2026 Conference Theme
“The path of least resistance” is a principle drawn from physics: energy flows along the easiest available route. But it describes human behaviour just as well as it describes electricity or water.
People — whether making individual choices or shaping collective ones through policy and design — tend to follow the easiest available route too. That’s not a character flaw. It’s just how systems work. The question is: who designs the route, and in whose interests?
Right now, in most Australian cities and towns, the path of least resistance leads to a car. Not always because people prefer it, but because the environment makes almost every other choice harder. Walking feels unsafe. Cycling feels marginal. Public transport feels unreliable. And getting kids to school independently can feel impossible.
The 2026 Australian Walking and Cycling Conference in Adelaide asks: what would it take to change that?
The theme — Pathways of Least Resistance — invites us to work on both sides of the equation. How do we design environments, policies and systems so that walking, cycling and public transport become the natural, lowest-effort choice? And how do we navigate, reduce or strategically apply resistance to create the change we need — in institutions, in politics, in culture and in communities?
These are questions for planners and engineers, but also for researchers, advocates, public health professionals, behaviour change experts, educators and decision-makers. The answers might lie in infrastructure, in urban form, in school travel, in political strategy, in storytelling, or somewhere else entirely. We’re open to all of it.
The future of transport isn’t just about flow. It’s about removing the barriers that shouldn’t exist — and honestly confronting the ones that do.
2026 Conference Program
The full conference program is yet to be finalised, but general structure will be a 2-day mix of:
Spin Cycles:
Short, fast-paced podium presentations where your message, research, or project is shared with an audience of your peers. Spin cycles can be in-person or pre-recorded. In order to maximise time available, Spincycle sessions are run consecutively as a series of 5-minute presentations, followed by a joint Q&A.
Learnshops:
20 minute “podium” presentations. Presenters are invited to deliver their presentations live to an audience of their peers. There will be time to ask questions after each presentation.
Roundtables:
Verbal presentations to a small table of delegates for up to 10 minutes, followed by 15 minutes of group discussion.