The Team at Ecological Associates

Ecological Associates is an affiliation of professionals that work in environmental behaviour change and communications.

Full CVs of Ecological Associates are available on request.

Project Research, Design and Management

Bill Smith

Bill is the founding director of Ecological Associates, a multi-service agency that undertakes environmental project design and management, communications, social marketing.

Since his arrival in New Zealand, Bill has designed and managed a wide variety of travel behaviour change and accessibility projects at workplaces, institutions, and in the community. These have mainly been developed under contract with local and regional authorities and have regularly included assistance from other associates:

• TravelWise evaluation – Auckland Regional Transport Authority
• Personalised Journey Planning evaluation – North Shore City Council
• Otara Neighbourhood Accessibility Plan – Manukau City Council
• Rosebank Neighbourhood Accessibility Plan (Key issues report) Auckland City Council
• Monitoring and evaluation strategies report – New Zealand Transport Agency
• TravelWise process review, training and strategic development
• Auckland Regional Transport Authority
• Auckland District Health Board Travel Plan – Auckland City Council
• Manukau Institute of Technology Travel Plan Scope – Manukau City Council
• Universities’ Travel Plan – Auckland Regional Transport Authority
• Institutional travel plan guidance and case studies – Auckland Regional Transport Authority
• Way to go Community travel plan - Auckland Regional Council

Bill has a BA in Economics and Development studies and a Masters in Environment Development and policy. He is an associate member for the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (UK).

Camilla Urdahl

Camilla has worked in the Sustainable Transport area for a number of years and has experience as a project manager putting together programmes that create partnerships between the public sector and the business community.

In addition, Camilla has worked with Bill on the internal review of the ARTA workplace travel plan programme, developing a strategy to improve the efficiency of processes and delivery. This was undertaken through consultation with ARTA and the seven local authrorities that make up the TravelWise partnership. Camilla and Bill also worked on revising the guidance material for workplaces in order to reduce workloads and increase efficiency of reporting. Further development will enable publication of this guidance as an interative on-line tool.

Camilla holds a Masters in Management Studies and is currently completing a second Masters in Energy Management.

Ben Sheeran

Ben has extensive experience in the practical application of sustainability, including sustainable travel and transport. His approach in this field has been developed as a resource management policy planner, environmental economist and project manager in New Zealand and in the UK.

Travel and transport experience has included developing the transport-related evidence base to inform the preparation of the Local Development Framework for a central London Borough Council. In New Zealand, Ben has also worked with Bill on the ongoing review of the ARTA TravelWise Workplace Travel Plan programme, including running workshops with ARTA staff, workplaces, and Territorial Local Authorities. He has also assisted Bill in the scoping work for the MIT and ADHB travel plans.

Bill and Ben also recently worked together conducting telephone and face-to-face interviews across a range of industry sectors on behalf of ACIL Tasman to assist their report on the economic value of geographical information systems to the NZ economy.

Ben’s ability to inform and review processes has been used in the role of a project coordinator, ensuring projects are progressed according to process guidance notes and legislation (including the Resource Management Act First Schedule process). As a project manager, Ben has developed the required skills to deliver project outcomes for the Auckland Regional Council, Department of Conservation, Statistics New Zealand and the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames.

Ben has a Master of Science in Resource Management, a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics.

Web, Survey and Communications

Justin Westgate

Justin has a wide range of experience as a designer and project manager working on identity and branding, communications campaigns, web design and digital media projects.

He has worked on a number of sustainable transport projects and travel behaviour change programmes including lead designer for the initial development of ARC's 'Rideline' passenger transport information service. He has also worked with Bill on the design elements of ARTA's student sustainable transport campaign, the ADHB and MIT travel plans, the Otara Neighbourhood accessibility plan and currently with the North Shore personalised journey planning pilot. Experience with other authorities includes communications projects for Auckland City Council, Waitakere City Council, and Papakura District Council. He has also developed numerous websites ranging from small promotions to larger dynamic-information portals.

Justin holds a post-graduate degree in design and a post-graduate diploma in human geography. He is also is a part-time lecturer in design at AUT University and Whitecliffe College of Art and Design. In 2009 he was awarded a government-funded research scholarship to investigate issues of sustainability and eco-labelling in New Zealand.

Stuart Sontier

Stuart has been developing websites since 1995. He has worked on a wide range of web-based projects, both as the sole developer and as part of a development team.

Well versed in both commercial and open source web development technologies, Stuart's experience allows him to determine the best fit for the project. Along with ASP and PHP, various database engines, and leading web servers, he has experience with open source software such as Joomla CMS, virtueMart and osCommerce e-commerce systems, WordPress and Blogger, and SMF Forum. He has developed a custom-built Content Management System (BioteCMS) that provides affordable client website maintenance.

Recent projects include an arts portal for Papakura District Council
and a map-driven travel behaviour change evaluation tool for North Shore City Council.

When not working on projects as Ecological Associates, Justin and Stuart work together through Biote, providing web and communications expertise to a range of public-interest clients