Brisbane 2032 – a catalyst for transformationInspiring future generations beyond Brisbane 2032

Fergus de Guzman: I’m a Brisbane boy born and raised.

My mother was a civil engineer and my dad was also a civil engineer. A lot of it was very design development based, but I think I really thrived off doing something a bit more creative.

I really like intertwining the built environment along with the social aspect.

Kirra Shelton: I grew up in Noosa on the Sunshine Coast and then moved to Brisbane when I finished high school to study finance at QUT.

I come to work every day to be able to make a difference.

Christo Vasil: I was born here in Brisbane, our beautiful city. I was raised here my whole life.

I’ve always had a keen interest in how things work. So I think when I was really young, in pre-school, my parents said: “you should be a builder”. But as I got older, I took more of an interest in the technology and how things specifically worked. So that set me down the path of engineering. And I found that I just had a lot of passion for helping people and that combined with how things work, led me into being more of a sustainability engineer.

I find that I’m quite passionate about sustainability just because it’s one of those problems that needs to be solved.

I feel like I have the right skill set as a lot of young engineers do, and the passion to make this solution not only for myself but for the future generations.

Ingrid Taylor: I was born in Brisbane, raised in Brisbane, have lived here my entire life.

I went to an all-girls school and was encouraged to go into those STEM fields and not just always stick to the normal girl careers and everything.

So, for me I had teachers that really encouraged all of us girls to do that, and I enjoyed those subjects at school.

What inspires and motivates you now?

Samantha Ly: What motivates me to come to work every day is knowing the work I do has an impact on other people in the community.

Growing up, knowing that I always had to do something for my sister, I wanted to do a bit more than that. I wanted to do work to help those around me. And I guess being an engineer, you help those around you, you build the communities around you.

Christo Vasil: I studied mechatronics, computer science at university, so I have a very digital background.

So, in this new role now in asset management, I’ve taken a bit more of a data engineering approach to everything, where I’m more so interpreting data for assets and being able to provide valuable insights.

The biggest impact that I can have with my role in asset management is that we can really guide the direction in how things are implemented and achieved.

We can improve optimisation by looking at the data analytics of a train transporting so many people and how we can improve that system and infrastructure and then to continue the benefit that asset management has, we will make sure that there’s decent maintenance for it all.

We know how long these assets are going to last and then provide ongoing benefit to the rest of Brisbane and wider Queensland as well.

What is your vision for Brisbane in 2032 and beyond?

Samantha Ly: Every time we design something, it should be at the forefront of our mind to see how we can cater for different needs.

And I think my sister’s a bit different. You don’t need physical needs, you need emotional needs.

I know the games will bring a lot of excitement and a lot of joy. But in her perspective, that excitement translates differently.

I’m currently working on a project for modular housing with government employees.

So, I’d like to see modular housing expand all the way into the Olympics, into the athletes’ village, and also help cater towards the increased population in Brisbane.

My vision for the games is for it to change Brisbane, to transform it into a different light.

Brisbane is not that special to some people, but it is special to me.

Having the Olympics come to Brisbane allows me to showcase Brisbane to the world and show how special it is.

Fergus de Guzman: I think the most important thing is the social aspect and the outreach that we could have with the 2032 Olympics. I think we just have such a strong identity in Queensland for recognising of Indigenous communities and First Nations people.

I think the most important thing there is just to make sure that we can actually embrace that.

Kirra Shelton: I think my vision for the games is to really bring the community together.

I hope bringing everyone together will be able to create lasting relationships and a really solid foundation for how we move forward as a society.

I really want to see the sustainability projects and how we’re going to utilise our current infrastructure, but also maximise the use of future infrastructure and how that’s going to help the community into the future, not just during the Olympics but post-Olympics.

Christo Vasil: So, my vision for the games is to see how it can evolve the city that we’re living in right now.

I’m really excited to see how the games are going to help it further develop and how we can improve everything that we already have.

So that could be down to improving the infrastructure that we have across the city and also the liveability of it. We can be one of the most sustainable cities in the world if we do this well.

Ingrid Taylor: The infrastructure needs to be something that’s futureproof, it’s resilient and it’s going to be used in years to come.

So, it’s about looking at it and going: how can we be really innovative and how can we use this infrastructure in the future to actually impact people that live in Brisbane or the people that are potentially going to be brought into Brisbane?

And how can we use the infrastructure to encourage them to potentially take up sport, or it could be cultural activities or how can we use that infrastructure to encourage things beyond the Olympics as well?

So, for me, Brisbane is the best city in Australia. It’s about putting it on the map and just showing all the positives that Brisbane has to offer.