A research and advocacy project is calling for a ‘people-first’ approach to community development in Australia and is currently investigating how connected or disconnected outer west residents feel from the wider city.
Good Neighbours Movement – co-founded by property engagement experts Judi Carr and Kate Stewart – aims to promote putting people, not process, at the heart of planning.
Ms Carr and Ms Stewart are aiming to translate their industry knowledge into a national call to action: to build smarter, fairer and more future-fit neighbourhoods.
According to the organisation, Australia’s newest communities are grappling with complex and compounding challenges, including planning inefficiencies and costly delays; gaps in transport and essential services shortfalls in education and community infrastructure; disconnection across youth and ageing populations; mounting financial and social pressures; and a lack of meaningful connection to place, nature and one another.
Ms Carr said she wants to see every stakeholder – including developers, councils, governments – commit to building “more than just houses on paddocks”.
“Because when we don’t plan for people, we end up managing crises. That’s the true cost of disconnected development,” Ms Carr said.
Ms Stewart said to serve a drink in a pub, you need to obtain a Responsible Service of Alcohol certification – “yet you can build an entire new suburb without a Responsible Service of Community certification.”
“We believe everyone deserves better than that,” Ms Stewart said.
Melton 2024 citizen of the year and former Woodlea community manager Claire Mouser said she believes in rapidly growing suburbs like the western growth corridor of Melbourne, there is an urgent need for more effective community engagement models and stronger resident advocacy.
“This initiative is a timely and important step in the right direction,” Ms Mouser said.
The initiative’s first research project is based in Melbourne’s outer west – one of the fastest-growing regions in the country – where a current survey is aimed at discovering how connected or disconnected residents feel from the wider city.
The research captures lived experience through a social, structural, amenity and connectivity lens, and the organisation is encouraging the community to participate and help inform a framework for better communities.
Details: goodneighboursmovement.au/community-research
