A host of speakers and delegates are set to turn out in Dublin next week for a key global conference.

Taking place from 19-23 September, Walk 21 Ireland will focus on walking and making communities better places to live and work. 

The conference theme, 'The Decade to Change', will explore how supporting and encouraging walking can help deliver Sustainable Development Goal commitments by 2030.

Led by TU Dublin in partnership with the Irish Government, the conference will welcome over 60 speakers and 500 delegates.

-- Advertisement --

Physical and mental health experts, planners, engineers, policy makers and educators will show how walking, the everyday activity many of us take for granted, can become a game changer for our brains, bodies, environment and economy.

Some key highlights include Professor Esther Sternberg, University of Arizona, world expert in the role of place in wellbeing; Skye Duncan, Executive Director of the Global Cities Design Initiative, on transforming streets around the world; Angie Schmitt expert on Pedestrian Safety and New York Times contributor; and Peátonito - Mexican Superhero for safer streets.

The conference will also include a number of Irish contributors like Shane O'Mara, Professor of Experimental Brain Research, Trinity College, Dublin; Dr. Úna May, Chief Executive Officer of Sport Ireland, telling the story of the internationally applauded 'Get Ireland Walking' programme; and Joe Seymour, National Transport Authority on delivering on the Irish Government's commitment to spend €1m per day on Active Travel.