Stephen Brown is a former president of the NZILA and throughout his 40 years of practice has specialised in landscape assessment and planning. In 1984 he completed the first regional scale landscape assessment in NZ – of the Auckland Region – and since then has undertaken or managed strategic assessments that range from the Far North District to the Waikato and West Coast Regions. He has long been associated with protection of the volcanic viewshafts to Auckland’s maunga, but has also been involved with numerous development projects – from the Channel Tunnel’s rail corridors in the mid 1980s to much more recent projects, including the Waterview Connection Project, remodelling of Eden Park for the 2011 World Cup, and the currently proposed expansion of Northport and the Port of Tauranga. As an expert witness, he provided evidence that was central to the Supreme Court’s King Salmon decision and is a regular participant in Environment Court proceedings.