Community consultation is often the key to a successful public outdoor space or park design. The end users that the facility is designed to benefit should be part of the decision-making process to enhance ownership, social cohesion, and positive outcomes.

There are many challenges when faced with outdoor space design — no two communities are identical. Using various approaches to engage your community members and receive feedback on your concept plan leads to a public space that the community is proud of.

Here’s our guide to the best engagement strategies.

Conduct Community Research

Local stakeholders, residents, business owners, children and elderly service providers are all potential key beneficiaries of any proposed outdoor space. Whether considering renewing an existing site or planning to develop a new facility, understanding who the park will serve is essential.

A useful place to begin research for a site is the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which can give a broad brush description of a given city or area.

Understanding Local Context

Before speaking to any community leaders, it’s a good idea to research the area’s history to discover whether there are any legacy issues to be addressed, or points of local pride that should be celebrated in some fashion.

If your concept plan shows that your design team has done its homework, then community buy-in should be much easier. People like to know that they are seen and that their needs have been considered — they like to feel valued.

Whether your customer is the city council or a private development company, the end user is the ultimate client. The people the park is meant to serve will know how an existing space is used, its drawbacks and its positives, as well as how they’d love to see that existing space developed. These are crucial insights to guide your design process.

Questions to consider include:

• What are the community priorities?
• Are children’s spaces important?
• Do the needs of seniors need to be addressed?
• Are all the spaces accessible?
• How is the local community’s unique identity integrated, reflected or celebrated in the design?

Find the Best Way to Open Lines of Communication

Stakeholder communities may have differing priorities that prove complicated to align. If groups are siloed and not communicating freely, your efforts could serve as a catalyst to not just enhance your design, but also improve future community relationships.

Be Accessible

Here’s how you can directly interact with community members:

• Set up a stall at a local event, and back it up with an online presence that actively asks for input
• Use physical and online bulletin boards to advertise the project in the early stages. Invite comments and suggestions. Make it easy for interested people to contact you
• Coordinate with local groups and attend meetings and activities related to the project to gain further insight into how the community works
• Reach out by commissioning a survey on paper, by telephone, or by using social media
• Publicise your plan and hold a public meeting in a clubhouse, hall, library, or other accessible community centre
• Use the post to send flyers and requests for comment

Allow Enough Time for Community Consultations

Awareness of a project will take time to spread through a community. Not every community member is going to be interested in every aspect of your proposal. Some may only be interested in your landscape design, while others only want to know about your inclusion of local, public art.

Diversifying your outreach when there is no obvious group to engage with can elicit responses from wide reaches of a community.

Integrating Sustainability

There will be limits and parameters based on an available client budget that will delineate the final scope of a project. So, while community needs are a key ingredient, they should advise, rather than dictate design.

Sustainable choices that benefit a community in the long term, factoring in demographic change and climate projections are equally important. Addressing water scarcity or seasonal climatic variations, as well as weather impacts on your materials and built structures are all crucial considerations.

Show the Community that You Listened

Communities love to feel heard. Show them you listened by getting their final approval on your design.

Using digital designs and rendering to present your design back to the community after initial consultations will help the community visualise the final plan and help solidify community support for the project.

Terrain Group is a Community Consultation Expert

Terrain Group has the experience and skills you need to take on creative and effective community consultations. Armed with the latest digital technology we can create renders and illustrations to help build meaningful community connections and a winning open space design.

Get in touch today to find out how we can help deliver your vision.