Supporting the Future of Urban Biodiversity
2025 LFA Fellowship Awarded to Steve Mintern
We’re proud to announce that landscape architect Steve Mintern has been awarded the 2025 Landscape Foundation of Australia (LFA) Fellowship.
Steve Mintern is the co-founder and director of OFFICE, a Melbourne-based not-for-profit multidisciplinary design and research practice. With support from the $10,000 Fellowship, he will build on his work with the Melbourne Biodiversity Network (MBN) — a metropolitan-scale initiative aimed at establishing an interconnected system of public natural spaces across Greater Melbourne.
From Concept to Impact: Advancing the Melbourne Biodiversity Network
The LFA Fellowship will enable Steve to deepen and extend the MBN initiative by developing a ‘digital twin’ — an interactive, open-source tool that maps biodiversity corridors and tracks the performance of interventions in real time. The digital twin will become a public platform to help identify future ecological investment opportunities and visualise the benefits of ecological interventions as they evolve.
“The LFA Fellowship will allow me to refine data-gathering, mapping and representation of the project,” Steve shared in his proposal.
“The digital twin will not only identify sites for intervention but will also track the impact of MBN activities over time.”
This work directly supports LFA’s mission of valuing nature as essential infrastructure and enabling cities and towns to become healthier, more resilient, and more biodiverse.
A Fellowship for Urban Nature and Community Wellbeing
Steve’s approach is grounded in the principles of urban ecology, biodiversity conservation, community wellbeing, and environmental equity. The digital twin will support a more evidence-based and systems-oriented understanding of natural assets within cities, helping governments, practitioners, and communities take more effective action.
In line with LFA’s core values — particularly impact, evidence, innovation, and empowerment — this Fellowship project will:
Support better urban biodiversity outcomes through improved data and planning tools
Increase public awareness of nature’s value in our cities and neighbourhoods
Contribute to broader systems change, linking science, design, and governance
Investing in the Next Generation of Change-Makers
LFA’s Fellowship Program is awarded annually to recognise and support emerging leaders who are helping to shape the future of Australian urban landscapes. We are thrilled to support Steve’s work and look forward to sharing updates throughout the year as the project unfolds.
Congratulations, Steve — and thank you for your commitment to creating greener, healthier cities.