventures in Southeast Asia, discuss the latest thinking and ideas in social impact with academic experts and industry leaders and foster connections through mentoring and alumni engagement.
During the trip, IAP2A member – Zanthea, took part in workshops, networking events, field visits, cultural activities, and gained support for implementation of her social enterprise idea to make Australian communities safer and more livable.
Zanthea views safety in urban planning and public places as a key part of making our community more inclusive and accessible by giving vulnerable people especially women greater access to information relating to their safety when in public.
In collaboration with Social Pinpoint, Zanthea is capturing CCTV safety camera locations on a spatial mapping platform to allow users to track safe routes in urban areas and public spaces.
Zanthea’s idea came off the back of the nationwide crisis of violence against women that manifested around Melbourne’s CBD earlier this year and hopes that through integrating technology, the community can feel safer in their local neighborhoods. She also wants to see the platform being used to assist Police gather more footage in their investigations to make our streets safer and get the bad guys quicker.
“I’m proud to be recognised as an emerging leader in this Smart Cities space in both Australia and abroad. I am excited to bring my idea to life as it aims to protect our most vulnerable citizens who do not feel safe especially at night and around crime hotspots. This program has been a great opportunity for me to work towards making our communities more accessible, liveable and safer for all.”
One of only five Australians to participate on the program in 2019, Zanthea has positioned herself as a leader in Smart Cities, social enterprise and entrepreneurship in both the country and ASEAN.
The program’s mission is to increase knowledge and promote Australia’s interests in South-East Asia by initiating and supporting activities designed to enhance awareness, understanding and links between people and institutions in Australia and ten South-East Asian countries: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
IAP2A member Zanthea Chulio has formal qualifications in urban and regional planning through a bachelor’s degree at Queensland University of Technology and commenced a post graduate degree of social impact at Swinburne University of Technology which is part of Australia’s Graduate School of Entrepreneurship (AGSE) in August 2019.
“Entrepreneurship,” says AGSE Director, Alex Kaiser, “is about questioning the status-quo, identifying opportunities, making decisions and implementing ideas. Concisely, it’s about having impact.”
Zanthea is passionate about social impact and community engagement and has worked in numerous private and public sector roles across South East Queensland. She has a keen understanding of the governance and policy drivers involved in getting things done in government and is excited to bring this expertise in the implementation of this idea.
“By travelling to a number of different ASEAN countries to visit businesses, places and people that are positively shaping the social enterprise and entrepreneurship movement, I have been able to gain relationships and learnings from a varied range of experiences which will improve my idea here in Australia.” says Zanthea
For more information on A2ELP and to view the 2019 participants, please visit the website at https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/asialink-dialogues-and-applied-research/programs/Emerging-Leaders-Program