Community Engagement Toolkit 2017 PDF

Community
engagement
toolkit for
planning
December 2017
© State of Queensland. First published by the Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning,
1 William Street, Brisbane Qld 4000, Australia, July 2017.
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Contents
Preface......................................................................................................................................... 1
About the toolkit ......................................................................................................................... 2
What is the toolkit? .......................................................................................................... 2
Vision statement............................................................................................................... 3
Outcomes sought ............................................................................................................. 3
Why is a toolkit needed? ................................................................................................. 3
How the toolkit relates to statutory requirements ......................................................... 3
Part 1: Guiding principles .......................................................................................................... 7
What is community engagement?................................................................................... 7
What do we mean by ‘community’? ................................................................................ 7
Why is community engagement important?................................................................... 7
Six core principles ........................................................................................................... 9
Resource 1.1: Six core principles ........................................................................................................ 9
International Association for Public Participation ....................................................... 10
Resource 1.2: IAP2’s public participation spectrum .......................................................................... 11
Part 2: Developing a community engagement plan ................................................................ 13
Tool 2.1: Checklist for developing an engagement plan ................................................................... 13
Define the community engagement scope ................................................................... 14
Tool 2.2A: Aligning community engagement to stakeholder impact levels ....................................... 15
Tool 2.2B: Decision-making flowchart to help align community engagement to stakeholder
impact levels ...................................................................................................................................... 16
Tool 2.3: Listing negotiable and non-negotiable items ...................................................................... 17
Determine the context .................................................................................................... 17
Understand your stakeholders, their interests and levels of influence ...................... 18
Tool 2.4: Stakeholder understanding checklist .................................................................................. 19
Resource 2.1: Stakeholder ability to influence outcomes .................................................................. 20
Tool 2.5: Checklist for identifying stakeholder needs ........................................................................ 21
Tool 2.6: Stakeholder prioritisation table ........................................................................................... 22
Implementation plan....................................................................................................... 23
Tool 2.7: Example community engagement action plan – Local plan for a rural town ...................... 24
Part 3: Selecting community engagement tools ..................................................................... 30
Tool 3.1: Selecting engagement tools to achieve critical success factors for engagement .............. 30
Tool 3.2: Choosing the right engagement tools – options matrix ...................................................... 32
Online engagement ........................................................................................................ 44
Online engagement platforms ....................................................................................... 45
Email marketing.............................................................................................................. 45
Creative ideas: What’s trending in this space?............................................................ 46
Citizensourcing .................................................................................................................................. 46
Participatory budgeting ...................................................................................................................... 47
Online interactive mapping and priorities .......................................................................................... 47
Mobile applications ............................................................................................................................ 47
Part 4: Engaging with specific groups .................................................................................... 48
Tool 4.1: Overview checklist for engaging with specific groups ........................................................ 48
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities ..................................................... 49
Tool 4.2: Checklist for engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities ................ 50
Resource 4.1: Communicating with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences ...................... 52
Resource 4.2: Closing the gap – Engagement with Indigenous communities in key sectors
(resource sheet no. 23) ...................................................................................................................... 52
Resource 4.3: Know your community – Key insights into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Queenslanders................................................................................................................................... 52
Resource 4.4: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s engagement toolkit ........................... 52
Resource 4.5: Protocols for consultation and negotiation with Aboriginal people and proper
communication with Torres Strait Islander people............................................................................. 52
Older people ................................................................................................................... 53
Tool 4.3: Checklist for engaging with older people ............................................................................ 53
Young people ................................................................................................................. 55
Tool 4.4: Checklist for engaging with young people .......................................................................... 56
People with disability ..................................................................................................... 57
Tool 4.5: Checklist for engaging with people with disability .............................................................. 57
People from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds .................................. 58
Tool 4.6: Checklist for engaging with culturally and linguistically diverse groups ............................. 59
Disadvantaged and homeless people ........................................................................... 60
Tool 4.7: Checklist for engaging with disadvantaged and homeless people ..................................... 60
Part 5: Content development ................................................................................................... 61
Content preparation ....................................................................................................... 61
Tool 5.1: Ten tips for creating suitable content for engagement ....................................................... 61
Tool 5.2: Checklist to guide development of engagement material ................................................... 62
Part 6: Implementing your community engagement strategy ............................................... 64
6.1 Data collection and analysis .................................................................................... 64
Tool 6.1: Checklist for determining data analysis requirements ........................................................ 65
Tool 6.2: Example Excel community engagement database ............................................................ 66
Part 7: Feedback and reporting ............................................................................................... 67
Tool 7.1: Checklist for following up after engagement and preparing a report .................................. 68
Part 8: Evaluation...................................................................................................................... 69
Tool 8.1: Checklist to guide evaluation of a community engagement process ................................. 69
Part 9: Success stories............................................................................................................. 71
Tool 9.1: Case study template ........................................................................................................... 71
Case study 9.1: New planning scheme ......................................................................... 71
Case study 9.2: CityShape 2026 .................................................................................... 73
Case study 9.3: Ideas Fiesta .......................................................................................... 75
Case study 9.4 Wet Tropics Plan for People and Country........................................... 77
Case study 9.5: Clifton Township Open Space Concept Master Plan ........................ 80
Part 10: References .................................................................................................................. 83
Preface
Planning creates great places for people to live, work and play. Because of this, local communities
benefit the most from good planning.
Queensland’s planning system encourages effective and genuine community engagement so that local
communities can participate in the planning process. It does this while supporting efficient and
consistent decision-making that instils investment and community confidence.
To encourage genuine community engagement in the planning process, this toolkit has been
developed to help Queensland councils engage with their communities about planning in a meaningful
and open manner. It will be kept up to date by the department, helping all councils to access feedback
on the benefits of engagement tools, as well as current trends in engagement techniques.
We appreciate that many local governments in Queensland have already developed, or are currently
developing, community engagement toolkits. Our goal is to work with these existing toolkits by
providing, and capturing, specific advice about engagement processes and tools that encourage
people to get involved in planning decisions that affect their local community.
The toolkit has been developed with advice from community engagement specialists and their peak
representative body – the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2). IAP2 has endorsed
this toolkit.
The toolkit features easily accessible web-based tools.
Community engagement toolkit for planning Page 1 of 89

About the toolkit
The Queensland Government is responsible for administering the legislation underpinning the state’s
planning and development system. A new era has arrived with the commencement of the Planning Act
2016 and associated new statutory instruments. These form the framework for a better planning system
that enables responsible development and delivers prosperity, sustainability and liveability now and into
the future.
The government is responsible for ensuring that communities can be involved in the decisions about
planning and development that affect them. These decisions relate to planning schemes, other ‘local
planning instruments’1 and some development decisions where the proposal has been publicly notified.
The state’s role is to:
• establish overall principles, governance and standards
• balance and manage the expectations of all stakeholders
• provide guidance on how to address the principles and meet the standards, while also meeting
community and stakeholder expectations.
What is the toolkit?

This toolkit supports the delivery of effective community engagement in plan-making
throughout Queensland.
It aims to help local governments to develop community engagement strategies for:
• preparing new local planning instruments
• amending existing local planning instruments.
Accordingly, the toolkit is intended to support local governments prepare a communications strategy
under the Minister’s Guidelines and Rules (MGR) for plan-making.
The toolkit is a non-statutory set of practical tools and information intended to support local
governments meet their requirements to engage with the community, as outlined in the MGR. It is also
intended to support community members and stakeholders in their interactions with the plan-making
process.
This toolkit provides a central location for information about current trends in engagement techniques,
the benefits of particular tools when engaging with the community about planning, and case studies. It
does not specifically address community engagement related to the development assessment process
– only those development proposals that are publicly notified provide an opportunity for the community
to have a say. Local governments may still use the tools within the toolkit during the notification
timeframe, but there is not the opportunity to go beyond the statutory time requirements.
1 According to the Planning Act 2016:

A local planning instrument is a planning instrument made by a local government, and is either:
(a) a planning scheme; or
(b) a TLPI [temporary local planning instrument]; or
(c) a planning scheme policy.

The web-based nature of this toolkit provides the capacity for information to be provided in PDF and
other formats, where possible.
Overall, this toolkit aims to foster a new approach to, and enthusiasm for, community engagement for
the benefit of local communities across Queensland. Over time, it will be recognised as the main
repository for leading-practice community engagement in Queensland for the planning system.
Vision statement
Communities in Queensland affected by plan-making processes are able to participate in meaningful,
appropriate and timely community engagement that provides for their views to be considered in a way
commensurate with the scope of the proposed plan or plan-amendment decision.
Outcomes sought
The community is engaged in plan-making in a relevant and appropriate way through:
• engagement that focuses on the best interests of the community
• engagement that is open, honest and meaningful
• engagement approaches that are inclusive and meet their particular needs
• timely, accurate, easy-to-understand and accessible information
• transparent decision-making.
The toolkit is not a statutory instrument.
Why is a toolkit needed?

Local communities throughout Queensland are diverse. While local governments, the development
industry and other stakeholders strive to ensure they meet best-practice standards for engagement, the
capacity to research ‘best-practice engagement’ and to conduct community engagement varies widely.
The department believes that:
Queensland’s planning system should support effective and genuine public participation in
planning, whilst providing for efficient and consistent decision-making that instils investment and
community confidence.2
How the toolkit relates to statutory requirements

Land-use planning is undertaken for a range of reasons including:
• managing the impacts of growing and diverse populations
• managing the effects of natural hazards and climate change
• protecting important resources such as open space, areas of environmental significance and
productive agricultural land.
Planning enables appropriate development in appropriate locations and creates great places for people
to live, work and play. Because of this, local communities are the key beneficiaries of good planning. It
is important to ensure that Queensland’s planning system includes opportunities for genuine and
effective community engagement, and these opportunities need to be secured in the state’s planning
legislation.
2 DILGP, 2015, p. 2.

The MGR shows key points in the process where community engagement needs to be carried out by
local governments for a specified minimum period. These rules also require, in some cases, that local
governments prepare a communications strategy for the new planning scheme or amendment to the
scheme. (See figure 1 below and table 1 on the following page.)
While it is mandatory under the MGR for local governments to develop a communications strategy, the
use of any tools and resources in this toolkit is entirely up to each local government’s discretion. This
toolkit provides a suite of options for local governments to mix and match according to their
circumstances. The state has a role in confirming, or suggesting changes to, the communications
strategy.
The toolkit itself is non-statutory. It provides ideas, options and tools to inform possible approaches to
community engagement.
Mandatory
Planning Act 2016

• Minimum timeframes
for public consultation.
• Requirement to set a
communications strategy
Minister’s Guidelines
and Rules (MGR)
• How planning schemes Not mandatory
and other local planning
instruments are made or
changed. Community engagement
• Communications strategy toolkit
must have regard to the
• Could be used for
department’s community
purposes other than
engagement toolkit for
meeting the MGR
planning.
requirements.
• Supports local
governments.
• Available online.
• Kit of tools in one place (it
is not mandatory to use
these tools.)
Figure 1: Relationship with Minister’s Guidelines and Rules

Table 1: For a communications strategy under chapter 2 of the MGR
Aspect Community engagement toolkit support
• A plan for public consultation N/A

complies with any prescribed
consultation period
requirements under the
Planning Act or the relevant
section of the MGR
• A statement about the extent Part 2 – Developing a community engagement plan, including:
of consultation with relevant
state agencies • Tool 2.3 – Listing negotiable and non-negotiable items
• Tool 2.4 – Stakeholder understanding
• Tool 2.6 – Checklist for identifying stakeholder needs
• Tool 2.7 – Stakeholder prioritisation table
• A description of how the Part 2 - Developing a community engagement plan, including:

attention of the community, or
the affected part of the • Tool 2.2A – Aligning community engagement to stakeholder impacts
community, will be drawn to • Tool 2.2B – Decision-making flowchart to help align community engagement
the purpose and general effect to stakeholder impact levels
of the instrument
• Tool 2.4 – Stakeholder understanding
Part 3 – Selecting community engagement tools:
• Tool 3.1 – Selecting engagement tools to achieve engagement critical
success factors
• Tool 3.2 – Choosing the right engagement tools – options matrix
Part 4 – Engaging with specific groups (and the range of checklists and resources
in this part)
For any communications strategy to give consideration to:
• The proposed geographical Part 1 – Guiding principles: What do we mean by ‘community’?

community or communities of
interest to be consulted
• The relevant community Part 2 – Developing a community engagement plan, including:

groups, organisations and
stakeholders • Tool 2.4 – Stakeholder understanding
Part 4 – Engaging with specific groups (and the range of checklists and resources
in this part).
• How the proposed planning Part 2 – Developing a community engagement plan, including:
scheme or amendment is
relevant to the community • Tool 2.2A – Aligning community engagement to stakeholder impacts
• Tool 2.2B – Decision-making flowchart to help align community engagement to
stakeholder impact levels
• The proposed length of N/A

consultation
• The proposed methods of Part 3 – Selecting community engagement tools, including:

consultation – tools and
activities • Tool 3.1 – Selecting engagement tools to achieve critical success factors
• Tool 3.2 – Choosing the right engagement tools

Part 5 – Content development, including:
• Tool 5.1 – Ten tips for creating engagement content
• Tool 5.2 – Examples of questions to guide engagement material content
• Any actions that are optional Part 2 – Developing a community engagement plan
or contingent on other actions
Define the community engagement scope
occurring in the process
• The timing of the process, N/A

including any milestones
• Any supporting evidence for N/A

the proposed communication
strategy

Part 1: Guiding principles
What is community engagement?
Different terms are used to describe the concept of community engagement, including public
participation and community consultation. In Australia, the term community engagement tends to be
used more than public participation, with consultation now considered to be a point on the engagement
(or participation) spectrum.
Community engagement, or public participation, has a range of definitions. However, typically it refers
to the process of involving people in the decisions that affect them. Engagement is considered to be
‘the process by which government, organisations, communities and individuals connect in the
development and implementation of decisions that affect them’.3
What do we mean by ‘community’?

Communities of place: Where people identify with a defined geographical area, e.g. a council ward, a
housing development or a neighbourhood.
Communities of interest: Where people share a particular experience, interest or characteristic such
as young people, faith groups, older people, people with disability, migrant groups, community or
sporting groups.4
Why is community engagement important?

Governments and industry across the globe are increasingly recognising the value of community and
stakeholder engagement as an essential part of project planning and decision-making.5
Community engagement, in general, enables better outcomes for both the community and government.
It allows the parties involved to identify the concerns, risks, opportunities, options and potential
solutions that surround an issue, leading to more informed decision-making and mutual benefits that
include:
• better policy development and service delivery
• a better understanding of the day-to-day experience of people in communities
• better relationships between the community and the government
• community awareness and understanding about an issue
• community buy-in and higher levels of community ownership
• greater community support for, and more effective, policy implementation
• determining what will work in reality and what will not
• a mechanism for feedback/evaluation on existing policies
• improved communication pathways, such as the use and further development of community
networks
• opportunity to develop individual and community capacity and shared understanding of both issues
and potential solutions
• legitimisation of decisions around controversial issues
3 Consult Australia, 2015.

4 City of Tea Tree Gully, 2014
5 IAP2.

• mutual learning
• reduced conflict within stakeholder groups because individuals and communities can hear and
understand each other’s points of view, leading to consensus
• uncovering new ideas and expertise.
In the context of planning, the benefits of community engagement include:
• better policy decisions when developing local planning instruments
• a better understanding of the day-to-day experience of people in their communities, and their
appreciation of their local amenity and heritage
• better relationships between the community and local government
• community awareness and understanding about the impacts of population growth, natural hazards
and climate change, and the need to protect important resources such as open space, areas of
environmental significance and productive agricultural land
• community buy-in and higher levels of community ownership of planning instruments
• a mechanism for feedback and evaluation of planning decisions
• improved communication between local government and community members
• opportunity to develop individual and community capacity and shared understanding of potential
planning approaches
• reduced conflict within stakeholder groups, as individuals and communities can hear and
understand each other’s points of view, leading to consensus
• uncovering new ideas and expertise.
Communities value the opportunity to meet and discuss issues with each other and with government to
develop innovative solutions, share their experiences, expand their understanding around issues and
develop empathy with competing stakeholders. Creating policy solutions through the engagement
process involves compromises and trade-offs that balance community interest as a whole and enable
budget priorities to be set:6
… governments cannot help to solve complex problems without the concerted efforts of the
general public. Arriving at solutions will invariably involve trade-offs and outcomes that reflect
and/or balance community interest as a whole and enable budget priorities to be set.
For this reason, governments must engage more broadly with the community and in ways that are
different from what has been tried before.
Accessibility, timing and transparency are all important elements in getting community engagement
right. For complex and controversial issues, undertaking community engagement earlier rather than
later in the life of a policy or project may have major benefits. It gives the community the opportunity to
learn about the trade-offs involved, and a diverse range of community views can be considered in the
development of options or solutions.
In the past, it has been difficult to quantify the benefit of community engagement to projects. In 2015,
Consult Australia, with the support of IAP2, prepared Valuing better engagement: An economic
framework to quantify the value of stakeholder engagement for infrastructure delivery. Although this
document focuses on infrastructure projects, community engagement professionals may find it useful
within the planning framework.
6 Tasmanian Government Framework for Community Engagement, 2013.

Six core principles
The six core principles of community engagement of particular use in the planning framework are
defined below.
Resource 1.1: Six core principles
Community is engaged in a relevant and appropriate way
Principles How this may be applied at the local level
1. Engagement • Engagement is undertaken in the best interests of the whole community

focuses on the best (or the affected part of the community, if the changes apply only to part of
interests of the the local government area), rather than of any individual person or group.
community
2. Engagement is • Engagement draws the attention of the community to all relevant

open, honest and information, the purpose and general effect of the proposed plan/changes
meaningful and the specific details.
• The community is provided with genuine opportunities to participate
in/contribute to the plan-making process and is kept informed of the
proposed plan/changes and its implications and any amendments during
the process.
3. Approaches to • Engagement is inclusive, appropriate to the needs of the community, and

engagement are commensurate with the scale and complexity of the proposed
inclusive and plan/changes.
appropriate • Reach out to and encourage the community to be involved in discussing
planning and development issues that affect their lives, making sure to
seek out diverse voices and perspectives.
• Identify and address potential barriers to community input, while being
open with the community about any budget constraints.
• Consistent engagement processes can make it easier for the community
and stakeholders to participate. However, this must be balanced with the
need for engagement tools to suit the community and the circumstances
of the proposal being considered. Identify approaches to reach all
community members, including those with specific needs (e.g. language,
people with disabilities, older people, and the young). Different
engagement tools and different questions will produce better responses
with different communities. Where possible, use a mix of qualitative and
quantitative engagement methods to gather a diversity of opinions.
4. Information is timely • The community is provided with information in a timely manner which
and relevant allows for input before decisions are made.
• Sufficient time is allowed for the community to consider information and
then make a meaningful contribution to the plan-making or development
assessment process.
• Engagement should start early in the plan-making or development process
when objectives and options are being identified.
• Listening to the community, addressing their concerns, and building
capacity to understand planning and development issues and solutions
can mean longer periods of engagement.
• Recognise that public engagement is a dynamic, ongoing process that
requires flexibility.

5. Information is The community has easy access to information that is:
accurate, easy to • accurate, easy to read and easy to understand
understand and
accessible • tailored to the community, where necessary, in language and style
• in a form that appeals to the intended audience
• clear about how to make a submission, how the submission will be dealt
with, and the general timeframe before a decision can be expected.
6. Decision-making is • The final decision about the proposed plan, changes to the plan or the
transparent development proposal is made in an open and transparent way.
• The community, as a whole, and individual submitters are provided with
reasons for the decision and information about how all submissions have
been taken into account.
International Association for Public Participation

The International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Federation and Australasian chapter offers
concepts, principles and current industry practice in relation to community engagement. IAP2 defines
community engagement as:
Any process that involves the community in problem-solving or decision-making and uses
community input to make better decisions.
IAP2 has developed seven core values for the practice of public participation:
…for use in developing and implementing public participation processes to help inform better
decisions that reflect the interests and concerns of potentially affected people and entities’.
These core values are:
1. Public participation is based on the belief that those who are affected by a decision have a right to
be involved in the decision-making process.
2. Public participation includes the promise that the public’s contribution will influence the decision.
3. Public participation promotes sustainable decisions by recognising and communicating the needs
and interests of all participants, including decision makers.
4. Public participation seeks out and facilitates the involvement of those potentially affected by or
interested in a decision.
5. Public participation seeks input from participants in designing how they participate.
6. Public participation provides participants with the information they need to participate in a
meaningful way.
7. Public participation communicates to participants how their input affected the decision.
In addition, the IAP2 Quality Assurance Standard for Community and Stakeholder Engagement outlines
steps for implementing quality engagement. It includes a process that audits an engagement process
against the IAP2 core values.
IAP2 developed a spectrum of public participation that helps define the community’s role in any
community engagement process. The IAP2 Spectrum (2014) shows that differing levels of participation
are appropriate, depending on the outcomes, timeframes, resources and levels of concern or interest in
the decision to be made. Most importantly, the spectrum sets out the promise being made to the public
at each participation level.
The IAP2 Spectrum is referenced in some form, or underpins, many local and state government
community engagement toolkits available in Australia.

Resource 1.2: IAP2’s public participation spectrum

In 2014, IAP2 Australasia developed a community engagement model that identified seven key drivers
of contemporary engagement. These are:
1. community connectedness
2. greater access to information
3. increased visibility
4. pressure to deliver value for money
5. the nature of complex problems
6. commercial pressure to innovate
7. mobility and pace of communication.
This contemporary engagement model recognises that engagement activities may be led by the
organisation, the community or both. It also recognises that the action may be driven by the community,
the organisation or both.
In the context of the planning system, the prevalent model would be where a local government or a
developer both leads the process and takes action. There may also be some current examples of
where local governments and their communities have shared leadership and action. In the future, it is
likely that there will be more examples of planning projects where the community advocates for change
and local government acts accordingly.
Figure 2: Community-engagement models

Source: IAP2 Australasia. IAP2 Australasia Contemporary Engagement Model

Part 2: Developing a community engagement plan
A community engagement plan should outline a clear approach to how the community and
stakeholders will be engaged on planning and development matters. To respond to the circumstances
of a particular local government or a particular community, engagement plans can take many different
forms. However, they should, at least, address the matters listed in the following checklist.
Tool 2.1: Checklist for developing an engagement plan
 Engagement purpose: Have you clearly defined the purpose of the engagement?
This involves explaining the reason input or participation is necessary, i.e. what planning
problem is the community helping to resolve or what decision does local government need
to make? This process also involves defining the stakeholders affected and the decision-
makers.
 Engagement scope: Have you clearly defined the scope of the engagement project?
This involves explaining the decisions that need to be made, what the engagement
process will focus on, and what you are seeking input on. This process also involves
defining what is non-negotiable (i.e. what the community cannot influence) and what is
negotiable (i.e. what the community can influence). At this point you could also reach out to
internal engagement staff to confirm your approach, and determine if external engagement
resources are required.
 Engagement objectives: Have you clearly defined the objectives that the engagement
process will achieve?
This involves explaining the objectives of your engagement process. Engagement
objectives could relate to a range of potential outcomes, including:
 building community capacity to understand planning and development issues

 building stronger relationships with community and stakeholders
 seeking innovative solutions for planning and development challenges
 making better decisions about planning and development.
 Context analysis: Have you conducted analysis to understand the local, regional, state
and national context that will affect the engagement process?
This could involve exploring local demographic and economic characteristics, access to
technology, level of understanding of planning issues, response to previous engagement
processes.
 Stakeholder and issues analysis: Have you conducted analysis of the different
stakeholders and community groups that could be interested in your process?
This analysis could include identifying stakeholders and community groups, exploring what
issues are of interest to them and how these individuals and groups might be affected, and
what methods you will use to engage and build relationships with them.
 Level of engagement: Have you determined the role of the community in the decision-
making process?
This process involves determining whether you will be promising to inform, consult,
involve, collaborate or empower the community. This could also include identifying the
phases of a project or process where the particular levels of engagement will apply.
 Engagement phases: Have you described the project phases and timeframes?
This involves describing the phases of your project, and the associated timeframes, and

how the engagement process supports these phases and complements the overall delivery
of the project.
 Data collection and analysis: Have you determined what data are required to support the
decision?
This process involves identifying how community input will be collected and in what format,
and how it will be used to inform the decision.
 Engagement methods: Have you defined a list of methods or tools you will use to inform
community members, and gain community input, feedback or collaboration to achieve your
engagement objectives?
This will include communication methods to raise awareness or understanding about the
planning or development project, and how feedback will be provided to the community
about the engagement process, what has been heard and how it will be considered.
 Resources: Determine what financial and human resources are needed, or are available,
to deliver the defined engagement methods.
 Implementation plan: Define a schedule for how and when the engagement will occur,
which should be linked to the engagement phases of the project.
 Feedback: Identify how feedback will be provided to community members and

stakeholders so that they understand how their input shaped the project or process
outcome.
 Evaluation measures: Define what you will do to evaluate the success of your
engagement. This could include ways to measure how satisfied the community and the
project team are with the engagement process, the quality of the input received, and how
well the engagement program achieved your stated objectives.
Define the community engagement scope

As a first step, you will need to scope the engagement project and determine what level of community
engagement is appropriate. This step will help to clarify why you are engaging with the community
(i.e. the purpose) and to identify community engagement objectives relevant to your project. This step
addresses the first three items on the checklist.
Community engagement objectives describe what needs to be achieved with your stakeholders in the
delivery of your engagement project. Some of the objectives will be about actions or activities and
some will be about the relationships with stakeholders.
The work by the Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia to develop four levels of
impact and associated criteria can help you assess the likely level of impact that the planning or
development project may have on the community and stakeholders. Applying this to the IAP2 Public
Participation Spectrum provides further guidance in understanding the relationship between the level of
community impact and the level of engagement that should be applied.

Tool 2.2A: Aligning community engagement to stakeholder impact levels
Level of
Likely level of impact Criteria Examples community
engagement
• High impact across • New planning scheme

community including to for the whole local
the natural environment government area.
or general health and
High impact on whole safety of all residents.
community
• High degree of interest
across the community.
Involve/collaborate
• Strong possibility of
conflicting perspectives.
• High impact on a • Changes in zoning to

specific neighbourhood, restrict future
group in the community development rights.
or specific service or
program. • Increases in density in
High impact on a select key locations.
area and/or community • Strong possibility of
group conflicting perspectives • New or amendments to
existing, neighbourhood
at the neighbourhood
or local plan.
level or the need for
trade-offs among
certain groups.
• Modest impact across • Updating planning

the community. scheme provisions
relating to small-lot
• Sufficient degree of housing or apartment
Consult
Modest impact on whole interest to warrant
building design.
community community
engagement. • The inclusion of a new
flood overlay.
• Moderate possibility for
conflicting perspectives.
• Modest impact on a • Changes to hours of

neighbourhood area, operation of a
community group(s) or community facility.
specific facility/service.
Modest impact on select • Intersection redesign.
Inform
area and/or community • Small change to a

group localised facility/service.
• Modest risk of
controversy or conflict
at the local level.

Tool 2.2B: Decision-making flowchart to help align community engagement to stakeholder
impact levels
This tool can be used in conjunction with 2.2A to help you align impact levels with level of community
engagement. Once you have identified a level of community engagement you can refer to
Resource 1.2: IAP2’s public participation spectrum to determine associated goal and promise to the
community.
For planning projects, some decisions may be non-negotiable, while others may be negotiable.
Defining what is negotiable and what is not will determine how you engage with your community and
stakeholders. It is important to understand what these negotiables and non-negotiables are at the start
of a project or process in order to manage community and stakeholder expectations about their level of
influence on project or process outcomes.
Impact level
High impact on High impact on Modest impact on Modest impact on

whole community select area/group whole community select area/group
Involve/collaborate Involve/collaborate Consult Inform

Tool 2.3: Listing negotiable and non-negotiable items
Please note that this tool only lists some examples for illustration purposes. You will need to add to the
table your project’s circumstances.
Non-negotiable Negotiable
Non-negotiable items are the elements of a Negotiable items are those that are not bound
planning process or project that cannot by legislative or statutory requirements. Some
change. Some examples are listed below. examples are listed below. Each project is
Each project is different. It pays to consider different. It pays to consider this question up-
this question up-front on every project: front on every project:
What aspect of this project cannot change? What aspects of this project can be influenced
What is fixed? by the community and stakeholders?
For example, legislative requirements for For example, the range of engagement
engagement that needs to be followed. techniques that can be implemented to add
value to the statutory process.
For example, the amount of budget local For example, the opportunity to work with the
government has allocated to spend on the community to implement community-led and
engagement process. community-funded engagement activities.
For example, community safety such as the For example, the opportunity to influence how
need to restrict development in flood-prone density is addressed in a local government
areas. area.
For example, the need to protect certain flora For example, the opportunity to influence
and fauna communities because they are where parkland is located, or its function, in a
listed as ‘rare and threatened’. local government area.
Determine the context

An important step when planning any community engagement is to familiarise yourself with any existing
plans or reports related to your planning project, your stakeholders and community members, or the
local area. Whether recent or historical, they will offer valuable insights into community and stakeholder
sentiments, key issues and areas of interest that may be relevant to your planning project. Some
examples are:
• demographic and economic information, including population projections or analysis of community

characteristics (e.g. age, ethnicity, socio-economic indicators)
• reports about environmental constraints affecting the area (e.g. flooding, vegetation and landslip)
• reports about local character and streetscape
• traffic information, and future and historic infrastructure plans
• previous community engagement outcomes for similar projects, locations or demographics.

Understand your stakeholders, their
interests and levels of influence
Not all stakeholders in a particular group or sub-group will necessarily share the same concerns or
have unified opinions or priorities. This step explores how to understand and identify stakeholders who
should be involved in the engagement process.
Identification of key stakeholders is vital to engaging with people in the community who can contribute,
or can influence and encourage others to contribute.
Satisfaction with local government is not confined to roads, rates, safety and rubbish. Sometimes
improvements in these areas may not measurably improve overall community satisfaction. If a local
government wants to improve community perceptions, it is critical that they seek to understand what
makes its residents ‘tick’.7
Every stakeholder or community group has their own reason to participate in an engagement process.
An understanding of these motives is good to keep in mind, e.g. young people may want to show their
capabilities and older people may want to share their expertise.8
Three key steps can be taken to better understand your stakeholders.
7 Bang the Table: http://bangthetable.com/2011/07/02/all-lgas-are-unique-arent-they/

8 Citzenlab: http://citizenlab.co/blog/civic-engagement/3-key-learnings-to-move-forward-with-citizen-engagement-co-
creation/?utm_source=CitizenLab+Newsletter&utm_campaign=d0047db73a-
CitizenLab_s_Weekly5&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_459e3f49da-d0047db73a-142562401

Tool 2.4: Stakeholder understanding checklist
Step 1: Identify stakeholders
 Have you considered who the stakeholders are? Have you identified the individuals and
groups that will be affected by the outcomes of the planning process? Have you identified
the individuals or groups that may be able to influence the outcomes of a planning
process?
 A stakeholder is someone who can affect the success of the planning project or who will
be affected by the project.
 Larger projects are likely to have a larger number of stakeholders involved. However, do
not underestimate the number of people that could become interested or involved in
smaller projects.
 Your list of stakeholders should be as exhaustive as possible. This is the time to make
sure that you understand the local and regional contexts of your project, the people who
help to shape those contexts, and what planning issues interest them.
 Do you understand the demographic characteristics of your community, and any socio-
economic indicators? Do you know whether the community understands planning issues?
How have they responded to previous engagement processes?
 For each stakeholder, it is important to understand how they might be affected, what their
level of interest is likely to be, and what their level of interest should be (particularly where
the planning outcomes may create long-term changes that are not easily understood
impacts, e.g. changes in density in a residential area).
Step 2: Analyse stakeholder influence and impact

Once you have identified the stakeholders, and captured information about their influence,
interest and levels of understanding about planning issues, you can start to analyse this
information.
 How much constructive or negative influence could a stakeholder have on the outcomes of
the planning process? How much interest are they likely to have?
This step involves analysing each of your identified stakeholders against certain criteria.
The two key criteria to analyse stakeholders against are:

1) extent to which they are interested (low to high)
2) ability to influence outcomes (low to high).
Once this analysis is complete, you will be able to create a prioritised list of stakeholders
and an associated engagement strategy.
Step 3: Prioritise stakeholders

 Have you completed your analysis of stakeholder interest and influence? If so, you can now
prioritise your key stakeholder list.
 Does your stakeholder have a low level of interest and low level of influence? Then they
may be a lower priority for your engagement strategy.
 Should the stakeholder be more interested than they are? If this is the case, consider
treating them as if their interest is high, so that you can raise awareness and generate their
interest.
 Does your stakeholder have a high level of interest and high influence? Then they will have
a higher priority in your engagement strategy.

This exercise should be conducted for all your identified stakeholders, so that your engagement
strategy can comprehensively address all stakeholder interests.
Resource 2.1: Stakeholder ability to influence outcomes
It is important to note that this toolkit does not focus on the 'empower' end of the IAP2 Spectrum. The
goal of processes that empower is to place decision-making in the hands of the community. With the
purpose of the toolkit in mind, this would mean that local governments would commit to implementing
what the community decided in relation to planning processes, rather than make that decision
themselves. However, in practice, during the plan-making or amendment process, it is necessary for
local governments to weigh up a range of factors such as environment, economy, employment,
transport and housing. Many of these factors have legislative requirements that need to be complied
with.

Tool 2.5: Checklist for identifying stakeholder needs
This tool will help you to identify the different needs of stakeholders, as they become involved in your
engagement process.
 What level of information do stakeholders need to make an informed decision about the
planning project? Do they already understand planning concepts? Do they need support to
build their understanding of planning concepts?
 What level of information are stakeholders likely to seek about your project?
 Will all stakeholder contributions influence the project equally? Or are there some
individuals or groups that will have more influence on the outcomes of the project?
Remember that it is important to be transparent.
 Is a community leader available to assist with the community engagement process? Will
this community leader be able to make introductions? Will the assistance of this
community leader build the credibility of the project or the project team?
 Will everyone interested in, or potentially affected by, the project have an opportunity to
become involved?
 Have efforts been made to include under-represented community groups in all community
engagement processes (e.g. younger people, older people, people with disabilities,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people from culturally and linguistically
diverse backgrounds, and disadvantaged and homeless people)?
 Are there any barriers that may prevent some stakeholders from participating in the
process? These barriers could be physical, economic, cultural, or linguistic.

Tool 2.6: Stakeholder prioritisation table
Stakeholder Contact person Impact Influence What is important to the How might the stakeholder How might the stakeholder Strategy for engaging the
name stakeholder contribute to the project? oppose the project? stakeholder
(L, M, H) (L, M, H)
What is the Who is the Will the impact Will the potential What is important to this How could the stakeholder What actions could the What approach will you take to
name of the nominated contact of the project on influence of the stakeholder? What do they value? contribute to the project, either stakeholder take to oppose the engage with this stakeholder? Are
stakeholder person? the stakeholder stakeholder on What do they comment on in the constructively or negatively? Do project? What statements could you informing, consulting,
group or be low, medium the project’s media? What are their they have resources that might be they make to influence others to involving or collaborating with
individual? or high? outcome be low, submissions usually about? useful to you? Can they introduce oppose the project? them? Or are you empowering
medium or high? you to other stakeholders? them to make a decision? What
Tools 2.2A, techniques will you implement to
2.2B, 2.4 and engage with this stakeholder?
2.6 will help you
to understand Resource 2.1 will help you to
the impact. determine the level of engagement
that may be required.
For example: Mr John Smith L H This group is very interested in This group has commissioned Highly motivated group with large For this project, we need to
protecting koalas and koala research about koalas in our local membership. proactively involve this group, as
Our Town’s habitat. government area. They could be they have knowledge to share that
Koala Action happy to share their data. Members make submissions on can help the strategic planning
Group Their comments in the media planning projects and have been process.
typically relate to the impact that known to protest at sites where
development has on koala habitat, vegetation is being cleared. Techniques will include:
and associated impact on the
species. Mr John Smith is often quoted in • meetings with Mr John Smith
print and online media and and a small number of
Any submissions they make interviewed for radio and TV. His members involve
generally focus on koalas but often statements are often provocative. representatives in any
mention broader aspects of
workshops that focus on
environmental protection as well
environmental management
and the adverse effects of
development. • include a representative on the
Community Reference Group
established for the project.
For example: H M This local resident will be directly There is an opportunity here to It is very likely that Mrs Jones will It is important that we consult with
affected by the proposed increase build Mrs Jones’ understanding of create an action group to oppose Mrs Jones as part of this
Mrs Stephanie in density in this neighbourhood. planning concepts, particularly the this project, if she does not feel engagement process.
Jones trade-offs required if development that she has been listened to.
Mrs Jones has made statements in this area remains low density. Techniques will include:
in the past about the negative
impacts of increased density on • one-on-one interviews
her amenity. • direct invitations to community
events
Mrs Jones has made submissions
in the past, and written letters to • telephone contact.
the editor.

Implementation plan
The implementation plan is a crucial step in the community engagement process. This
plan lists the engagement tools for each phase of the project or process. It also includes
the resources required to deliver the tools and the timeframes that they need to be
delivered in.
This step depends on selecting the right tools for the community engagement process.
Selecting community engagement tools is described in more detail in part 3 of this
toolkit.
The following community engagement action plan is an example only and has been
created for an imaginary rural town in Queensland, with a population of between 6000
and 10,000 people.
In developing this action plan, these assumptions have been made:
• The local plan being prepared is a medium to long-term plan that identifies the
needs and aspirations of the local community and outlines the actions that need to
be taken to achieve these local planning goals.
• Resources are available in-house to deliver all the engagement tasks outlined in the
action plan, and specific skills may need to be supplemented by outsourcing.
The example community engagement includes a range of traditional and contemporary
tools to reflect the breadth of tools outlined in part 3, specifically tool 3.2.
The timeframes outlined in a community engagement action plan would need to coincide
with the timeframes for the development of the local plan. Given that the following action
plan is an example only, timeframes have not been specified.

Tool 2.7: Example community engagement action plan – Local plan for a rural town
Activity Description Stakeholder group Actions Resources and Timeframes Responsible
budget officer
Phase 1: Raise awareness (timing depends on overall program to develop local plan)
Letters to ratepayers Prepare a letter that outlines Broader community • Prepare letter • In-house writer • Prepare Name of individual
the project and why it is tasked to
needed, and outlines the • Distribute • Postal costs • Approvals complete action
engagement process. • Distribute
Distribute the letter to all
ratepayers.
Advertisements Place advertisements in local Broader community • Prepare • In-house writer • Prepare Name of individual
newspaper and book advertisement tasked to
community service • Advertising • Approvals complete action
announcements. • Book advertisements costs
• Distribute
Establish webpage Establish a page for the Broader community • Prepare webpage • In-house writer • Prepare Name of individual
project on council’s current tasked to
website. Prepare • Prepare content for • Graphic • Approvals complete action
background information and webpage designer
• Go live
FAQs for page. Provide • Go live • In-house web
more detail to support team • Ongoing updates
information supplied in letter throughout project
to ratepayers.
Media release Prepare and issue a media Broader community • Prepare release • In-house team • Prepare Name of individual
release for the local paper to member tasked to
raise awareness of project. • Approve release • Approvals complete action
• Issue • Issue
• Ongoing throughout
project to promote
events
Email address Create a project email Broader community • Create email In-house team • Prepare Name of individual
address and project address member tasked to
Project hotline telephone hotline. • Go live complete action
• Create phone
number
Facebook and Establish Facebook page Broader community • Create Facebook In-house team • Prepare Name of individual

budget officer
Instagram and Instagram account. page member • Go live tasked to

Create a hashtag #mytown. complete action
• Create Instagram • Ongoing posts to
account promote project and
create community
interest.
Community and local Establish a regular interview Broader community • Pitch story ideas • In-house team • Prepare Name of individual
radio with a planner to discuss about the project to member tasked to
planning concepts. local radio and • First interview complete action
community radio. Interviewee
• Establish regular
radio spots.
Direct email Send direct emails to Identified stakeholder • Prepare and send • In-house team • Prepare Name of individual
representatives of identified groups email. member tasked to
stakeholder groups. Email • Approve complete action
will outline the project, why it • Distribute
is needed, and the
engagement process.
Community Reference Establish and meet with Identified stakeholder • Identify stakeholder • In-house team • Identify groups Name of individual
Group Community Reference groups groups that could member tasked to
Group. contribute to • Prepare terms of complete actions
Community • Catering and reference
Focus of first meeting will be venue hire Name of planning
Reference Group. • Approvals
on outlining the project, why staff required to
it is needed, and the • Develop terms of • Staff costs to attend meeting
attend meeting • Invitations
engagement process. reference for the
group. • Facilitator • Conduct meeting
• Issue invitations and costs
conduct first
meeting.

budget officer
Phase 2: Capturing community input for draft local plan (timing dependent on overall program to develop local plan)
Prepare print materials Print materials could include Broader community • Prepare materials. • In-house team • Prepare materials Name of individual
to support Phase 2 flyers, factsheets, and member tasked to
engagement brochures. • Print materials. • Print materials complete action
• Printing costs
• Distribute
Distribution costs
Main Street ‘Talk to a Conduct regular drop-in Broader community • Prepare materials. • In-house team • Prepare and promote a Name of individual
Planner’ sessions sessions in the main street member to monthly session tasked to
where community members • Book space. arrange throughout this phase of complete action
can talk to a planner about • Establish equipment sessions project
the future of the town and Name of staff and
kit. • Equipment • Ad-hoc sessions as which session
the planning concepts that
are being considered as part costs needed attending
of the planning process. • Staff costs to
Identify other opportunities attend
for Talk to a Planner sessions
sessions, e.g. local show,
farmers markets etc.
Capture conversations in
database.
Instagram campaign Launch Instagram campaign Broader community • Promote #mytown • In-house team • Ongoing throughout Name of individual
#mytown to encourage (particularly younger campaign. member phase tasked to
people to share images of demographic) complete action
the things that are important • Track images
to them in town. posted.
• Share images with
team and capture in
database.

budget officer
Community workshop Conduct workshop with Broader community • Prepare and • In-house team • Prepare and promote Name of individual
interested community promote. member to tasked to
members and invited Identified
prepare and • Conduct workshop complete action
stakeholders. stakeholders • Conduct workshop. promote
Explore range of planning • Staff costs to
topics that are being attend
considered as part of the
local plan. • Venue and
catering costs
• Facilitator
costs
Conversation Toolkit Prepare conversation toolkit Broader community • Prepare and • In-house team • Prepare and promote Name of individual
to encourage broader promote. member to tasked to
community to discuss the promote • Launch complete action
project and planning • Make available on
concepts, at home, work, the webpage. • Consultant
school, or community group costs to
meetings. prepare
Toolkit includes a hard-copy

survey.
Online survey Make Conversation Toolkit Broader community • Prepare and • In-house team • Prepare and promote Name of individual
survey available online. promote. member tasked to
• Launch complete action
Promote availability. • Make available on
the webpage.
Community Reference Meet with Community Identified stakeholder • Conduct meetings. • In-house team • Three meetings Name of individual
Group Reference Group. groups member throughout this phase, or tasked to
as needed complete actions
Focus of meeting is to • Catering and
discuss planning challenges, venue hire Name of planning
community feedback and to staff required to
input into planning process. • Staff costs to attend meeting
attend meeting
• Facilitator
costs

budget officer
Phase 3: Public Notice period (tasks described here are additional to those outlined in the Minister’s Guidelines and Rules) (timing dependent on overall program to develop
local plan)
Prepare print materials Print materials could include Broader community • Prepare materials. • In-house team • Prepare materials Name of individual
to support Phase 3 fact sheets (including one member tasked to
engagement that shows how community • Print materials. • Print complete action
and stakeholder input has • Printing costs
• Distribute
shaped plan), brochure, and • Distribution
guide to making a ‘properly costs
made submission’.
Community Reference Meet with Community Identified stakeholder • Conduct meeting • In-house team • Meeting Name of individual
Group Reference Group. groups member tasked to
complete actions
Focus of meeting is to • Catering and
discuss draft plan. venue hire Name of planning
staff required to
• Staff costs to attend meeting
attend meeting
• Facilitator
costs
Main Street ‘Talk to a Conduct regular drop-in Broader community • Prepare materials. • In-house team • Three sessions Name of individual
Planner’ sessions sessions in the main street member to throughout this phase tasked to
so community can talk to a • Book space. arrange complete action
planner about local plan. • Establish equipment sessions
Name of staff and
kit. • Equipment which session
costs attending
• Staff costs to
attend
sessions

budget officer
Phase 4: Finalise and feedback (timed to coincide with release of approved local plan)
Email to participants Email participants and thank Participants in • Prepare summary of • In-house team • Coincide with release of Name of individual
and submitters them for their contribution. process engagement report member approved plan tasked to
Provide an overview of how complete action
all community input helped to • Write email • Editing costs
shape process. Attach
summary of engagement
report.

Part 3: Selecting community engagement tools
In this section, you will find a matrix designed to guide decisions about the tools that
are most appropriate for different levels of community engagement.
In the matrix, popular community engagement tools, a description for each, and how
they relate to the IAP2 Public Participation Spectrum are listed.
The following checklist will help you to consider tools and techniques that will help you
to deliver a successful community engagement process that achieves your objectives.
It contains numerous tools and techniques to choose from as you consider these
questions.
Tool 3.1: Selecting engagement tools to achieve critical success factors for
engagement
Community
engagement
What to consider when choosing an engagement tool
critical success
factor
Timely
 Have you considered tools that allow you to inform the community and key
stakeholders from the beginning of your engagement process? Choose tools
that achieve this and can continue to be used throughout the engagement
process.
 Have you considered tools that will help you to build and secure a positive
relationship, and the time that it might take to build this relationship? This will
include tools that create opportunities for conversations with community
members, and to listen to them.
 Have you considered tools that will help community members contribute in a
way that influences outcomes? It is important to time the implementation of
these tools so that engagement occurs when the community has the best
opportunity to influence outcomes.
 Have you considered tools that will allow conversations about strategic
planning to continue after the planning scheme is developed? Continuing the
conversation will build community capacity to contribute to the next planning
scheme engagement process.
Accessible and
appealing  Have you considered tools that will be accessible to all stakeholder groups
and community members, so that they are informed about the engagement
process and encouraged to participate?
 Have you considered tools that are appropriate for your local community?
Choose tools that are accessible for your entire community, e.g. are online
tools the best choice if internet use is low in your community? Choose tools
that allow you to take the engagement process to the community, or tools or
events that the community is interested in using.
 Have you considered tools that will allow you to provide information to
stakeholders and community members in a way that is easy for them to
understand? Choose tools that allow you to present information in an easily
understandable format, use plain language, and allow you to clarify issues.

Inclusive
 Have you considered tools that encourage all sectors of the community to be
involved in conversations about planning? Choose tools that will appeal to
diverse groups within the community, and a cross-section of the population.
Choose tools that will help you to reach all community members, including
those with specific needs (e.g. people with disability, older people, younger
people). Have you considered tools that will help the community to make
properly made submissions?
 Have you also considered how good ideas can be captured as part of the
process, regardless of whether they are made as part of a properly made
submission? It is important to help build community capacity to understand
planning issues, and how to express concerns in relation to these issues. It
is also important for planners to recognise community diversity and to
include engagement techniques in a process that enables community
members to express their ideas. Where good ideas are expressed using
these techniques they should be able to influence a planning process,
regardless of whether they are part of a ‘properly made’ submission.
Community-
focused  Have you considered tools that encourage the entire community to
participate? Choose tools that allow the community to become involved,
rather than just individuals or groups.
 Have you considered tools that will help community members and
stakeholders understand what is in the best interests of the community, and
the trade-offs that may be required to achieve the best interests of the
community? Choose tools that enable community members to explore,
discuss and understand planning concepts.
Interactive
 Have you considered tools that allow the community to consider the big
picture? This could include a combination of tools that inform and provide
comprehensible background information, as well as tools that allow
community members to deliberate about planning challenges and
collaboratively create potential solutions.
 Have you considered tools that provide opportunities for community

members to discuss the big picture with planners?
Flexible
 Have you considered that you may need to use a variety of different tools
and techniques over time? Different engagement tools will connect better
with some communities. Where possible, use a mix of qualitative and
quantitative engagement methods to capture a diverse sample of opinions.
 Have you considered that you may need to choose a different combination of
tools if the tools chosen initially are not delivering a successful engagement
process? The choice of engagement techniques is crucial to making sure
that community members are encouraged to participate and are listened to.
Cost effective
 Have you considered the resources that are available, both budget and staff
time, to deliver the engagement tools and techniques?

Tool 3.2: Choosing the right engagement tools – options matrix
Before applying this tool, it is important to ask yourself the following questions.
 Have you considered the core community engagement principles outlined in

Resource 1.1?
 Have you defined the purpose of the engagement process?

 Have you defined the scope of your engagement process?
 Have you defined your engagement objectives?
 Have you made sure that you understand the context that the process will be
delivered in? Have you conducted thorough analysis to identify and understand
your stakeholders?
 Have you defined the appropriate level of engagement for your engagement
process using the resources in Part 2 and tools in Part 3?
 Have you identified the phases of your project, and determined the data that are
required to support the decision being made?
An overall consideration when selecting the appropriate tool for your engagement
process includes a ‘fit-for-purpose’ perspective. For instance, are you:
 Raising awareness of the plan?
 Gathering contributions before you begin drafting?
 Gathering contributions during the drafting stage?
 Seeking submissions on a draft plan?
 Engaging with a specific community about a new or amended neighbourhood plan?
 Engaging with the community to discuss an issue specific to that community?
 Seeking views on an issue that affects the whole local government area?
Now you are in the best position to identify and select appropriate tools to deliver your
engagement project.

Activity Detail Level of participation Benefits Considerations
Collaborate
Empower
Consult
Involve
Inform
Print materials • A way to provide information on specific issue or initiative to a • This method creates interest within the community. • Expensive to produce.
selected audience. • Good for broad awareness and for activating • Hard to target or to monitor effectiveness.
(e.g. brochures, newsletters, fact • A way to reach a broad audience within the community. interest quickly. • Can miss key minority groups.
sheets, articles in newsletters or • Need to have basic information on aspects of the project. • Can be tailored to address the specific needs of • Need to use plain language and simple graphics to
rates notices) groups.
• Need a distribution method to get to the right people (and explain planning concepts, otherwise audience may
translated for particular groups). ✓ • Some groups, such as older people, may prefer to not read the material.
• Need to be written clearly and concisely with illustrations or receive their information via traditional hard-copy • Timing of some distribution channels (such as rates
infographics where possible. methods. notices) can be a constraint.
• Need a clear call to action for the community to get involved. • Opportunity for planners and other technical staff to
provide information about planning directly to the
intended audience.
Advertisements • Most newspapers and radio stations have a community events • Fast • Expensive
or public service announcement section which can be used to • Efficient • Hard to target or to monitor effectiveness
(e.g. print, TV, radio and digital) inform the public of your events and activities.
• Wide-reaching • Can miss key minority groups.
• Advertisements can also be placed in specific areas of interest ✓
(e.g. early general news, sports, business section) and online • Opportunity to position planning projects positively
platforms to capture interest. using local government key messages
• Can contain a clear call to action to get involved in
planning project.
Media releases • Media releases need to be structured with simple and clear • Relatively cost-effective • Relies on the news cycle for the day of the event
messages. • Opportunity to position planning projects using local and the news value of the project.
• Can be used to disseminate information to the community government key messages.
quickly.
• Find a newsworthy angle for your story and be concise when
sending story ideas to an editor or reporter.
• Highlight elements of your project that will provide good visuals
for digital and television and good picture opportunities for print ✓
publications.
• Even if a reporter doesn’t attend an event you have arranged,
you still have an opportunity to get coverage after the event by
supplying the media organisation with any pictures or visual
collateral collected on the day.
• Always provide the news organisation with written materials
(e.g. news release) to ensure correct facts, names and dates for
your story.
Websites • To be used to provide accessible, clear and appropriate • Can provide a link to any online surveys. • Maintenance and resource requirements to review
information cost-effectively to a broad cross-section of • Can provide lots of targeted information about and refresh content, and to monitor and respond to
stakeholders. planning concepts and planning projects cost- community comments.
✓ ✓ ✓
• Websites can also be used for two-way information exchange. effectively. • Opportunity is lost if materials are not presented in
• Can allow community members to ask questions plain language and using simple graphics.
and receive answers that are accessible to all.
Email feedback • Email feedback can be an easy way to obtain ideas from the • It is quicker than most forms of participation and • Emails received must be tracked carefully to make
public on an issue or a range of issues. may be attractive to those with little time. sure that they are acknowledged and, where this
• It can be used with an existing website with a feedback system. • Allows people to ask their specific planning-related commitment has been given, responded to.
✓ ✓
questions and, potentially, have them answered. • A community member may believe that an email is
This may help to build knowledge about planning a properly made submission, when it may not be.
concepts with some community members.
Information hotline • 1800 number is only the cost of a local call. • Creates a single point of contact for enquiries and • Activation required to generate interest.
✓
requests for information.

• Allows community members to speak directly to a
planner about their concerns and questions.
Town hall/public meetings • Important to have a strong chairperson who can make the • Offers the community the opportunity to attend and • Difficult to get a nuanced understanding from a
meeting flow properly. have their opinion heard in the one place at the one single meeting.
• Everyone needs to have a chance to speak. time. • Challenging for quieter community members.
• Based on a central theme and participants agree on the • Allows for the most important issues to be raised • Tendency to focus on the ‘squeaky wheels’ and
important issues. ✓ ✓ and gives people for whom these issues are most those that are confident enough to speak in front of
relevant the opportunity to discuss. a large group.
• Record each discussion and provide a way for participants to
access them at the end of the event. • Can enable community members to share issues • Potential for a mob mentality to form, which may
and ‘move on’. vocally refute the factual planning information that is
being offered.
Telephone survey/polls • Technique used to obtain structured responses on specific • Good way to quickly assess the current awareness • More expensive to deliver, and more labour-
issues to obtain quantitative measurable results. of, and attitude towards, planning issues. intensive than mailed surveys.
• A simple vote on a topic will give an indication of
the level of local awareness and support.
• Opportunity to capture the views of community
members who may not actively engage in a
planning process or attend public displays or
✓ ✓ ✓
meetings.
• Provides input from a cross-section of the
community, which can be randomly selected and
provide a statistically valid sample.
• Higher response rate than mailed surveys, as
participants are recruited and researchers continue
until they have achieved their sample size.
One-on-one interviews • Involves one person that is tasked with posing a standard set of • Provides important qualitative information about • More labour-intensive, depending on the number of
questions to individuals. community perceptions of planning projects, or community members being interviewed.
• Data gathered need to be carefully analysed and reported to observations about their local community, at a level • Expensive.
provide an accurate representation of public opinion. of detail that can be difficult to obtain by any other
method.
• Good way of raising community understanding
✓ ✓ ✓ about planning concepts.
• Good way of finding and recruiting other community
members who may be able to help with other
engagement techniques.
• Opportunity for in-depth information exchange in a
non-threatening forum.
Public displays • Use local venue as a drop-in centre, e.g. a well-known location • Allows community members to discuss their • Potential for lack of clarity in purpose.
such as a library or senior centre or local primary school. concerns about planning projects with local • Requires intensive staff resources.
(site displays or in community • Run over at least one whole day and evening to enable different government planners.
spaces that attract a lot of people to access the event. • Allows community members to gather information
pedestrians) • People should be able to choose which parts of the event they about planning projects and processes, and share
would like to participate in. their views about these projects.
✓ ✓
• Create fun element (games) for children to attract families. • A wider cross-section of community members is
able to attend, as people can attend at a time
• To be used when you need to present ideas or plans to a broad suitable to them and stay for as long as they wish.
cross-section of stakeholders in an area and obtain responses
in an informal way. • Opportunity to share accurate information, via
display materials, about planning concepts, and the
planning process and projects.
Small group meetings • Technique used to generate discussion and insights on aspects • Opportunity for planners to have a more detailed • May need to reimburse group members for travel
of the project from a known group of stakeholders. conversation about planning concepts, processes, and offer meals if the workshop lasts longer than
• Need to set a clear agenda and a facilitator who can keep the and projects with interested community members. two hours.
✓ ✓ ✓
group on track. • Provides an opportunity to meet with community • Not a broad sample to draw data from.
groups that support people with disabilities, older
people, younger people and indigenous people.

Community events • Set up interactive displays at a booth. • Allows people to make comments and give • Activation required to generate interest in attending
• Could use methods such as stickers, comment cards and graffiti feedback on planning information or options the event.
(event created for project or walls to obtain feedback. presented to them through display material.
attend an existing community • Useful technique for involving people who are not
event, e.g. Brisbane City Council used to being consulted on their views.
Your Home and Neighbourhood • Useful technique for involving people who may be
Fairs) less confident about expressing their views.
• Provides a link between organisations and local
people and encourages long-term involvement by
✓ ✓ the community.
• Opportunity to use more engaging tools (e.g.
games and video booths) to discuss planning
concepts.
• Opportunity to take planning project to an event
where community members gather.
• Opportunity to use non-planning-related activities to
encourage people to attend an event where a
planning project will be discussed (e.g. live music,
children’s entertainers, food trucks).
Charrettes • A charrette is a multi-disciplinary design workshop held over 3-4 • Broad consensus of stakeholders and community • Resource heavy but an effective method for
days that involves stakeholders, the project team, planning and representatives in a short period. working through complex problems relatively
design professionals, technical experts and sometimes • Opportunity to build an understanding of design quickly.
community members. Participants work in small groups, each processes if community members are able to • Lead time is critical for planning, although event
containing a technical expert, to develop constraints, observe charrette process. may be short, lead up is resource intensive and is
opportunities and solutions. on average six to eight weeks.
• Identify the problem or opportunity.
• Select suitable cross-disciplinary teams or teams.
• Select an expert panel who can help review output at the end of
the process.
• Brief teams on the charrette process, which aims at delivering
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
feasible and creative solutions within a short period.
• Plan for a workshop that provides sufficient time for the
designers/planners to work.
• Encourage break-out groups that join the larger group regularly
to present their ideas and approaches.
• Record ideas using on-site graphic recording in a format that
can easily be compiled into a report, using technology such as
GIS mapping tools.
• At the conclusion of the charrette, allow each team to present its
proposed solution to a large audience of the public, planning
professionals, and business and civic leaders.
Steering groups • A steering group is usually made up of high-level stakeholders • The purpose of a steering group can vary greatly • Defining demographic relevance can be
or experts who provide guidance on key issues. Usually not from members providing their own feedback or challenging.
representative of the broader demographic, a steering group is ideas about planning processes, to members acting • Consider the power dynamic carefully and whether
more a panel of experts who guide decision-making. as a conduit between the broader community and all parties are adequately represented.
• Make clear to members what their likely responsibilities and time organisation.
commitments will be. • Stakeholder-led decision-making and input over
• Rotate responsibility for chairing each meeting in order to time, depending on the terms of reference of the
engender a sense of ownership. group.
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
• Include external representatives to allow different perspectives
and a wider experience base.
• Set performance indicators for the group as well as the project.
• Ensure clarity of both individual and group roles.
• Produce minutes that include clear action lists.
• Create time for debate of the issues in the meeting.
• Issue papers at least a week before meetings to allow the

members sufficient preparation time.
Community Reference Groups • A structured group of stakeholder and community • The purpose of a CRG can vary greatly from • A relatively slow-paced decision-making process,
(CRG) representatives that meet regularly and operate under terms of members providing their own feedback or ideas governed by terms of reference.
reference. about a planning project, to members acting as a • Can be good for broad consensus, not necessarily
• Broad-based recruitment. Advertise and promote extensively to conduit between the broader community and demographically representative.
encourage a broad cross-section of representation. organisation.
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ • Stakeholder-led decision-making and input over
• Set clear parameters on the make-up of the group (stakeholder
groups, citizen participation). time, depending on the terms of reference agreed
with local government.
• Have clear terms of reference incorporating purpose and goals,
voting behaviours (incorporating what is a quorum) and
dissolution of the group.
Citizens’ panels • Large numbers of people who are selected to be representative • If the process of recruitment is rigorous, citizens’ • Expectation of level of decision-making with a
of the population and be a part of a panel that deliberates on a panels can be an effective method for securing deliberative process.
(Face-to-face and online) range of issues over a set period. Surveys are distributed during input from a representative sample of community • Can be expensive and resource intensive to
the time to understand community attitudes, feedback, issues members over time. manage both recruitment and management time.
and behaviour. Can track changes as well. • Provides the opportunity for community members to
• Establish the objective and for setting up citizen panels and begin to understand planning concepts and the
what the corresponding reference framework. planning process.
• Ask: What is the logic of deliberation, what are the limits?
• Brief participants on the rules of the proceedings. ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
• Provide experts to the panel.
• Engage independent moderator(s) to assist the process of
deliberation.
• At the agreed time, arrange a presentation from the panel.
• Publish the report and recommendations.
• If the recommendations of the citizen panel are not followed up,
publish the reasons for not following up (this would normally be
done by the commissioning body).
Engagement apps, • To create a mobile platform to engage audiences who are • A broad range of information types can be loaded • Resources to develop content.
unlikely to attend traditional engagement events, and to reach into an app including interactive content. • Time to allow for approvals and uploading of apps
e.g. CitySwipe (Santa Monica’s younger or more mobile audiences. • Can incorporate immersive elements to enable the to Apple and GooglePlay.
Tinder-style app designed to get • To provide content in a way that aligns with how communities community to see locations in 360 degrees. • A degree of technological comfort is required to use
the community involved in are accessing information. • Can gather live data. apps.
planning processes.) • Can be a good way to engage people who are time poor.
✓ ✓ ✓ • Mobile usage is at an all-time high. • This type of technology may not be appropriate for
• Requires both a good idea and sound execution planning. • It is a cost-effective way to engage people where all comments.
• Provide a clear brief with your intended purpose – i.e. is it to they are, essentially bringing engagement about
provide detailed technical details, to support the overall visuals? planning processes to people’s pockets.
• Ensure you provide clear timelines and expectations and have • As new innovative engagement tools emerge, they
any technical data readily available to ensure accuracy of can be loaded into an app, which can function as a
representation. platform for progressive advancements and
additions to the engagement tool.
Social media • Calling for ideas through social media platforms. • Social media targets an audience not captured by • Consider the type of information needed, and the
• Planners can get an idea of what people like and do not like traditional forms of media. social media platform best suited to this. For
(Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, about an area or idea through comments posted on social • More direct format to submit ideas and provide example, if you are interested in learning about
Snapchat) media. This feedback can complement typical surveys, or be a feedback on planning concepts. view corridors that community members think
substitute for surveys. warrant protection, Instagram may be a suitable
platform. If you are asking people what their
Facebook: favourite place is and why, Facebook may be more
Facebook: ✓ ✓
suitable.
• usage levels are quite high • Views expressed on social media are public and
• Facebook posts should be short, sharp and pose questions to • good for overcoming geographic constraints. unfiltered.
increase interaction.
• relatively easy to create and share information
• Facebook posts with video content receive the greatest number about a project. Facebook:
of interactions from Facebook users.
• able to moderate and/or remove comments quickly.

• Twitter offers open access, 140-character limit and requires you • community will often self-moderate negative
to build a following first. comments. • anonymity and lack of control present a challenge
• Develop a policy for information sharing – the what and the how • requires participants to have a Facebook account
• requires a memorable hashtag. Twitter: • not always available on corporate or government
domains.
Instagram: • good for raising awareness about project and • moderation rules addressing content and etiquette
planning concepts need to be established.
• Instagrammers ‘like’ 1.6 billion updates per day • good for media attention and driving traffic to a • monitoring can be labour-intensive.
website
• Sunday gets the highest interaction levels
• provides an opportunity to leverage planners with Twitter:
• peak time in Australia/New Zealand is 8 pm midweek and 5 pm large twitter followings by asking them to post
weekends information about the project or planning concepts
• requires a memorable hashtag • not good for deliberation
• good for a younger population. Instagram has a younger skew – Instagram: • need to build a following first
37 per cent 18 to 29 year olds; 18 per cent 30–49, 50+ just 7 per • monitoring can be labour-intensive.
cent (Nielsen Statistics).
• provides visual content, and allows community
members to upload images relevant to the planning Instagram:
Snapchat: process and project
• gives a face to a project • is so informal it can be difficult to explain technical
• A photo messaging app where users take photos and videos, • has an informal style. concepts.
and add text and drawings. Users then send these snaps. • may need a substantial financial investment to
• It is both a messaging platform and a social network. maintain visual elements.
Snapchat:
• Exists only as a mobile phone app.
• users decide how long snaps will last before they Snapchat:
are deleted from the receiver’s devices and
Snapchat’s server • very popular among teens and young adults
• helps to inform community members and gauge • not so popular with older adults
reaction to issue or planning process • ephemeral components of all content that gets
• one of the world’s most popular social apps. shared, i.e. photos and videos disappear after they
have been viewed by their recipients.
Digital video, e.g. YouTube • Increasing proportion of internet traffic is going digital video. • Provides visual content. • Technology constraints: speed of access.
• Beware of humour and ensure it is appropriate to your topic. • Great for virtual site tours. • Informal style.
• Keep the videos short and simple. ✓ • Good for helping to explain complex planning • Lack of control over comments (YouTube).
• Be aware of the lack of control in relation to comments and have issues using visual content.
a plan in place to manage it (YouTube). • Gives a face to a project.
Online survey tools such as • A quick and effective way to get a snapshot of community • Good for fast data and community sentiment in • No complexity of data.
Survey Monkey sentiment. relation to emergent planning issues. • No opportunity to interrogate data in more detail.
• Prepare questions. ✓ ✓ ✓ • Quantitative data.
• Consider your promotion – how will the community know about • Relatively cost effective.
it?
Hard-copy surveys/ • Standard set of open and/or closed questions to a wide range of • Popular method of collecting point-in-time • Response rate can be low.
questionnaires people. qualitative and quantitative information from a • To get statistically valid results, can be labour-
• Conducted through face-to-face interviews, self-completion population. intensive and expensive.
written forms, over the phone, or electronically via the internet or • Good way to find out opinions of local people on a • Level of detail may be limited.
email. particular planning topic in a structured way that
can be extensively analysed. • Less effective in obtaining responses to complex
• Technique used to obtain structured responses on specific issues.
issues and to obtain quantitative and/or qualitative results. • Good way to inform people about the project.
✓ ✓ ✓ • Effective analysis of data can be labour-intensive
• Good way to reach many people and involve those and requires a high level of expertise.
who may not be able to engage in other ways.
• Input from those who may not attend a public
meeting.
• Provides a mechanism for extending a mailing list.
• Provides a cross-section of the community, not only
activists.

Online polling • A quick and effective way to get a snapshot of community • Good for fast data and community sentiment in • No complexity of data.
sentiment. relation to emergent planning issues. • No opportunity to interrogate data in more detail.
✓ ✓ ✓
• Prepare questions. • Quantitative data.
• Relatively cost effective.
Online deliberative forums • Recruitment is critical. • Useful in explaining planning concepts which • Can be expensive – consider if you require all the
• Consider the rules of the forum. participants have a chance to explore in their own functionality on offer.
time. • What data do you require and in what format?
• Transparency with moderation guidelines.
• Great potential for detailed qualitative data. • What are the technical requirements in relation to
• Consider the pros and cons of an open or closed forum – i.e. if
participants need to formally register. • Licensing agreements can reduce costs. your existing website?
✓ ✓ ✓ • How will you manage moderation?
• Will registration affect your engagement process?
• Will it deliver value for money?
• Do you need visuals?
• How technologically savvy do you need to be to use
it?
Gamefication • Gamefication is the use of game-thinking and game mechanics • Can provide a fun way to encourage community • Is it appropriate to your engagement purpose?
in a non-game context to engage users in solving problems. participation and greater community understanding • Will the concept or idea be compelling enough for
of planning concepts. people to play it?
✓ ✓ ✓
• Helps users to explore scenarios, understand the
impacts of planning choices, or to understand
different perspectives.
Virtual reality • Virtual reality is a completely created virtual world that people • Provides an immersive experience where people • Extensive cost and time requirements, which may
can be transported to using specific equipment. can experience what a development will look like make it unfeasible for smaller councils.
before it’s constructed. • Requires special tools (such as headsets) to view
• Can incorporate smart city monitoring data. models.
✓
• Rudimentary forms of virtual reality are already • There is a potential to manipulate information as
being used by some Queensland councils. parts of the existing physical world can be removed
• Some property developers are already familiar with in the virtual world.
the technology, using it as a marketing tool.
Mixed reality (including • Instead of a created virtual world, augmented reality takes the • A cost-effective method for demonstrating what a • Requires detailed computer-aided design drawings
augmented reality) real world and alters it. project will look like on the ground. to be meaningful.
• Existing drawings are used to create virtual fly-throughs or • Mixed reality requires less 3D modelling than virtual • Needs to work in conjunction with other methods to
augmented reality to give a clear picture of a proposed project. reality, as only the elements being proposed are capture data.
• With technology costs reducing this can be an effective way of shown. • Quality of finished product can vary greatly.
providing visual understanding of a project. • Because the real-world is not being re-created • There is a perception that mixed reality takes time
• Look for a technology provider with experience in property and virtually, there is a less opportunity to conceal and is expensive to develop, and that any benefits
planning. reality. are outweighed by these costs.
• Provide a clear brief with your intended purpose, so that the • Shows the public what is proposed before it is built. • Benefits are not apparent to developers and local
product achieves what is intended. • Levels of detail can vary from basic massing government.
✓ ✓ ✓ models to highly detailed architectural models.
• Ensure you provide clear timelines and expectations and have • Limited by weather as the tool cannot be used in
any technical data readily available to ensure accuracy of • Architectural models are created for many rain or very sunny conditions.
representation. developments that warrant community engagement. • Mixed reality requires a smart device to be able to
These models can be easily converted to view it.
augmented reality models that can be viewed on
any smart phone, e.g. 3Ds Max.
• Communicates proposals in a realistic way, and
people can see what the development will look like
from their point of view.
• Projects that have integrated mixed reality have
been successful.
Animation software • Animation software allows for the creation of motion on a frame- • Communicates proposals and concepts in a new • Animations require more time, effort and cost to
by-frame basis. Each frame is the equivalent of a single drawing ✓ way, potentially appealing to a new audience. make than more traditional tools.
or image • Information tends to focus on essential messages,

• The frames are strung together and can be viewed back expressed as simply as possible.
seamlessly in movie format. The resulting frames are
transferred to a hard drive or USB stick for presentation to the
community.
• Two types of animation software exist: 2-dimensional (has width
and height) and 3-dimensional (has width, height and depth).
Online deliberative forums • Online platforms that can host information about a project, • These platforms and forums have proved • While moderation of a site is often not required,
surveys that explore community sentiment about aspects of a successful in community-led forms (e.g. Skyscraper some local governments may choose to moderate
project, and forums that enable community members to post City). forums. Where this occurs in online forums, clear
comments and engage in conversation about the project. • These platforms provide a way for people to guidance needs to be provided about the focus of
communicate with planners and local government the discussion and the ‘ground rules’ for this
that reflects the contemporary ways they discussion.
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ communicate with families, friends and peers. • There is less accountability for community members
because of the ‘faceless’ nature of online platforms,
and the degree of anonymity that community
members feel that they have.
• Online discussion platforms often attract community
members that are interested, and potentially
passionate, about planning projects.
Data visualisation software • Data visualisation software helps people understand the • Provided the information has been captured, the • The information that can be conveyed is limited.
significance of data by placing it in a visual context. infographics are easy to produce.
• Visualisation tools go beyond the standard charts and graphs • Allows key facts to be clearly and directly
used in Microsoft Excel, displaying data in more sophisticated communicated.
ways such as infographics, heat maps and fever charts. ✓
• Makes complex data more accessible,
understandable and usable.
• Software can be built to alert users when data have
been updated.
3D modelling and fly-throughs • 3D models allow users to view what a planning scheme or local • Cheaper and easier to create than virtual reality and • Requires 3D modelling of landscapes, similar to
area might look like. These models can be used to create highly mixed reality models. virtual reality. Therefore fly-throughs also have the
realistic visual worlds. They also have ‘fly-through’ functionality • Already commonly used to help people visualise potential to represent inaccurate versions of the
allowing users to fly through and view different aspects of the proposals particularly for infrastructure projects. existing landscape.
system. • Fly-throughs often heavily feature bird’s-eye views,
• 3D models are based on geographic information system which do not represent the pedestrian or resident
technology and can display a range of information such as ✓ experience of an area.
geological terrain, road networks, building heights and flights • While more cost-effective than some tools, can still
paths. be expensive to create.
• This software provides an invaluable tool for explaining • Production requires specialist knowledge.
development guidelines and legislation.
3D printing • 3D printing is a process of making three-dimensional solid • Provides a tactile medium to help people improve • Currently expensive to deliver, although cost is
objects from a digital file (a computer-aided design model file or spatial understanding. reducing.
AMF file). ✓ • Allows people to see the spaces that are being • 3D printed models need to be experienced in-
discussed in 3D. This can highlight constraints that person.
are not apparent when looking at 2D maps. • Takes time to print.
Online participatory mapping • Participatory mapping is a community-based mapping system • Allows people to provide comments that directly • Captures information in 2D.
that combines modern cartography with participatory methods to relate to a space or location of current • Current providers have made all contributions
represent the spatial knowledge of local communities. environments. public, so contributors can see comments made by
• Participatory maps represent a socially or culturally distinct ✓ ✓ ✓ • Interactive. others.
understanding of the landscape and contain information not • There is limited ability to filter contributions.
usually included on official maps.
• Maps created by local communities show elements that
communities perceive as important, such as customary land

boundaries and sacred areas.
Wiki ideas • Wikipedia for planning documents (i.e. a plan anyone can edit). • Allows co-creation of plans. • Limited number of software providers (e.g.
• Typically made publicly available, and anyone who is willing to • Provides a line of sight between comments and Collabforge, Google docs, X wiki and Objective
create a login has full rights to edit or comment on content. final outcomes. Keystone).
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
• Allows input directly into planning documents, • May be difficult to export plans, and track or
saving time for the submitter and reviewer. consolidate similar comments, depending on the
provider selected.
Online polling • Online polling is a type of opinion survey or questionnaire where • Online polls can be created to allow anyone to • Participants in online polls are generally interested
community members self-select to participate. participate or they can be targeted to a smaller community members.
sample. • The sample size can depend on how well the poll is
✓ ✓
advertised.
• The results of the poll may not be completely
representative of the subject community.
QR code • A QR Code can be used on signage at important sites or • The QR code is an easy way of keeping the • Community members require a smart phone to read
locations. If used, the QR Code can link people to online community up to date. a QR code.
engagement platforms, so that they can obtain more information • The QR code can be read easily and it doesn’t take
or provide comments. ✓ long to install the QR reader on a smartphone.
• The QR code is a machine-readable code used for storing
URLs, geo coordinates and text that can be read by a camera
on a smartphone
Social media monitoring • Social media monitoring allows planners to observe the • Captures information from a medium people are • Opinions expressed through social media may not
conversation occurring in communities, relating to locations (e.g. already using. be considered legitimate or properly made
@cairns) or key terms (e.g. #BNECityWest). • Monitoring can determine what is, and what is not, submissions.
valued in an area. • Limited scope to filter ‘unwanted’ opinions or fringe
• Can solicit and capture honest, sometimes casual, views.
opinion, which people may not deem significant
✓
enough to include in a formal submission.
• Can encourage involvement of specific
demographic groups not usually represented in
traditional engagement processes.
• Tools such as SMARTA have successfully
monitored social media for planning purposes.
Zone cards • Zone cards provide information to the community about a • Provides a medium to help people understand • Not interactive.
particular planning scheme land use or zone. information in an easy-to-read format.
• These cards can be uploaded onto the internet in an electronic
format or handed out in hard-copy format at community ✓
engagement events.
Hackathons • Hackathons are creative problem-solving forums, traditionally • Hackathons can be targeted to respond to a • New participants need clear instructions on how to
aimed at developing tech-based solutions to problems. specific planning concern or issue. participate in a hackathon.
• A hackathon is an event of any duration where people (i.e. • The hackathon is unlikely to solve the problem at
usually groups of 2–5 individuals) come together to solve ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ hand immediately, as ideas often need to be further
problems. developed.
• Hackathons need to be led by a facilitator or a
subject matter expert
World cafe • Structured process where participants discuss a question or • Encourages participants to share ideas and • Requires experienced, or capable, small group
series of questions at small tables. concerns with a broad range of people. facilitators to host each table.
• Each table has a host who facilitates the same conversation • Requires appropriate data capture techniques.
✓ ✓
during a number of rounds.
• At the end of each round the group disperse and finds another
table, or question, to discuss.

Public art session • Facilitation techniques that encourage community members to • Includes people who communicate better through • Level of participation depends on community
participate in planning processes using art to express their drawing or art. members being comfortable to draw or create art to
ideas. • Can be used to illustrate the community’s vision of explain their opinions or describe their vision.
• Art can be used to capture input from younger people (e.g. early ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ how a neighbourhood may look.
childhood or primary-school aged children). This input could
relate to neighbourhood planning (e.g. a new look for a
community, street or park).
Tactical urbanism • Low-cost interventions delivered to help community members • Community members can experience proposed • Level of participation depends on ability for
experience proposed changes as a trial before they are changes personally. community to provide feedback on temporary
implemented. Typically, changes relate to activating initiatives, and local government’s ability to act on
streetscapes, and public and community spaces. feedback.
– Interventions could include:
– temporary plantings
– temporary bike lanes ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
– chair bombing
– parking day
– pop-up retail.
• Also known as guerrilla urbanism or pop-up urbanism.
Expert panel • Established when specialised input is required for a project. • Effective when the planning issue is contentious or • Not as interactive or visible to the community.
• Experts are identified and engaged to debate and discuss the complex. • Can be expensive to engage experts.
project and its challenges, and make recommendations. ✓ • Useful to capture credible opinions in relation to • Skilled facilitator required, and may not be available
• Community members are able to read recommendations of contentious issue. in-house.
expert panel.
Online workshop • Open invitation workshop designed to gather people in an online • Provides an opportunity for community members • Interested community members need to have
space to hear from experts, and ask questions in relation to a that are reluctant or unable to participate in a internet access to participate.
specific project or process. workshop in person. • Many online workshop platforms have been created
✓ ✓ for the education sector. Investment may be
required for platform to address community
expectations about opportunity to be involved.
• Thorough data analysis processes are required.
Community workshop • Open invitation workshop designed to gather people from a • Depending on the workshop design and the • Needs to be designed to be scalable (i.e. the
community together to discuss a specific project or process. problem being discussed, community workshops workshop process is successful regardless of how
• Many workshop techniques can be successfully applied to can be used to inform, consult, involve or many or how few community members attend).
capture community knowledge to inform a planning process. collaborate. • Typically, expert facilitation skills are required,
• Opportunity to capture knowledge from interested depending on numbers. These skills may not be
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ community members, rather than just those available in-house.
community members that typically get invited to • Requires activation to encourage people to attend
represent community sectors as part pf planning (e.g. print, radio and online advertising).
workshops.
• Thorough data capture and recording processes
• Opportunity to recruit through an open invitation or are required.
to target a statistically valid random sample.
Community radio • A way to provide information on specific issue or initiative to a • Described by the Community Broadcasting • Stations largely staffed by volunteers, so
broad audience. Through community service announcements, Association of Australia as Australia’s largest information and engagement process must appeal
advertising or interviews. independent media sector. to them.
• Independent media with broad reach across Queensland, • Independent media run by not-for-profit community- • Hard to monitor effectiveness.
although concentrated on east coast. owned organisations.
• Cater to a diverse audience including: ✓ • Provides access to groups that are typically harder
– Indigenous Australians to reach through mainstream media.
– multicultural communities
– religious communities
– people with print disability

– music, arts and cultural services communities

– younger people
– older people
– lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer
communities.
Blogs • Series of online posts about a planning project or engagement • Choice of author can add credibility to the • To build a following, blogs need to be consistently
process. information being shared, particularly where the written and distributed.
• Community can make comments, and share among their own blogger is a known thought leader or respected • Ability to access blogs depends on access to
networks. community member. technology, which may be difficult for some groups
✓ ✓ • Blogs can build a following over time. in the community.
• Content can help to raise awareness and promote a ‘call to
action’ to participate in the engagement process. • Comments on blogs can provide insight into
community sentiment about particular issues.
• Cost effective to produce.
Market research • Delivery of a survey instrument to capture community opinion • Sample size can be designed to be both randomly • Cost depends on delivery method, sample size or
about planning and development issues. selected, and statistically valid. This can add provider.
• Delivery methodology can ensure that a random sample of credibility to the quality of data captured, particularly • Research delivery method does not typically enable
community members are approached, or that specific where research topic is contentious (e.g. opportunity for discussion of issues with community
demographic groups or locations are targeted if required. community opinion about impacts of development members.
or increases in density).
• Captures quantitative data.
• Anonymity of contribution can encourage
community members to be honest with their
✓ ✓ opinions about controversial topics.
• Allows capture of quantitative data that can ‘ground
truth’ qualitative data captured through other
engagement tools.
• Provides a way to access community members that
do not usually choose to engage in planning
processes (i.e. the ‘silent majority’).
• Can provide insight into community reactions to
potentially contentious planning issues.
Conversation kits • Self-guided discussion that allows interested community • Allows community members to engage in a • Relies on community members being motivated to
members to explore, and contribute to, planning processes at conversation about planning processes and access and use kit, and capture and submit a
their own pace and at a location of their choice. concepts in an environment that they feel record of the conversation.
comfortable in. • Success relies on comprehensive promotion of the
• Helps to build social networks within the kit.
✓ ✓ ✓ community.
• If background information is well designed and easy
to understand, community awareness and
understanding of planning concepts will improve.
• Kits can be designed for use in school
environments.
Deliberative polling • Structured process where randomly selected participants meet • Iterative polling provides insight into changes in • Depending on polling platform, and method of
over two to three days to explore a topic. As part of this process community opinion because of deliberation in randomly selecting participants, can be expensive
their opinions are polled. Results of the poll are shared with the relation to a topic. to deliver.
participants and also publicly. Polling can also be undertaken ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ • Can help to generate solutions. • Requires a significant time commitment from
before the meeting and after. community members to attend meeting and
• Can provide insight into community perceptions
about particular, potentially contentious, planning participate in polling process.
issues.
Community summit • An event, typically held over one or two days, that brings • The approach to participant selection can range • Event needs to incorporate feedback processes, so
together many participants to explore and discuss an issue. from invitation-only, directly invited randomly that the whole group can understand what has been
Summits can include a range of interactive, collaborative and selected community members, self-nominated, or a discussed.
deliberative tools and techniques. Participants can either be ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ combination of all three of these approaches. • Based on scale and number of participants, event
selected or self-nominate, depending on approach. • The selection of engagement techniques can be expensive to stage.
incorporated as part of the summit is dependent on
the purpose of the event and the budget.

• Depending on approach and topic, summits can
attract considerable media interest.
Information maze • An open house, open invitation, informal event that provides • Open invitation, so all interested community • Based on scale and number of interested
information relating to a range of topics and issues. Participants members can attend. participants, events could be expensive to hold.
can choose to get involved in the topics that interest them. • Selection of engagement techniques depends on • Robust information-capture processes need to be in
• Multiple engagement techniques can be used as part of the the nature of the topic and the purpose of the place.
✓ ✓ ✓
maze to encourage and capture conversation. engagement process.
• Food and entertainment can be provided to
encourage attendance. If this is the case, event
could also be referred to as a festival or a fair.

Online engagement
The evolution of digital communication is changing the way people are communicating with
organisations and government regarding important issues.
Online engagement enables people to contribute anytime they want, 24/7, and wherever they
want. These benefits encourage people to take part in discussions and provide organisations with
access to a wide range of stakeholder groups. As well as accessibility, and providing access to a
large community audience, online platforms can also be interactive, playable, and highly visual.
These platforms can also provide the community with real-time information and are portable, if the
community member has a smart phone.
The following are some key benefits of engaging with your stakeholders online:9
• According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 83 per cent of Australian homes have internet
access (in 2013).10 No other engagement technique can offer this level of accessibility.
• Most people don’t have the time to get active in their community and go in-person to town
meetings and consultations. Online engagement makes it convenient for people to get
involved.
• Online engagement provides an accessible option for getting all kinds of people involved in
your conversations: busy people, working parents, younger people, senior citizens, shift
workers and mobility, vision or hearing-impaired people. Everyone can have their say.
• Online engagement tools can bring more people into conversations that affect their community.
• The online environment provides a secure space for people to learn and test assumptions,
positions and options.
• Online engagement systems are cost-effective and efficient. You can engage with more
participants directly, at less cost.
• Online engagement can change an organisation’s culture by improving organisational

transparency and responsiveness.
• Online engagement tools support community ownership at all levels of the engagement
spectrum, from ‘informed’ through to ‘empowered’.
9 Taken from Bang the Table: http://bangthetable.com/2015/06/15/10-reasons-to-engage-your-community-online/

10 This figure rose to 86% in 2016 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics
(http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/8146.0).

As with any form of engagement, caution should always be exercised to ensure that the right tools
are being selected. Some downsides to online engagement that need to be considered are:
• Stakeholders without access to the internet will be excluded unless special accommodation is
made for them.
• A moderator should be allocated to manage the process and respond to questions promptly.
• Privacy concerns should be addressed to encourage participation.

There is not one perfect way to engage with stakeholders, and needs will change depending on the
groups and issues needing to be addressed. Using more than one technique in your engagement
process will pave the way to increased stakeholder participation, and stronger relations with your
community.
Online engagement platforms

There are various platforms available to host your online engagement, some of which local
councils are already using. Platforms offer the capability to engage stakeholders in a collaborative
environment that encourages learning, discussion and debate.
Some popular platforms are:
• Engagement Hub
• Engagement HQ
• CitizenSpace
• MindMixer.
Email marketing
Email marketing allows you to reach target markets quickly without high production costs. Email
lists can be segmented based on certain criteria, allowing you to issue customised information.
Some popular email marketing tools are:
• Vision6
• MailChimp.

Creative ideas: What’s trending in this space?
Technology is developing rapidly. We are living in an age where people are more connected than
ever before, with smart phone ownership increasing. Community engagement is embracing
technological advancements with practitioners and software developers are constantly finding
ways to advance online or digital engagement tools.
The pace of technological change makes it difficult for any toolkit to remain current, and online and
digital tools can date very quickly. This pace of change can also
be difficult for community members, who are expected to be
able to use the latest online and digital platforms. When
designing engagement processes, it is important to leverage
recent technology and tools, but it is equally important to
maintain the human elements that allow community members to
have a conversation and build connections.
Citizensourcing
Citizensourcing is a growing crowdsourcing practice applied by
governments around the world with the goal of tapping into the
collective intelligence of citizens. It allows governments to
collect ideas, suggestions and opinions from their citizens,
thereby creating a permanent feedback loop of communication.
Citizenlab describes it in this way:
Imagine that your town hall meetings could be held
online … but 24/7, accessible from every possible
device. Citizensourcing on a dedicated platform is a way
for cities to get valuable input in the form of ideas,
feedback and opinions from their citizens.
Early success stories given by Citzenlab are:
• MiMedellín allows citizens to share their solutions for urban

problems faced by the Columbian city Medellín. More than
2300 ideas were collected, which directly led to the
development of policies that reflected community desires.
• More than 60 per cent of citizens in the Icelandic capital
Reykjavik have been able to provide ideas and influence city
council spending through citizensourcing website, Better
Reykjavik. Since its introduction, €1.9 million has been
spent on developing more than 200 projects.
• ‘Madame Mayor, I have an idea’ was another successful
platform that allowed people in Paris to suggest projects the
city government could bring to life. One of these was a
vertical garden project, which received more than 20,000
votes and resulted in a €2 million investment.

Participatory budgeting
This is an area that is gaining momentum, with more than 1500 participatory budgets around the
world.11 The process defines different ways to manage public money and to engage people in
government. It’s a process that enables the community to directly decide how to spend part of a
public budget. The idea is based on the concept of the community brainstorming spending ideas,
developing proposals and voting on ideas, with the government implementing the top projects.
Some success stories are:
• New York City Council Districts, US: New York City is host to the largest participatory budget in
the United States in terms of participants and budget amount. First introduced in four council
districts in 2011, the annual participatory budgeting process now spans 24 council districts and
residents directly decide how to spend $25 million in capital discretionary funds.
• Durham City Council, UK: The council has implemented participatory budgeting and has
aligned it to local priorities as a result of consultation on the council’s budget.
Online interactive mapping and priorities
There are several online platforms that provide tools to engage people in planning processes. The
MoPac South Project in Austin Texas used the Context Sensitive Solutions planning approach to
seek community input to a corridor study.
Through the online platform, community members could see examples of, and prioritise, design
elements that were important to them. Based on their choices, participants were then asked to
review and rate multiple examples of each design element. For example, if they chose public art as
a design element, they were then shown five examples of public art and asked to rate them.
Participants were also invited to indicate on a map the places they visited and the improvements
they would like made. They could achieve this by dropping and dragging themed pins onto the
map.
A similar online platform supported the development of the Byron Bay Town Centre Master Plan.
An interactive mapping tool allowed community members to add their favourite and least favourite
places to the map, indicating which places needed to change or be kept, and places they felt were
unique. Participants were also able to upload photos of their favourite places and were encouraged
to rate and comment on photos other users had uploaded.12
Mobile applications
The Californian city of Santa Monica is using a mobile application, which the Guardian has dubbed
‘tinder for urban planning’. This app shows users images of potential scenarios (such as images of
street furniture) and asks simple questions, such as: Do you want more of this? Community
members can swipe left or right to record their response.
Downtown Santa Monica Inc., the non-profit organisation that manages the downtown Santa
Monica area, is using this application to explore community attitudes to more complex planning
concerns, including active transport, housing and public art.
Some organisations are exploring how technology can help innovation in the planning system.
Future Cities Catapult launched the Future of Planning program in 2016. The aim of this program is
to look at how ‘design, data and digital tools can update how planning is conducted’ in the United
Kingdom and around the world. To support the launch of this program, the organisation published
‘Future of Planning: State of the Art Digital Planning’, which presents a range of case studies
showing how technology is being used to support planning processes around the world.
11 Participatory Budgeting: www.participatorybudgeting.org/

12 Urban Interactive Studio: http://urbaninteractivestudio.com/projects/

Part 4: Engaging with specific groups
When undertaking community engagement, consider how the needs of different community groups
can be accommodated. Queensland’s communities comprise a broad diversity of people with
different backgrounds, needs, values and aspirations. Observable and unobservable, they include
culture, gender, age, socio-economic background, values, language, and physical and mental
ability.
This broad definition of diversity goes beyond the concept of rectifying the disadvantage of target
groups by emphasising the importance of an inclusive culture and valuing differences between
individuals and communities. While the aim is to be inclusive in all our work, at times it may be
necessary to tailor engagement processes and activities to enable some communities or
individuals to fully participate on an equal basis with others.
Tool 4.1: Overview checklist for engaging with specific groups
 Identify local representatives: Have you worked with local representatives of

diverse groups and those with particular needs to identify stakeholders and to make
sure that the engagement process provides opportunities for all individuals to
participate?
 Communicate consistently and frequently: Have you communicated consistently

and frequently throughout the engagement process through local networks? Harder
to reach groups are less likely to respond to general advertisements and more likely
to respond to calls to action promoted through the networks that they trust. It is also
important to note that while some diverse communities and groups with particular
needs have embraced technology, and the engagement tools that come with it,
others prefer more traditional methods of communication.
 Provide smaller meeting opportunities: Have you provided a range of

opportunities for small gatherings? Smaller meetings, rather than large meetings or
individual meetings, may enable greater participation by people with communication
or cognitive barriers.
 Timing and location of meetings: Have you arranged the time and location of
meetings to enable participation of all groups, including those with particular needs?
 Accessible meeting locations and venues: Have you considered the location of
the meeting and the accessibility of the building, room and facilities for people with
disability or mobility issues? The meeting should be held close to public transport,
where available, and parking so that all participants have a range of transport
options. The building, the room, accessible toilets and any other facilities connected
with engagement activities (such as meetings and displays) need to be accessible
for people with disability and people with mobility issues. There may also be a need
to help with, and provide extra time for, transport to the venue or to provide other
support to encourage people to attend meetings.
 Venues should enhance the ability to listen and concentrate, and be free of features
that might trigger conditions that limit the ability to participate. You could also ask
people with a disability if they need a support worker to help them during the
meeting.
 Accessible and respectful information: Have you ensured that information is

accessible for everyone? Engagement materials need to be well designed and
accessible. Improving accessibility can include using plain language, Auslan or
translation interpreting services, hearing loops, captions in digital video, translated

materials, or graphics that explain complex concepts simply, and providing access to
interpreters. If you use a presentation, remember to provide it to visually impaired
participants electronically in rtf or pdf formats, as well as explaining what’s on each
slide so they can follow the presentation.
 The language used when referring to people with particular needs should be free of
words and phrases that stereotype, stigmatise or demean these individuals.
 Working with existing community networks: Have you tapped into community
networks, and built the capacity of individuals within those networks to participate in
discussions about planning concepts? Individuals with this improved capacity to
discuss planning concepts are then able to share the information with their networks.
This grassroots approach works with a range of diverse groups, including those with
particular needs.
 Time to participate: Have you considered whether particular groups need more, or
less, time to meet? Some groups, such as people with communication or cognitive
difficulties, will require more time to express their views. In these cases, it may be
useful to meet separately with community representatives, carers and support
people to explain the topics to be discussed and determine how much time may be
required. Other groups may need events to be kept short for those who need care
and for carers who often have limited time away from their responsibilities.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

Ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities can meaningfully participate in and
benefit from engagement in planning processes is an important consideration. There are a number
of resources that provide historical and contextual information to better inform engagement
practices with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities as well as broader community
engagement practices.
The following tool draws from information provided in the range of resources summarised in this
part of the toolkit, or listed in the References section. When preparing a communication strategy or
engagement plan, or designing specific consultation activities to involve Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander communities, these resources provide additional information and assistance.

Tool 4.2: Checklist for engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
 Understand cultural, social and political contexts: Have you identified people
within your organisation that understand the social, cultural and political contexts of
the place that you are engaging about and the people that you are engaging with?
Cultural competency, appropriate skills and attitudes, and an understanding of the
social and cultural contexts of place and ‘country’ are important to build trust and
enhance engagement processes. This is all part of understanding the community
that you will be working with, the relationships that exist within the community, and
how the community is connected to external stakeholders. As part of this process,
you could locate or create a community profile to help you understand the
community and possible issues. (See 4.5, for a resource that can help with this
activity.)
Where necessary, identify people in other organisations that can help you
understand local context, communication preferences, protocols and channels,
and the key groups and individuals to contact.
 Identify local groups and individuals: Have you identified local organisations
and groups that represent, or work with, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
communities and individuals? Have you identified key individuals within the
community?
It is important to identify Indigenous people with rights and interests in a place,
especially those that are authorised to speak for a place. This should include men
and women because they may be responsible for different heritage places and
values.
Working in partnership with organisations that work with, or represent, Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander individuals and communities will help to make sure that
the needs and interests of these people are captured and addressed as part of
your work.
It is important, where possible, to attend the regular meetings of these groups, as
well as inviting representatives of these groups to be part of your process. It is also
useful, where possible, to obtain guidance from Elders. Indigenous leaders can
encourage people to be part of an engagement process, and this may also give
you some credibility in the community.
 Test your engagement approach: Have you engaged with key groups and
individuals to test the appropriateness of your proposed engagement methods?
This will help to build community ownership of the approach. For example, asking
for written responses may not be the most appropriate way to capture feedback in
some communities. You may also need to consider the need for an impartial
facilitator to help you establish behavioural ground rules when working with a
community.
 Communicate effectively: Have you established where Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people want to meet, and developed different ways to
communicate? Generally, to communicate effectively you need to consider:13
 using clear language, with jargon, acronyms and technical terms clearly
explained, and consider the first spoken language particularly in remote
communities
 the different meaning of words in different communities
13 Adapted from information found at www.dpmc.gov.au/resource-centre/indigenous-affairs/communicating-

aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-audiences

 using a range of channels including talking posters, community radio and
other Indigenous media, and audio and verbal methods if the community is in
a remote area
 using local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and stories to share
your messages, and using culturally specific elements including language,
talent, design and music
 gender-specific protocols and sensitivities
 literacy and numeracy skills
 actively providing information as some communities will wait to receive
information directly
 most Indigenous languages are oral and cannot be translated into written form
 staying in the community before and after engagement activities to allow more
informal dialogue to continue
 listening to people and taking the time to make sure that it is all right for you to
speak freely.
 Time: Have you provided enough time and a flexible timeframe? Concepts of time
and timeliness differ across cultures, and responses to community issues and
events can affect logistical arrangements to engage with particular communities
(e.g. community participation in Sorry Business). In more remote areas, the timing
of visits to local communities should be driven by those communities.
 Culturally appropriate behaviour: Have you identified the culturally appropriate
way to behave when meeting with Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders? This
can include understanding:
 protocols about Men’s and Women’s Business (including how to store any
information that is collected that relates to either Men’s or Women’s Business,
as well as whether it is acceptable to store this information)
 protocols about Sorry Business
 the established order in which people can speak or contribute
 the swear words may be accepted as part of the conversation
 that humour could be misunderstood
 the need to dress respectfully
 the need to use formal addresses and acknowledge older people and Elders
 that silence is a common communication style in many communities, and may
have different meanings in different communities
 the importance of listening and not asking too many questions
 local body language protocols, particularly in relation to eye contact, body
contact and personal space
 local protocols for relaxation after work, if staying in the community.

Resource 4.1: Communicating with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences
Communicating with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences is a resource published by the
Australian Government in 2016 that details matters that should be considered when
communicating in specific mediums including print, online, by television and radio.
This resource can be accessed online at www.dpmc.gov.au/resource-centre/indigenous-
affairs/communicating-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-audiences.
Resource 4.2: Closing the gap – Engagement with Indigenous communities in key sectors
(resource sheet no. 23)
This is an Australian Government publication that provides information about what engagement
activities should be considered in the context of making or amending a planning scheme. The
resource sheet highlights consultation elements that have proven effective in the past and details
those that have not been effective when consulting with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
communities.
This resource can be accessed online at
www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/Publications/2013/ctgc-rs23.pdf.
Resource 4.3: Know your community – Key insights into Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Queenslanders
This is an online tool that enables anyone to build a community profile containing information and
data about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities across Queensland.
Know your community has been developed by the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Partnerships and the Queensland Government Statistician's Office.
Whether developing a planning scheme or preparing an engagement plan for a particular local
government area, the tool provides accurate and consistent information that can be used to inform
consultation processes. It is regularly updated.
This resource can be accessed online at www.datsip.qld.gov.au/people-communities/know-your-
community.
Resource 4.4: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s engagement toolkit
Prepared by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2012, this is a comprehensive resource
that provides information on consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
including background history and guiding principles for effective engagement. This resource also
includes a directory of contacts that, while dated, could help to locate appropriate Indigenous
language and communication services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander media
organisations.
This resource can be accessed online at
www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/pdf/about/Aboriginal%20and%20Torres%20Str
ait%20Islander%20Peoples%20Engagement%20Toolkit%202012%20(pdf).
Resource 4.5: Protocols for consultation and negotiation with Aboriginal people and proper
communication with Torres Strait Islander people
These two documents outline Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander society and history, and the
protocols that should be followed during consultation and negotiation. They specifically outline an
approach to community visits, formal meetings, and evaluation. Dating from 1998, some of the
information, such as agency and committee names and contact details, is now no longer current.
These resources can be accessed online at www.datsip.qld.gov.au/people-communities/protocols-
consultation.

Older people
Older people have helped shape the society that we enjoy today. They also have considerable
professional knowledge and life experience to share through engagement processes.
Demographers usually refer to older people as 50 years and above. For the first time in history,
three generations form this cohort: the 50–70 year olds, the 70–85 year olds, and those over 85
years. Given the diversity of this group, it is important to challenge ageist stereotypes. The younger
cohort of 50 to 70 year olds is likely to be active, healthy and working or volunteering, and
therefore more able to tap-into community engagement activities without support.
In Queensland, nearly 660,000 people are aged over 65 years, representing 14 per cent of the
population. By 2036, almost 20 per cent of Queenslanders will be aged over 65 years.
Many of the groups representing older people indicate that engagement processes need to include
traditional means for communication such as hard-copy materials in larger fonts, face-to-face
meetings and displays. While many older people have embraced technology, there are many that
have not and engagement processes that rely heavily on online tools can preclude these
individuals from participating and sharing their knowledge.
To increase the participation of older people in engagement processes, work with the networks
they are part of and that support them. These grassroots networks can promote events, distribute
background information or capture input for inclusion in an engagement process.
Retired people appreciate being able to attend local engagement events that are held during the
day and provide good hospitality. They are more likely to engage in activities where they can speak
to a planner or engagement professional.
Engagement materials need to be accessible with strong visual elements. Hard-copy materials are
preferred by some older people, and this demographic accesses traditional media such as
newspapers, radio and television.
The following tool should be used in conjunction with Tool 4.1. It provides more specific guidance
in relation to engaging with older people, particularly those that are more than 70 years of age.
These tools draw from information contained in a range of resources listed in the References
section including the Youth Affairs Council of South Australia’s Better Together: A practical guide
to effective engagement with older people. This guide can be accessed online at
www.bettertogether.sa.gov.au.
Tool 4.3: Checklist for engaging with older people
 Identify and work with local groups: Have you identified and contacted
representatives of local groups? Contacting these groups will allow you to test your
engagement approach, and confirm the engagement methods and communication
channels that older people in a particular community access. These groups may
also to promote your engagement events and process through their networks.
 Timing and location of meetings: Have you considered whether the timing and
location of meetings will encourage older people to attend? Some members of this
group have safety, security and mobility concerns that would preclude them from
attending engagement events at night, while others may still be active or working
and prefer evening or weekend meetings. Meeting locations need to be
conveniently located, well lit, with access to car parking and public transport. This
information should be made available to older people when inviting them to attend
meetings.
Venues need to provide comfortable seating and temperature, and be accessible.
They also need to cater for various abilities (e.g. the availability of hearing loops).

Also, visiting where older people live or shop, or connecting with existing events or
meetings attended by older people, could encourage participation in the
engagement process.
 Choice of engagement techniques: Have you considered whether the older

people in your community use or have access to technology? Have you
considered how mobility and accessibility could affect your choice of engagement
technique?
It may be necessary to provide a mix of online and mobile engagement methods
with more traditional print methods. It may also be necessary to consider the
mobility needs of the audience when choosing engagement techniques (e.g. a
facilitation technique that requires participants to move frequently may not be
useful in some circumstances).
This group is also interested in attending events, so provide opportunities for
individual or group discussion. Other techniques to consider are:14
 using local radio, local newspapers or newsletters distributed by organisations

that support older people (e.g. Seniors Peak Service and other seniors
organisations)
 attending or distributing information through social clubs and seniors’ clubs

 surveys
 peer-led conversations or engagement events.
 Communicate effectively: Have you considered if this audience has any
particular communication needs? Generally, to communicate well with older
people, you need to:15
 listen well
 be respectful
 use plain language, large fonts and colour that is easy to read
 consider whether a support person (e.g. a family member) should also be part
of the discussion
 be hospitable and, where appropriate, provide refreshments

 make sure that electronic equipment, such as mobile phones, radios,
televisions and ticket machines have large buttons and large lettering
 make sure that automated telephone services give instructions slowly and
clearly and tell callers how to repeat the message at any time
 share status updates or outcomes with older people after the event
 not be patronising.
14 Adapted from information contained in Youth Affairs Council of South Australia, Better together: A practical guide to
effective engagement with older people.
15 Ibid.

Young people
While local communities are the direct beneficiaries of good planning, children and young people
are the long-term beneficiaries. Given the impact that planning decisions have on the future of
children and young people, opportunities to increase their understanding of planning concepts and
to encourage their participation in engagement processes need to be maximised.
As with older people, young people can cover a range of age groups. Typically, the term ‘young
people’ refers to people between the ages of 12 and 25. However, children can get involved in
planning processes and projects, often with the help of their school. Principals of local primary
schools are often open to providing opportunities for their students to learn more about their
environment and their place in it. This is also the case with many secondary Geography teachers.
Children and young people can also get involved in planning processes through:
• local youth organisations and networks
• local sports and activity clubs
• online networks (e.g. Facebook groups)
• student groups (e.g. QUT Planning Student Association, UQ Organisation of Planning

Students).
As with all groups with particular needs, working with the networks that support them will provide
greater opportunities for including them in a community engagement process.
Engagement materials need to use plain language and engaging graphics. For children,
engagement activities need to be creative and fun. Consider opportunities for active engagement
such as story-telling, capturing stories and creating contributions using physical or digital tools.
For young people, integrate the mediums they value into the engagement process. This can
include social media, online tools and music. Incorporate opportunities for young people to use
these tools to create contributions.
Consider also whether young people can support the delivery of the engagement process. For
example, young people could facilitate focus groups, or actively promote engagement activities as
they may be more comfortable with the idea of engaging with peers than older adults.
Ensure that the venues chosen for engagement activities will not prevent young people from
attending.
Consideration should also be given to how engagement outcomes will be conveyed to those who
participated. Providing information about outcomes may encourage participation in future
engagement activities.
The following tool should be used in conjunction with tool 4.1, which provides a checklist for
engaging with specific groups. The following tool provides more specific guidance in relation to
engaging with young people, and draws from information contained in a range of resources listed
in the References section including Better together: A practical guide for effective engagement with
young people. The guide can be accessed online at www.bettertogether.sa.gov.au

Tool 4.4: Checklist for engaging with young people
representatives of local groups that work with, or support, young people?
Contacting these groups will allow you to test your engagement approach, and
confirm the engagement methods and communication channels that young people
in a particular community access.
These groups may also be able help to promote your engagement events and
process through their networks.
 Legislative requirements: Have you considered if there are any legislative
requirements to address as part of your engagement process with young people?
Where engagement activities and events are designed to encourage people under
the age of 18 to participate there may be requirements that will ensure that these
environments are safe (e.g. do the people working with children have ‘Blue
Cards’?)
location of meetings will encourage young people to attend? Make sure that young
people can access the venue (e.g. avoid venues that serve alcohol or have
gambling activities). Also, make sure that meetings or events are held at times
when young people can attend and when there are transport options available (e.g.
public transport, or private transport provided by parents or guardians).
 Build capacity to participate: Have you considered if young people need support
to build their capacity to participate? Helping young people to develop the skills to
participate in your engagement process could help to maximise their participation.
This could include learning about planning concepts or learning how to facilitate
conversations with their peers. Young people can also be employed to facilitate
engagement activities, and may be more approachable for young participants.
 Choice of engagement techniques: Have you considered the range of techniques
that could appeal to young people as part of an engagement process? It is
important to offer a range of informal events to encourage young people to
participate. It is also important to use a range of techniques that are accessible for
young people.
Also, be aware that young people come from a diverse range of backgrounds. This
diversity needs to be embraced using techniques that are useful to those people
from diverse backgrounds (e.g. young Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, or
young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds).
Particular engagement techniques that could appeal to young people are:
 arts workshops
 citizens’ juries
 focus groups, forums and interviews
 online engagement platforms
 SMS
 peer-led conversations
 surveys
 vox pop
 games (e.g. Minecraft).

 Communicate effectively: Have you considered the particular communication
needs of young people? Generally, to communicate well with young people, you
need to:
 have a clear and genuine purpose that is meaningful to young people and
captures their interest
 provide interesting and clear background information and presentations
 create informal events that are also social, fun, and have frequent breaks
 avoid jargon and acronyms and explain technical terms
 build an understanding of their language or slang, but do not presume to use it
as these words can quickly become dated.
 Provide feedback: Have you considered how you will demonstrate to young
people that their contribution has been useful? While feedback mechanisms are
important in all engagement processes, they are particularly important for young
people that may be participating for the first time. Being able to demonstrate to
young people how their contribution influenced the outcome may help to encourage
them to become or remain engaged in future planning processes.
People with disability

When engaging with people with disability, it is crucial to ensure that facilities are accessible,
comfortable and enhance their ability to listen and concentrate. Engagement materials need to be
well-designed and accessible. Improving accessibility can include using plain language, Auslan or
translation interpreting services, hearing loops, captions in digital video, translated materials, and
graphics that explain complex concepts simply.
Providing opportunities for people with disability to attend smaller meetings rather than large
community gatherings can increase their participation. It is also important to engage with the
networks that support people with disability to both capture their input to the process and to access
their networks to promote engagement events and distribute information.
The following tool should be used in conjunction with tool 4.1 (an overall checklist for engaging with
specific groups). Tool 4.5 provides more specific guidance in relation to engaging with people with
disability, and draws from information contained in a range of resources listed in the References
section.
Tool 4.5: Checklist for engaging with people with disability
representatives of local groups that work with, or support, people with disability?
Contacting these groups will allow you to test your engagement approach, and
confirm the engagement methods and communication channels that people with
disability, their families and carers, access.
These groups may also be able help to promote your engagement process and
events through their networks.
location of meetings will encourage people with disability to attend? People with
disability sometimes need extra time to get ready in the mornings, so consider
starting your meetings after 9.30 am and finishing by 4.00 pm. Make sure your
morning and afternoon tea breaks are long enough so that people with disability
have time to go to the toilet and eat. Let people know where the accessible toilet is

located and always check it is working before your event.
Venue choice is important when making events and meetings accessible to people
with disability. Consider issues such as mobility (e.g. wheelchair access), hearing
impairment (e.g. the need for an Auslan interpreter or hearing loop), and vision
impairment.
 Communicate effectively: Have you considered the particular communication
needs of people with disability attending your meeting? Always make sure the
information is clear and concise, and in an easy-English format so that everyone
can understand. You may need to provide presentations and other information in
alternative formats, such as rtf or pdf for people with visual impairment, or you may
need to provide an Auslan interpreter for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
You may need to provide support workers, or encourage support workers to attend
events, to help translate information and support any dialogue. It is also important
to allow enough time for people with communication and cognitive difficulties to
contribute.
Be particularly mindful of using respectful language at all times. Be careful not to
make assumptions about people’s abilities or skills – when in doubt, ask the person
if they need support.
 Choice of engagement techniques: Have you considered the range of techniques
that could be necessary to engage with people with disability? Small or individual
meetings are preferred to large meetings, so that people can contribute.
 Catering: Have you thought about the food and drinks that you provide at your
meeting? You might need to offer to help some people with disability to get their tea
or coffee and provide some drinking straws and taller glasses for water. When you
are working out food for your catering, try to provide smaller items, like slices or fruit
that can be easily picked up and eaten.
People from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds

Collectively, Queenslanders speak more than 220 languages, hold more than 100 religious beliefs
and come from more than 220 countries and territories. People from culturally and linguistically
diverse backgrounds make substantial contributions to Queensland, and have important
contributions to make in conversations about land use and local government planning matters.
New arrivals to Queensland bring with them a range of skills, experience and perspectives that
enrich our society and have helped make Queensland the diverse and strong state we know today.
Some people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds experience barriers when
engaging with government. It is important to remain cognisant of the needs of the groups you
intend to engage with.
Culturally diverse community groups and individuals may have varying levels of experience
engaging with government. Building trust with communities and people from culturally and
linguistically diverse backgrounds is essential for supporting positive engagement. Community
groups value honesty and respect; therefore, demonstrating respect is one of the most important
elements in planning your engagement.
There are community organisations that have established relationships with multicultural
community groups and are continuously involved with them in your local government area. These
organisations may provide social, cultural and political context in relation to the community group
that you are seeking to engage. They may also help promote events through their networks and
identify stakeholders, multicultural media networks, and community leaders who can support you in
engaging with the community. The Queensland Multicultural Resource Directory may assist.

Effective and strategic communication is particularly important for people from cultural and
linguistically diverse backgrounds, as the way information is presented, received and understood
may vary across community groups. Depending on your community and project, the use of
multilingual resources and interpreters may be required for people who have difficulty
communicating in English. Arranging translation of materials and interpreters can take time, so it is
important to ensure that you plan your communication strategies early.
When engaging with community groups, you should consider cultural protocols and practices,
where relevant, including in relation to venues, dates and catering – for example, avoid venues that
could exclude certain communities (such as licensed venues), avoid dates that may fall during
festivals and religious holidays, and consider relevant catering requirements such as Halal,
Kosher, and during Ramadan.
The following tool should be used in conjunction with tool 4.1 (which provides an overall checklist
for engaging with diverse groups). The following tool provides more specific guidance in relation to
engaging with people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Tool 4.6: Checklist for engaging with culturally and linguistically diverse groups
community organisations and representatives that work with, or support, people
from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds? Engaging with multicultural
organisations and community leaders will allow you to seek advice and identify
which approach is most appropriate when planning your engagement and
communication strategies.
location of meetings will encourage people from culturally and linguistically diverse
backgrounds to attend? Make sure that you have chosen venues that will not
exclude particular communities (e.g. licensed premises). And have not timed
events to coincide with festivals, holy days, or prayer times.
 Communicate effectively: Have you considered the communication needs of
people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds? You need to:
 use appropriate distribution channels (e.g. multicultural media)
 use multilingual resources and interpreters where required
 consider whether people would be more comfortable speaking with someone of
a particular gender or from a particular cultural group
 consider literacy levels
 provide culturally appropriate refreshments
 consider cultural patterns of communication (e.g. the order in which people
speak at meetings)
 avoid jargon and acronyms, and explain technical terms
 consider whether there are trust issues in particular communities that could
cause some information to be deemed too sensitive to share.
 Timing: Have you provided enough time in your program for written materials to
be translated, and for this translation to be verified by a third party? Translating
materials is only part of the task. You also need to make sure that the translation is
accurate and culturally appropriate. Have you allowed enough time at meetings for
interpreters to ensure all participants understand key messages and can express
their views?

Disadvantaged and homeless people
For a range of reasons, there could be individuals or families within your community that are
financially vulnerable, homeless or disadvantaged for other reasons. These people have a range of
experiences, opinions and observations that can add considerable value to engagement processes
in relation to planning (e.g. these people could provide insights about living in communities that are
not adequately connected to public transport or where local employment is not available).
Work with organisations and groups that support the financially vulnerable and homeless people to
distribute information and encourage participation in engagement processes. These organisations
and groups will identify opportunities to take an engagement process to these individuals (e.g.
visiting community facilities or service centres).
Engagement materials will need to use plain language and clear graphics.
The following tool should be used in conjunction with tool 4.1 (which provides an overall checklist
for engaging with specific groups). It provides more specific guidance in relation to engaging with
disadvantaged or homeless people.
Tool 4.7: Checklist for engaging with disadvantaged and homeless people
representatives of local groups that work with, or support, disadvantaged and
homeless people? Contacting these groups will allow you to test your engagement
approach, and confirm the engagement methods and communication channels that
disadvantaged and homeless people in your community access.
These groups may also be able help to promote your engagement events and
processes through their networks. They will also have access to facilities, meetings
and events that will allow you to take your engagement process to disadvantaged
and homeless people.
 Communicate effectively: Have you considered the communication needs of
disadvantaged and homeless people? Generally, to communicate well with
disadvantaged and homeless people you need to:
 be aware of literacy and numeracy levels and provide both written and oral
information, as well as written and oral ways to participate
 provide ways for disadvantaged and homeless people to participate for free
(e.g. Freecall telephone hotline, free internet access to access online materials
or engagement techniques, or free transport to events)
 provide opportunities to meet during a meal time, and provide a light meal or
refreshments
 avoid jargon and unfamiliar acronyms and explain technical terms
 consider whether there are trust issues for some individuals
 be careful not to use language that stigmatises or alienates individuals.

Part 5: Content development
Content preparation
Great content that hooks your stakeholders and interests them enough to find out more can make
or break your engagement process. Just printing a 200-page draft plan or document and leaving it
in the local council or library office is no longer effective. People are too busy and have an
expectation that the information comes to them directly.
Accessible and understandable content, delivered in a range of easy-to-digest multimedia and
multi-device forms, is what is required.
Tool 5.1: Ten tips for creating suitable content for engagement
1) When preparing engagement content, keep your audience (particularly any specific groups that
you are reaching out to) and your engagement tool in mind. All content should be succinct,
authentic, and tell a story. Every word counts – too many words, difficult language, acronyms
and jargon, and you will lose your audience. Printed documents of all types, websites, and
social media all require a different approach to leverage the engagement benefits they provide
and to appeal to the audience they attract. For example, printed or downloadable reports and
fact sheets can tell a more comprehensive story, websites provide information in smaller
‘digestible’ pieces, and social media needs to convey information in short sentences. Where
possible, using a test audience to make sure that your messages are being understood can be
extremely powerful.
2) Structure your documents so that information is provided in easily readable sections. Where
information needs to be accessed via the internet, it is important that it is provided in ‘pieces’
that can be easily downloaded or printed.
3) Many planning projects involve large documents. If you are engaging with the community on
these documents, it is helpful to include both a short and long summary. Your community will
be able to access the information they need without having to dig too deep into the detail.
However, it is important to have the detailed information available for those community
members who are interested and motivated to access it.
4) Make sure your documents are readable across different digital platforms including desktop,
laptop, tablet or mobile screens.
5) Preparing responses to frequently asked questions or FAQs can be extremely helpful for
community members. FAQs can be made available on a website or in hardcopy. Well-
considered and simple responses to community questions about the engagement process,
statutory obligations or the planning project can free-up resources for conversations with
community members about more complex planning matters.
6) Videos are an effective medium for communicating complex ideas. They can be used to explain
the rationale of a proposed plan, to call participants to action, to bring up specific ‘hot’ issues,
or give the community a voice via vox pop interviews.
7) Creating slideshows can help to break information into bite-sized pieces. A useful way to
approach creating a slideshow is to take the key messages from your summary documents and
put one message on each slide with supporting images.
8) Thinking strategically about planning can be difficult for people. It can help to use image
galleries to stimulate people’s imagination and thinking. The image galleries can contain
relevant pictures, images and infographics. This approach can help when people need to think
about a local area’s present, past or future potential. It can also help when people need to
consider potentially contentious matters such as proposed changes to density in certain areas.

9) To help people think about planning challenges and issues, make any discussion topics as
specific, yet as simple, as possible. Most people respond better to specific questions than to
broad, strategic questions.
10) Embed new rich media content, such as videos, photos, infographics and maps in engagement
forums that are designed to encourage discussion with the community. Make this information
available and accessible.
Adapted from Bang the Table
Content should engage stakeholders by making the topic of consultation relevant to their lives. Key
questions to help guide the development of engagement materials are outlined in tool 5.2. These
questions address the basic who, what, why, when, where, and how of your project.
Tool 5.2: Checklist to guide development of engagement material
 Have you considered who the planning project is affecting? If you have not already
done this, there are tools in part 2 that can help (e.g. tools 2.2A, 2.2B, 2.4 and 2.6). These
will define who should participate in your engagement process and who your audience is.
These will also help you identify if your audience has any specific communication or
language needs.
 Do you have a clear understanding of what the planning project is, what the issues
and effects could be, and what is being decided? This will help you to gather the
information that you need to clearly communicate what the project is, what is being
considered, and what the potential impacts are. A clear understanding of the potential issues
and impacts will help to determine the background information that you need in order to help
the community understand the planning concepts being considered. Explore simple visuals
that can help to communicate these planning concepts.
It is also important to have a clear understanding of what is negotiable and what is not
negotiable in relation to the project. This will help ensure that the parameters of the project
are always clearly communicated and community expectations are not raised.
It is important to explain how the community can influence a decision, i.e. explain how their
feedback will be used and how it will contribute to the decision-making process.
 Do you have a clear understanding about why this planning project is being
conducted? It will be important for engagement material to be clear about the drivers for a
project.
 Do you have a clear understanding of what you are asking the community to do? Do
you want them to read or watch something? Do you want them to provide you with ideas or
feedback, tell you their story, or register for your newsletter? Do you need them to come to
your forum? Make the call to action clear.
 Have you communicated where information will be available, and when it will be
available? If you are calling the community to action, have you made it clear when they
must act, and where they must go to take action?
 Have you clearly communicated how the community can get involved in the project,
and why they should get involved?
 Have you clearly explained what people need to do to make a ‘properly made’
submission?
 Have you made your messages as uncomplicated as possible? Is your content in plain
language? Have you removed the planning jargon and acronyms? Have you used graphics,

infographics, maps and images to help explain difficult concepts?
 Have you used a test audience to confirm that you have clearly explained what you
needed to explain?
 Have you made your materials attractive? This will encourage people to collect and read
printed materials, or click-on digital materials. To help with this task it can be useful to work
with a graphic designer. It is important that engagement materials clearly define the
objectives of the engagement process, and articulate exactly how the community’s input will
be incorporated into the decision-making process.

Part 6: Implementing your community
engagement strategy
Once your engagement strategy has been approved, you are ready to implement it. This is usually
the most time-consuming part of the process.
It is important to remember that it is rare to implement a strategy completely unchanged and it
needs to remain fluid. As you start implementing your action plan, be prepared for it to change.
Extra elements that you had not previously considered may need to be added, or certain activities
may need to be amended or removed altogether.
These changes will be guided by feedback from your stakeholders and the level of success you
achieve within the community. If they are not receptive, you may need to look at other ways of
reaching them.
6.1 Data collection and analysis

Tracking and reporting on the progress of the engagement project will be necessary, so ensuring
you have a system to collate and ultimately help you analyse input received upon conclusion of the
engagement period will be critical. This will also help to manage follow-up community engagement
activities for the project team (e.g. following up requests for further information or requests for
meetings).
Themes and topics that are usually required for engagement reporting include:
• how many stakeholders and community members participated, including a breakdown of

stakeholder groups, and demographic and geographic groups
• key issues and topics raised
• the differences in views and ideas between stakeholder groups and communities.
It is generally expected that an analysis of the community engagement data is included as an
appendix in the final engagement report. This report should be made available to the public at the
conclusion of the engagement process.
The complexity and scale of your engagement project, as well as budget for engagement delivery,
will most likely determine how you collect and analyse your data. There are two main methods of
undertaking this:
1) Maintaining a register of community and stakeholder details and interactions. This can be done
in a spreadsheet such as Microsoft® Excel. While this is a low-cost method, offering basic data
analysis for reporting purposes, it can be time consuming.
2) Maintaining a web-based stakeholder management system or an online engagement platform.

These tools will help to track and manage community and stakeholder relationships and
interactions. These options come at a greater cost but allow for sophisticated data analysis that
can be undertaken simply and quickly.
Tool 6.116provides a checklist that will help you determine if a Microsoft® Excel spreadsheet, or
similar, will suffice for your engagement process, or if you will need to invest in the use of a more
customised community and stakeholder management tool.
16 Adapted from flowchart developed by Darzin Software.

Tool 6.1: Checklist for determining data analysis requirements
To determine if a standard spreadsheet is suitable for your data analysis needs, consider:
 Is your consultation short term or a one-off process?
 Do you only need to have one person at a time accessing the database?
 Will you only have a small number of community members, and therefore a small amount of
data to enter into the spreadsheet? It can be time consuming to enter large amounts of data
into a spreadsheet, and sometimes inefficient to search and track trends.
 Do you not need to track people and their multiple interactions with the project team during
the engagement process?
 Do you only need to analyse feedback quantitatively?
 Do you have access to someone with advanced spreadsheet skills?
To determine if a basic or advanced stakeholder relationship management software package is
suitable for your data analysis needs, consider the following questions:
 Is your consultation short term or a one-off process, with multiple engagement channels and
a requirement for transparency in reporting?
 Is your consultation short term or a one-off process, with one engagement channel (e.g.
online or submissions) and a requirement for qualitative analysis and advanced reporting?
 Do you need to have multiple people accessing the database at the same time?
 Do you need to track people and interactions and analyse feedback?
 Do you need to integrate with other systems and data from other channels?
 Do you need to conduct qualitative analysis of a large amount of data?
 Do you need to provide advanced reporting, such as attaching quotes in submissions to
issues reporting, reporting issues against geographic location, or quickly tracking emerging
issues?
 Do you need to manage tasks and follow-up activities from your database?
 Do you need to manage the distribution of emails or letters from your database?
There is a range of basic or advanced software packages available for purchase, such as
Consultation Manager, Darzin, Voxcito, Borealis and Staketracker. Software packages are
constantly being developed. Before making an investment, be clear about your requirements
and make sure the software package you select can meet these requirements. Consider:
 Do you need to mainly track who stakeholders are over time and multiple projects, so that
you can build and maintain a long-term relationship with them?
 Are numbers the most important measure, and can your online engagement platform provide
that data?
 Do you need to conduct quantitative or qualitative data analysis, or both?
 Do you need to use the database to assign follow-up tasks to colleagues?
 Do you need to use the database to contact stakeholders and community members? Are
there additional costs involved to do this?
 Do you need multiple staff accessing the database at the same time?
 What is your budget?
 Do you need to categorise issues raised, and report on these issues and trends?
 Do you need to be able to analyse issues raised geographically?

Tool 6.2: Example Excel community engagement database
Before developing an Excel database to register participants in your community engagement
process, and capture their comments and concerns, make sure that you have fully understood the
data that you need to capture. It is difficult to retro-fit information into an Excel spreadsheet once
you have started to populate it.
Data you may need to capture include:
• date of contact (i.e. when the interaction took place)
• how contact was made (i.e. be able to select one of the engagement tools you have chosen for
your process from a drop-down menu that lists each tool, e.g. email, phone or display)
• who initiated the contact (i.e. the community member or the project team)
• which project team member participated in the contact
• whether the stakeholder is a community member or represents a community group
• contact details
• a summary of the interaction, feedback or submission
• a summary of the issues raised, so that they can be quantified over time (e.g. a drop-down
menu can be useful here to list the identified issues, such as environment, amenity or density)
• any actions that the project team needs to take as a follow-up to the interaction
• a summary page or tab can be set up to produce a report from.

A screen shot showing an example Excel community database is provided below.
Date Interaction Your Project Name of community Their organisation Contact Details Summary of contact Issue raised Follow-up action Complete
Type Officer member or group

Part 7: Feedback and reporting
In making a decision about a specific project or issue, it is essential to explain the process that was
followed to come to that decision as well as to answer why and how it was decided. Stakeholders
may not always agree with the outcome or decision made, but if the process by which the decision
was made is understood, then the likelihood of it being accepted can be greater.
It is essential to provide feedback to participants of an engagement process. Participants have
given you their time and knowledge and it is imperative to recognise this by keeping them updated
about the process outcomes. It is particularly important to provide feedback on engagement
processes where there is a significant difference of opinion between community members.
Information to provide back to stakeholders and community members includes:
• how participant input has been used to inform the decision-making process
• the next steps of the project
• details about future opportunities for input.

Never underestimate the power of a ‘thank you’ as it is always important to follow-up after
engaging with stakeholders.17
The MGR includes the requirement to prepare a consultation report. Again, while it is mandatory
for local government to do a consultation report under the MGR, the use of any tools in this toolkit
is entirely up to each local government’s discretion. This section and the tool within it may provide
useful information and guidance in preparing a consultation report.
17 Bang the Table: http://www.bangthetable.com/the-power-of-thank-you/

Tool 7.1: Checklist for following up after engagement and preparing a report
 Have you considered how you will follow-up with your community after the
engagement process is complete?
This could include a letter, email or postcard to all participants to communicate the outcomes
of the project, which could include a link to the community engagement report. Following up
with your community demonstrates your respect for participants and transparency as an
organisation. It also helps to lay a foundation for an ongoing conversation with community
members about planning issues and concepts.
 Have you considered how you will document the engagement process in the report? It
is important to provide the planning team working on the project with a comprehensive report
that could outline:
 the objectives of the engagement process

 the identified stakeholders, stakeholder groups and community members that were
contacted in relation to the project
 the phases of the project and the engagement activities delivered

 analysis of the data collected during the engagement and how it has informed the
decision-making process.
 Have you considered how you will provide the engagement report to the community?
Will it be a summary document or a detailed report?
Once the engagement report has been considered by your decision-makers, you can start to
prepare for the release of the report to the community. It is helpful to document how the
community’s input has influenced the decision, where suggestions have been adopted, and
which suggestions were not adopted and why.
 Have you considered how you will make the information in a community engagement
report accessible to the community? It is useful to prepare your reports in various formats
(Word, PDF, HTML) to ensure that they are as accessible to the widest possible range of
community members. Make sure that documents hosted on a website can be easily
downloaded. Preparation of a summary document can help, particularly if this document
uses a range of graphics, infographics, charts, and images to help provide context.

Part 8: Evaluation
To close the community engagement process, and to make sure that any learnings are captured, it
is important to evaluate your process and the results that were achieved. Evaluation can be
quantitative (e.g. the number of people involved in the process) or qualitative (e.g. feedback from
community members about whether they felt they had been listened to). It can also be:18
• summative, i.e. exploring whether the process was successful and met its objectives
• formative, i.e. exploring what you can do better and how to overcome challenges
• research-based, i.e. capturing learnings so that your community engagement practice improves
over time.
The benefits of evaluation include:19
• demonstrating value of engagement to internal and external stakeholders
• knowing what works, what does not work and why
• ensuring that successes are built upon, and mistakes are not repeated
• being able to adapt an ongoing engagement process to increase its effectiveness
• capturing learnings to help plan future engagement processes.
• A robust evaluation process will also include input from stakeholders, community members and
participants in the engagement process.
The following tool will help you to evaluate your community engagement process.
Tool 8.1: Checklist to guide evaluation of a community engagement process
Exploring whether the process was successful and met its objectives:
 Have you considered how your process addressed the core community engagement
guiding principles? Questions to explore here could include:
 How did your engagement process ensure that the planning project focused on the
best interests of the community? Have you explained what is meant by ‘best interests
of the community’? What engagement tools did you use to make sure that the broader
community had a voice in your process? Were these tools successful? What quantitative
data (i.e. number of participants) or qualitative data (i.e. feedback from participants that
indicates that the process was valuable to them) do you have to support your
assessment?
 How did you make sure that the engagement process was open, honest and
meaningful? How did you make sure that the community had access to the information
that they needed to help them participate in a conversation about the planning process?
How did you make sure that the community were provided with genuine opportunities to
participate? What quantitative or qualitative data do you have to support your
assessment?
 How did you reach out to, and encourage, all sectors of the community to become
engaged? Did you have diverse voices and perspectives involved in your process?
What quantitative or qualitative data do you have to support your assessment?
18 Department of Communities 2004, Engaging Queenslanders: Evaluating community engagement.

19 Department of Transport and Main Roads 2010, Community engagement: Resource guide.

 Was your engagement process appropriate for the community and the
circumstances of the project? Did you strike a balance between the community’s
desire to be involved and the opportunities to be involved? What quantitative or
qualitative data do you have to support your assessment?
 Did you make sure that the community understood what a ‘properly made’
submission was and how they could make one? Did your engagement process
include tools that enabled community members to express their ideas and influence the
planning process, regardless of whether these ideas were expressed as part of a
‘properly made’ submission? What quantitative or qualitative data do you have to support
your assessment?
 Did you make sure that the community was informed early in the process? Did you
make sure that there were opportunities for the community to participate throughout the
planning process? Did the community feel some ownership of the planning outcomes?
What quantitative or qualitative data do you have to support your assessment?
 Did you design your engagement process so that community members and
stakeholders could easily contribute? Was information easy for people to understand?
Did you use plain language? Did you limit the use of planning jargon and clarify key
issues? What quantitative or qualitative data do you have to support your assessment?
 Was your engagement process flexible? Did you adapt your approach based on
participant feedback or anecdotal evidence about what was working and what was not?
 Was the decision-making process transparent? Were the community and participants
provided with reasons for the decision? Were the community and participants informed
about how their contributions shaped the planning outcomes? Did you explain clearly
what trade-offs were made and why?
 Did you deliver your engagement process for the allocated budget?
 Have you considered how your process addressed the IAP2 Quality Assurance
Standard?
 Have you explored what you can do better and how to overcome challenges?
 Have you documented the internal and external barriers and challenges that
emerged as you delivered the engagement process? Have you explored how you
overcame these barriers and challenges? A lessons-learnt de-brief meeting is a useful
way to explore the barriers and challenges to your engagement process. It is important
that all members of the project team have an opportunity to attend this meeting so that
they can explore the engagement process constructively.
 Have you captured and shared these learnings so that they can be applied to your
next community engagement process?

Part 9: Success stories
In this part, we provide real-life examples of what is happening across Queensland. These case
studies outline some projects and initiatives that demonstrate successful community engagement.
To provide us with more examples for inclusion here, please use tool 9.1 as a guide.
Tool 9.1: Case study template
Council name and contact: (for permission to print/include in the toolkit)
Project name:
1 Describe what made the project successful.
Why was the project important to your community?
Why was it important to engage your community in this project?
2 Describe how you engaged the community.
What tools and approaches did you apply to seek contributions from the community?
3 Describe the results.
How did your community influence project outcomes?
What challenges were faced and how were they overcome?
Case study 9.1: New

planning scheme
Council name: Logan City Council
Describe what made the project

successful
Why was the project important to your
community?
A new, all-encompassing planning scheme
was a must for Logan City after the
expansion of local government area
boundaries in 2008.
The existing Logan City local government
area was merged with parts of the former
Gold Coast City and Beaudesert Shire areas.
Planning requirements that applied to one
area of the newly expanded City of Logan
did not necessarily apply in others, creating
confusion for locals, frustration for
developers and an ever-increasing
assessment workload for the council.
Why was it important for the community to be engaged on this project?
The draft planning scheme had established a framework to support the rapid growth and
development of the City of Logan by identifying opportunities for 70,000 new dwellings and 50,000
new jobs. Logan City Council wanted the community and stakeholders to not only understand and
accept this new scheme, but to own it as the blueprint for the city’s future direction.

Describe how you engaged the community
We developed the following tools for the participation process based on outcomes from previous
projects, research into how the Logan public liked to be presented with new information, and a dual
approach that targeted people based on their interests and field.
• Reference group workshops – these involved representatives of key segments of the

community to enable themes and features to be explored in detail, investigations to be
undertaken between meetings, and meaningful responses provided. Representatives included
developers, agricultural producers, community service providers, environmental advocacy
groups and residents.
• Pop-up kiosks, meet-a-planner sessions, and planner desks – these facilitated detailed,
face-to-face discussion of specific aspects of the scheme at convenient local locations.
• Fact sheets, web content, Facebook posts and highly innovative interactive website
mapping – these ensured all Logan residents had access to user-friendly, easily digestible
information that would support meaningful stakeholder contributions from a foundation of
knowledge, rather than assumption or guesswork.
Describe the results

Significant amendments were made to:
• vegetation management offset requirements
• ‘impact assessable’ status of freehold multi-unit subdivision developments
• gross floor area in the context of level of assessment for retail and commercial uses in retail
centres
• prohibitions on high-impact industry development.

Moreover, as a result of community feedback through the planning scheme engagement, an entire
new project was initiated to review the council's ecological significance map.
The chief challenge stemmed from the fact that planning schemes are technical, complex, and
rarely encountered day to day. For this reason:
• We allowed twice the statutory timeframe for engagement to provide the greatest possible
opportunity for people to learn about the scheme.
• We provided assistance to our reference groups in preparing their submissions – putting

their concerns into the terms most likely to influence the scheme.
• We created an interactive online mapping tool that enabled a variety of ways to interrogate
the scheme.
Planning can be emotive – changing permissible lot sizes, population density, future planning of
infrastructure all affect people's amenity and potentially the value of their properties. For specific
matters, we used the following approaches to ensure maximum attention and engagement:
• We engaged on local area plans ahead of time, to tackle these separately from the bulk of
engagement of the scheme. This was also not without its challenges, in one case resulting in
a complete re-initiation of the planning process for that suburb, allowing more time and different
engagement methodologies to enable residents to understand the objectives of the plan and
influence outcomes.

• We also engaged on the flood mapping ahead of time for the same reason, ensuring
maximum attention to the flood issue at that time so that the issue did not become a distraction
from the planning scheme when we engaged on it later.
The extensive engagement process resulted in a high degree of public participation, as evidenced
by:
• 15 meetings held with 5 reference groups
• 693 written submissions received
• 2600+ people attending face-to-face events across the city
• 74,911 people viewing our Facebook posts
• 26,065 visits to our website
• 472 people viewing our YouTube video
• 550 enquiries made via email, phone and front-counter interactions
• 12,658 visits to the interactive mapping tool.
Case study 9.2: CityShape 2026

Council name: Brisbane City Council
Describe what made the project successful

The Brisbane City Council developed Brisbane CityShape 2006 (CityShape) between 2005 and
2006 as a blueprint to manage Brisbane’s growth for the next 20 years.
In developing CityShape, it was important to gain broad community consensus on the distribution
of the citywide dwelling targets that had been established by the 2005 South East Queensland
Regional Plan. That plan forecasted the need for 145,000 additional dwellings in Brisbane by 2026
to support a predicted population increase of 200,000. Engaging the community meant that
residents could help council decide how and where this growth should be accommodated. More
than 60,000 people contributed ideas and comments. This extensive program of community
engagement resulted in the establishment of a preferred CityShape – a multi-centred city with
elements of a corridor city – and the development of a new 20-year vision for the city. This updated
the original Living in Brisbane 2010 (a vision for the city’s future prepared in 2001) and fed into the
development of a new strategic framework.

The community had the opportunity to participate in an extensive program of activities, which
provided a clear understanding of the issues associated with planning for a growing city. These
activities were accessible to all sectors of the community. A clear line of sight was provided
between the initial workshops, Your Home and Neighbourhood Fairs, CityShape Conference,
neighbourhood workshops and the resultant Brisbane CityShape 2026 and new city vision that
were developed. The engagement provided a high level of transparency, with the opportunity for
the community to vote on their preferred CityShape. The proportion of votes for each of the four
options was announced, and the selected CityShape was a combination of the two most popular
‘shapes’.
An explicit strategy throughout the process was to broaden the mechanisms through which

feedback was captured by providing innovative and accessible ways for Brisbane residents to
express their views.
Approximately 40,000 residents attended a Neighbourhood Planning workshop or focus group,
completed a survey, or visited one of the five Your Home Neighbourhood Fairs. The fairs provided
information and provoked discussion on the many issues facing the city and ideas as to how these
issues could be addressed. We also sought advice from those directly involved in the planning
processes – town planners, community and environmental groups, developers and architects.
Almost 10,000 people visited the fairs and voted for one of four different shapes (‘CityShapes’) that
Brisbane could take in the future. Attendees were invited to nominate to become a CityShape
Ambassador and be a representative at the CityShape Conference and detailed local
Neighbourhood Workshops.
The two-day CityShape Conference, held in August 2005, involved national and international
speakers and facilitators. Delegates included 250 residents. On the first day of the conference
delegates were invited to participate in a series of interactive workshops and present their ideas
and opinions in small working groups. The focus of the second day was on identifying, debating
and creating a consensus around common principles that would shape Brisbane’s future. It sought
to capture the diversity of opinion among delegates.
Throughout the conference, delegates were invited to provide comment on whiteboards and
butcher’s paper, pegboards and group ‘totems’ (a series of 2-metre-high columns) where
delegates’ images and personal messages could be posted.
The recommendations of the conference were tested and refined through technical studies and
used to select a preferred CityShape for Brisbane. The draft CityShape 2026 report was released
for discussion purposes in February 2006 and then presented to the wider community for comment
through 26 Neighbourhood Workshops from March to May 2006, before being finalised in mid-
2006.

Valuable public feedback from the CityShape engagement program included suggestions for
planning the layout of Brisbane, accommodating future growth, building sustainable developments,
improving transport, encouraging employment, keeping green spaces and protecting Brisbane’s
identity. CityShape led to the development of a new strategic framework for the city in the council’s
City Plan. Community values established through the engagement process fed into the
development of a new vision for the city and provided a community mandate for neighbourhood
planning initiatives. This significant engagement process established a platform for planning for the
next ten to twenty years and council could leverage off this process for future planning
engagement, both at the strategic and citywide level as well as through the neighbourhood
planning program.
The Neighbourhood Planning CityShape Conference, which formed a key element of the
CityShape engagement, was highly commended in the 2006 Robust Public Participation Process
category of the International Association for Public Participation’s Best of Practice – Community
Engagement in Australasia 2005–2009 awards.

The draft CityShape 2006 report that was developed from the CityShape engagement formed the
basis of the strategic framework for Brisbane and the new 20-year vision for the city, which in turn
were used to inform neighbourhood planning initiatives, with significant benefits for the community.
Most residents wanted new homes and new developments to be built around Brisbane’s major
shopping centres or along major growth corridors. They were looking for jobs to be located closer
to where they lived, together with better local services and facilities. CityShape 2026 helps council
deliver on these outcomes.
The Draft Brisbane CityShape 2026 proposes that, instead of pushing residents out of Brisbane
and increasing the urban sprawl across the region, more people should move into existing areas
with supporting services and facilities. It allows for building more units, townhouses, apartments
and duplexes in selected areas. Keeping a good supply and variety of homes on the market and
ensuring a range of styles, sizes and prices can help keep Brisbane affordable.
One of the key challenges was how to engage as many people as possible, with representation
from all sectors of the community, and to ensure the community was sufficiently informed to enable
them to meaningfully engage in the debate about urban growth. This called for an extensive
program of events that would appeal to both the layperson and the professional, young and old. A
series of events was developed to take people on a ‘learning journey’ toward an understanding of
the key issues so that they could make an informed choice when voting for their desired
CityShape. The neighbourhood fairs were extensively advertised. Local celebrities, such as bands,
singers and sports people, were engaged to attract people to the event.
Further information:
• https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/planning-building/planning-guidelines-
tools/neighbourhood-planning/neighbourhood-planning-urban-renewal-process/original-
cityshape-2026
Case study 9.3: Ideas Fiesta

Council name: Brisbane City Council

The goal of the project was to gather ideas for the improvement of the city centre. In April 2013, the
Brisbane City Council hosted the City Centre Master Plan (CCMP) Ideas Fiesta to encourage the
Brisbane community and the property industry to explore ideas for the future of the city centre.
The Ideas Fiesta provided a platform for the exchange of ideas in a collaborative, fun and open
way, contributing to the development of a range of projects and initiatives. It aimed to provoke
discussion and excitement about the city’s future and to invite the community to participate in
shaping their city centre. Residents, visitors and businesses were invited to get involved, be
inspired, have fun and share their ideas for imagining the future of the city centre.
Ideas raised and feedback received throughout the fiesta guided council in developing the draft
CCMP to guide future development and investment in the city centre over the next 20 years. The
final version of the plan delivered a coordinated strategy supported by several implementation
projects for the future of Brisbane’s city centre.
In November 2013, the Ideas Fiesta won an award for Promotion of Planning Excellence as well as
a commendation for Public Engagement and Community Planning in the Planning Institute of
Australia (Queensland Chapter).

Describe how you engaged your community
We held a three-week program of events across the city centre, supported by social media. More
than 16,400 people attended 27 fiesta events, 1200 students participated and more than 1.2 million
social media views were generated.
The fiesta featured 10 industry forums and 17 community events and showcased 17 transformative
ideas from well-known Brisbane architects and designers, providing a range of interesting and
engaging ways the community could be involved in shaping the city centre. The ideas and
feedback received during the fiesta directly influenced the directions of the CCMP and helped
council identify priorities for future delivery.
We harnessed the passion and talent of Brisbane’s design, development, business, education and
creative communities to offer a diverse range of events and experiences during the fiesta including
workshops, forums, community events and the showcasing of transformative ideas.
We partnered with the design and development industry to present 10 workshops and forums.
Some workshops explored ideas for the city centre generally, while others focused on particular
areas or aspects of the city centre. The 17 community events included street picnics, laneway and
park events, guided walks, films and exhibitions, providing the opportunity for the community to
share their ideas while actively engaging with, and shaping, the city.
We used online channels to promote the events and capture ideas, resulting in a total of over 1.2
million social media views. The Ideas Fiesta Wrap-up Report provides a detailed summary of the
outcomes of the fiesta.

How did community input influence project outcomes?
The council received thousands of ideas for the city centre. These ideas influenced the direction of
the draft CCMP, which was published for a final round of community consultation between 17
September and 25 October 2013, before being finalised in 2014.
The CCMP fed into the development of the City Centre Neighbourhood Plan, which translated
some the strategies in the Master Plan into more specific rules for development, in accordance
with the Sustainable Planning Act 2009.
Many of our current inner-city projects can be linked back to the ideas generated at the fiesta, such
as the City of Lights Strategy, the River’s Edge Strategy, Buildings that Breathe, the Vibrant
Laneways program and the Albert Street Temporary Event space.
The array of events at the Ideas Fiesta presented some logistical problems – for example, the
closing of Albert Street to traffic to allow for a street party/picnic. We partnered with external
agencies to manage some of these events.
The fiesta encouraged creative thinking, which resulted in many innovative and imaginative ideas
that may not be achievable for logistical or other reasons. There needed to be clear messaging
that whilst the council was encouraging these ‘out of the box’ ideas, they had not received council
endorsement. The use of objective messaging assisted in managing unrealistic expectations.
Further information:
• https://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/planning-building/planning-guidelines-tools/city-centre-
master-plan/city-centre-master-plan-ideas-fiesta

Case study 9.4 Wet Tropics Plan for People and Country
Organisation name: Terrain Natural Resource Management

The Wet Tropics Natural Resource Management (NRM) Plan was overdue for review. This plan
covers a huge and diverse area – about 2.2 million hectares, from the Daintree forests of the north
to the sugarcane land delta of the Herbert River catchment in the south, and then west to the dry
rangelands of Mount Garnet. In 2013, funding from the Australian Government’s Regional NRM
Planning for Climate Change Program provided an opportunity for a new regional NRM plan – the
Wet Tropics Plan for People and Country.
The region’s local communities possess an enormous passion and wealth of knowledge and
understanding about their environment, landscapes, industries and communities. It was important
to incorporate and reflect this in the new plan, resulting in a grass-roots and community-led
process.
The foundation of the process was to effectively involve and engage the community, to tap into
their experience and expertise and reflect this in the final plan. There was a diverse range of
stakeholders, with divergent values and priorities, so it was important that all groups had
opportunities for input.
In addition, there was also a growing body of cutting-edge scientific data exploring potential climate
change impacts, adaptation pathways and opportunities within the region’s ecosystems, industries
and communities. Although this information could have profound impacts on NRM planning and
on-ground management within the community, making it accessible for application to community
requirements was difficult, meaning it was not being fully considered in community and stakeholder
planning, projects and procedures.
Finding a connection between the community’s values and strategic priorities based on the latest
science would help influence decision making at all levels, including policy makers, investors,
community groups, industry, local government and land managers.
The community’s values and priorities were recognised as an integral component underpinning the
development of the plan and contributing to achieving its purpose of influencing decision making at
all levels. The wide range of stakeholders involved, often with divergent and varied beliefs and
concerns, had to be effectively engaged to ensure the plan was a true reflection of what the whole
NRM community identified as important.
Regional NRM plans are non-statutory, with no legal obligation for any individuals or organisations
to take them into account. For this new plan to have a meaningful and enduring influence on a
wide range of decision makers, it would need to be built from the ground up, with strong community
engagement, input and stewardship of the planning process and final planning product.
To be successful, the plan had to be:
meaningful to a wide range of community and government stakeholders – addressing their needs
and providing solutions to problems;
useful to these stakeholders – accessible and usable for decision-making, and
current – able to be updated as latest information and priorities emerge.
While Terrain led the planning process and remains the custodian of the Wet Tropics Plan for
People and Country, the plan’s ultimate success relies entirely on the level of community
connection to, and stewardship of, the final product. Natural resource management is everyone’s
business, and the aim of the plan is to support and influence the decision making of not only

government and NRM professionals, but also farmers, community groups, Traditional Owners,
industry, the research sector and investors.

This planning project involved a comprehensive engagement process throughout the region. The
aim was to provide structure to difficult and complex discussions, while allowing for flexibility and
adaptability, and finding a balance between community priorities and scientific data. The
engagement process gave an opportunity for a two-way exchange of information – the community
could have their say on what was important to them, while Terrain’s planning team could ensure
important science on climate change implications and opportunities was incorporated and inform
community input.
There were four main stages in the community engagement process:
A general information gathering stage – this was comprehensive and aimed at identifying
community values and concerns about the landscape, and its future. Opportunities for involvement
included a photo competition, online surveys and attending community events and meetings.
This early engagement deliberately targeted questions about vision, aspirations and concerns to
get a good picture of the community’s perspectives on NRM. During this stage of consultation,
strong areas of commonality were identified across the region, which became the ‘Wet Tropics Big
5’ themes: biodiversity, biosecurity, water, sustainable industries, coastal systems. This helped
shape further consultation and engagement and provided structure to the final plan.
Regional technical workshops – these focused on the Wet Tropics’ Big 5 NRM themes. They
brought together a wide range of stakeholders including government, community groups, local
council, scientists and industry, and built in consideration of the climate science for each topic.
These workshops unpacked the barriers and opportunities to achieving a set of shared regional
outcomes, and identified strategies for moving forward. Importantly, the latest climate science was
distilled and interpreted for each theme, and was integrated into the prioritisation process.
Local Landscape workshops – these included many skilful and knowledgeable individuals and
grass roots organisations involved in managing the natural resources in their ‘backyard’. Based on
feedback from participants, these workshops were particularly successful.
A transparent process was used to prioritise project ideas through facilitated discussion of a range
of community priorities. This was followed by an inclusive and non-confrontational voting process,
where each participant could vote on their top three priorities. The result was a list of all identified
community priorities, which were included in the plan regardless of the outcome of the voting
process, as well as collective agreement on high priority actions, based on the voting results.
In addition, regional and technical expertise – including in relation to climate science – was
incorporated into the workshops to inform community priorities. After all the regional and local
priorities had been identified, a process of bringing the two together resulted in a list of Priority
Actions that have good community ownership as well as a strong level of technical and scientific
input.
Tailored and focused engagement – this involved Traditional Owners, local councils and industry
bodies.

Reflecting the community’s needs and aspirations in the final planning product was crucial to the
plan’s success.
From the comprehensive early consultation undertaken, a strong picture of community values
emerged, which helped shape and direct the next stage of the process. It highlighted the diversity

of people and landscapes within the Wet Tropics, the passion of the community and their
connection to their local areas, and drew attention to some of the common areas of interest.
Common community interests became the “Wet Tropics Big 5” regional themes (biodiversity,
biosecurity, water, sustainable industries and coastal systems), and formed the foundation for the
more intensive second phase of consultation. These themes also shaped the format and structure
of the plan, with priorities arranged according to the themes.
In particular, the local landscape workshops across the region ensured maximum community
participation in the development of strategies/priorities for action and the process of prioritisation.
As regional NRM plans are non-statutory, effective engagement was critical if this plan was to
influence NRM decision making across the region and beyond.
As with many plans, there was complexity involved in the planning process and product. This
project identified a requirement to reflect diversity but also identify common ground, while
reconciling divergent priorities between the local, regional, state and national scales. There was an
additional requirement to incorporate new climate change science and potential NRM impacts and
adaptations.
Comprehensive and meaningful community engagement was essential to the plan’s success to
date. The facilitated workshop and voting prioritisation processes were particularly successful in
identifying and reconciling divergent values and priorities, and providing a mechanism to develop a
collective outcome.
In addition, ‘planning fatigue’ within the community was a problem, meaning time invested by
community members needed to be productive. Consultation started early in the planning process
and involved Terrain’s planning team ‘piggy-backing’ on various community meetings to provide
planning information and updates. This minimised the amount of time and effort required from the
community (as they were already attending their own meeting), while still allowing for an important
two-way exchange of information.
By the time separate community planning meetings were organised, the community was already
aware of the planning process and proposed structure of the final plan. The plan’s purpose had
been well communicated, and the opportunity to support and influence decision making in their
location or area of interest was a strong motivating factor for community involvement. A
commitment made by Terrain’s planning team to capture all identified priorities also encouraged
community input into the final planning product.
While the planning investment in attending many community meetings (49 meetings) and holding
multiple workshops (10 Local Landscape, 9 Regional Technical) throughout the region was high,
the result was that community involvement and input was maximised. Similarly, the many years
invested by Terrain in building and developing effective stakeholder partnerships and working with
the community meant that stakeholders were likely to invest their time and ideas in an open and
honest manner.
Terrain’s simple, yet rigorous, Plan Logic enabled a clear connection between long-term vision and
priority actions. The process used was well-planned and clearly documented and communicated
through the plan website. Despite the complexities and specifics of regional NRM planning, the
Plan Logic tied all elements together cohesively, logically reconciling tensions between different
priorities and interests.
The format of the Wet Tropics Plan for People and Country as an interactive web-based plan
enables anyone to have access, search and filter data according to their topic of interest or
location, as well as allowing for ongoing updates. A range of online technologies were used to
display and convey complex information, including videos, story maps and an interactive mapping
portal, with access to many layers of relevant NRM spatial data.

An important aspect of the plan is that it is not set in stone. Priorities change, and the online format
of the plan allows monitoring, reviews and updates, creating a ‘living’ document that can respond
to changing requirements and remain relevant for a wide range of end users, for many years to
come.
Further information http://www.wettropicsplan.org.au
Case study 9.5: Clifton Township Open Space Concept Master

Plan
Organisation name: Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC)

This project aimed to identify activities and opportunities to enhance the physical aspects of Clifton
and build on the unique identity of the locale and the community.
Importantly, the youth of Clifton wanted a voice in the creation and development of their town.
Existing youth advocacy being carried out through Council’s Youth Leadership Program presented
a unique opportunity to engage with this often-overlooked section of the community. Clifton’s Youth
Leader became a voice for his peers and the community, enabling Council to tap into a
groundswell of action through the local high school. This was instrumental in positioning the project
from within the community.
Driving the project from the youth voice generated significant community support through this
sense of ownership and investment by the high school students. The community saw this as an
opportunity to encourage Council investment in their township.
Why was it important to engage the community in this project?
For the project to be successful, the Clifton community needed ownership of the process and
outcomes. To achieve this, Council took an exploratory approach ‒ not dictating or stipulating, but
listening, exploring, adapting and responding. Familial links throughout the town also provided
invaluable arteries for the flow of lively and sustaining conversations about Clifton’s status and its
proposed future.
In addition, this ownership developed community confidence and encouraged social capital
investments that are delivering valued dividends for Clifton and the wider region through popular
park infrastructure upgrades.

Community engagement processes for this project were a deliberate move away from the single
issue-focused approach taken previously. Fundamental to this was the early establishment of a
project reference group to inform both the engagement and development of the master plan. This
reference group consisted of representatives from all areas of council to ensure the conversation
with the community could be about the entire town and not just the open space. By collaborating
effectively, the consultation was more holistic. It also allowed for some outcomes to be delivered
quickly, giving immediate results to the community.
Engagement practices included:
1. Youth council survey
The TRC Youth Leader prepared a survey to understand high school students’ perspectives of the
town’s open spaces. This was completed by 185 Clifton High School students.
2. Clifton State High School students’ parks tour

TRC took 50 high school students from years 9 to 12 on a bus tour of parks in the Toowoomba
region. A questionnaire was used during the bus tour to gain an understanding of how, why and
when they used parks. It also prompted them to suggest what worked, what didn’t and what was
missing from these parks.
3. Clifton State High School “Have a Say” sessions
Two information-gathering sessions were held for students to describe how they felt about the
town, and to outline their ideas about parks and playground equipment that would suit them, and
the entire community.
4. Identifying park champions
The TRC Youth Leader chose 20 students from Clifton High School to become park champions.
These students attended workshops to master plan the town centre and open space based on their
priorities and desired experiences.
4. Community “Have a Say” Days at two community consultations at a local hall, one session at the
local market and online
Similar information-gathering sessions were held to target the wide community. These sessions
were promoted on Council’s ‘Your Say’ community engagement page and the main website, by
Council’s CLO, letters to the high school students, via social media, in the local newspaper and
through poster and flyer distribution.
Pop-up face-to-face engagement was conducted outside the local Foodworks and tennis courts on
the Friday evening and 15 people made comment.
Community feedback was diverse and included commentary around gardens, footpaths, signage,
lighting, road maintenance, park furniture, toilets, public art, play and exercise equipment, the
promotion of parks and open spaces, events, entertainment and associated activities, camping and
caravanning, and infrastructure.

The project was totally driven by the community, especially the youth leader and his park
champions. As a result, the Clifton Township Concept Open Space Master Plan project is an
inspiring example of active community consultation.
The consultation provided insights that have influenced and will continue to influence the future
capital works program for the township. Projects that were easy to achieve were identified as “low-
hanging fruit” and implemented quickly (in some cases only days after the consultation). For
example, trees were planted within the open spaces and the footpaths. By taking immediate action,
the community witnessed a swift response to their ideas. This strengthened the relationships
between the community and Council and helped to build momentum throughout the project.
Clifton is 48 kilometres south of the urban centre of Toowoomba. This distance can cause a sense
of separation from the centre of the region. Effective, innovative consultation in Clifton was
important to the success of the project. Being open to opportunities to change the conversation, to
re-centre it to Clifton and redirect dialogue for a productive outcome was essential. The approach
made by Clifton’s Youth Leader presented an opportunity for a unique way of communicating and a
different conversation. Council’s role became a facilitator of communication from activated young
people, taking their ideas and presenting them back to the rest of the community. The presence of
Council listening and responding to the needs of the community, starting from a blank slate and
working up to a concept that reflected their ideas, was a welcomed change.
Another key challenge was working on a parks and recreation project while still accommodating
consultation and discussion about the whole town. Open space at a township level has a greater

social capital and community agenda than open space in an urban setting. How the park works
within the town and its integration with the broader objectives of place-making, economics, town
planning and community growth is fundamental to a successful master planned outcome. This
challenge was overcome by bringing collaborators from across council to help drive and direct the
project in the planning, design and delivery stages. Regular meetings of internal stakeholders
ensured that programmed works within different capital works budgets were invigorated with
consultation and information from the master plan.
A common response to Council projects is that it’s “all talk and no action”. Consultation fatigue is a
significant problem with larger Councils as there are so many projects that require community
involvement. Working collaboratively across council for this project grouped a series of smaller
discussions into one conversation with the community, from the design of open space through to
the location of trees and footpaths. Taking immediate action on some aspects of the project
ensured momentum and demonstrated ongoing implementation.

Part 10: References
Australian Capital Territory Government, 2011. Engaging Canberrans: A guide to community
engagement. Available at:
https://www.yoursay.act.gov.au/application/files/2614/6724/4263/communityengagement_FI
NAL.pdf
Australian Government, 2013. Engaging with Indigenous Australia: Exploring the conditions for
effective relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Issues Paper
no. 5. Available at:
http://www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/Publications/2013/ctgc-
ip5.pdf
Australian Government, 2013. Engagement with Indigenous communities in key sectors. Resource
sheet no. 23. Available at:
http://www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/Publications/2013/ctgc-
rs23.pdf
Australian Government, 2016. Communicating with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
audiences. Available at: https://www.pmc.gov.au/resource-centre/indigenous-
affairs/communicating-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-audiences
Australian Heritage Commission, 2002. Ask First: A guide to respecting Indigenous heritage places
and values. Available at: http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/ahc/publications/ask-first-
guide-respecting-indigenous-heritage-places-and-values
Australian Human Rights Commission, 2012. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
engagement toolkit 2012. Available at: http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/key-
resources/practice-resources/?lid=23754
Bang the Table website: http://www.bangthetable.com/
Catapult Future Cities website: http://futurecities.catapult.org.uk/2016/12/01/future-planning-state-
art-innovations-digital-planning/
Citizen Lab website: https://www.citizenlab.co/
City of Tea Tree Gully, 2014. Community engagement framework. Available at:
https://www.teatreegully.sa.gov.au/Contact_Council/Have_your_say/How_we_engage
Consult Australia, 2015. Valuing better engagement: An economic framework to quantify the value
of stakeholder engagement for infrastructure delivery. Available at:
http://www.consultaustralia.com.au/docs/default-source/infrastructure/engagement/valuing-
better-engagement---economic-framework.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Darzin Software website: www.darzin.com
Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Know your community, Available
at: https://www.datsip.qld.gov.au/people-communities/know-your-community
Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy and Development, 1999. Protocols for
consultation and negotiation with Aboriginal people. Available at:
https://www.datsip.qld.gov.au/resources/datsima/people-communities/protocols-
aboriginal/aboriginal-protocols-for-consultation.pdf.
Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy and Development, 1998. Proper
communication with Torres Strait Islander people. Available at:
https://www.datsip.qld.gov.au/resources/datsima/people-communities/protocols-torres/tsi-
protocols-for-consultation.pdf
Department of Communities, 2004. Engaging Queenslanders: Evaluating community engagement.

Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services, Queensland Multicultural
Resource Directory. Available at:
https://www.communities.qld.gov.au/multicultural/multicultural-communities/queensland-
multicultural-resource-directory
Department of Main Roads, 2005. Community Engagement: Resource guide.
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Communicating with Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander audiences. Available at: https://www.pmc.gov.au/resource-centre/indigenous-
affairs/communicating-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-audiences
Department of Transport and Main Roads, 2010. Community Engagement: Resource guide.
DILGP, 2015. Better planning for Queensland: Next steps in planning reform – directions paper.
Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning. Available at:
http://dilgp.qld.gov.au/resources/planning/directions-paper/better-planning-directions-
paper.pdf
Engaging Cities website: http://www.engagingcities.org/
Guardian. Tinder for cities: how tech is making urban planning more inclusive. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jan/24/tinder-cities-technology-making-urban-
planning-interactive
Hume City Council, n.d. Community engagement framework and planning guide. Available at:
https://www.hume.vic.gov.au/files/51cbbebe-df6c-453c-ae26-
9f2800edb59f/Community_Engagement_Framework.pdf
International Association for Public Participation, Australasia: https://www.iap2.org.au/Home
International Association for Public Participation 2015, Quality Assurance Standard for community
and stakeholder engagement. Available at: https://www.iap2.org.au/About-Us/About-IAP2-
Australasia/Quality-Assurance-Standard
NSW Department of Planning, 2003. Community engagement in the NSW Planning System.
Available at:
https://www.communityplanningtoolkit.org/sites/default/files/CommunityEngagementHandboo
kNewSouthWales.pdf
Nielsen Statistics website: http://www.nielsen.com/au/en.html
MoPac South Project, Austin Texas website: https://mopac1eu01.metroquest.com/
Participatory Budgeting website: https://www.participatorybudgeting.org/
Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia website: http://www.sparc.bc.ca/
Tasmanian Government, 2013. Tasmanian Government framework for community engagement.
Available at:
http://www.dpac.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/214376/Tas_Government_Framewor
k_Community_Engagement_Revised_2014.pdf
Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment, 2015. Effective engagement toolkit,
Available at: http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/effective-engagement/toolkit/
Youth Affairs Council of South Australia, 2016. Better together: A practical guide to effective
engagement with older people. Available at: http://bettertogether.sa.gov.au/
Youth Affairs Council of South Australia, 2016. Better together: A practical guide for effective
engagement with young people. Available at: http://bettertogether.sa.gov.au/
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groups and individuals. Available at: http://bettertogether.sa.gov.au/

Department of State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning
1 William Street, Brisbane
tel 13 QGOV (13 74 68)
https://planning.dilgp.qld.gov.au/

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Community

Community engagement toolkit for planning Page 1 of 89

What is the toolkit?

1 According to the Planning Act 2016:

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Why is a toolkit needed?

How the toolkit relates to statutory requirements

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Planning Act 2016

Figure 1: Relationship with Minister’s Guidelines and Rules

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Aspect Community engagement toolkit support

• A plan for public consultation N/A

• A description of how the Part 2 - Developing a community engagement plan, including:

For any communications strategy to give consideration to:

• The proposed geographical Part 1 – Guiding principles: What do we mean by ‘community’?

• The relevant community Part 2 – Developing a community engagement plan, including:

• The proposed length of N/A

• The proposed methods of Part 3 – Selecting community engagement tools, including:

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• The timing of the process, N/A

• Any supporting evidence for N/A

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What do we mean by ‘community’?

Why is community engagement important?

3 Consult Australia, 2015.

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6 Tasmanian Government Framework for Community Engagement, 2013.

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Principles How this may be applied at the local level

1. Engagement • Engagement is undertaken in the best interests of the whole community

2. Engagement is • Engagement draws the attention of the community to all relevant

3. Approaches to • Engagement is inclusive, appropriate to the needs of the community, and

Community engagement toolkit for planning Page 9 of 89

International Association for Public Participation

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Community engagement toolkit for planning Page 11 of 89

Figure 2: Community-engagement models

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 building community capacity to understand planning and development issues

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 Feedback: Identify how feedback will be provided to community members and

Define the community engagement scope

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• High impact across • New planning scheme

• High impact on a • Changes in zoning to

• Modest impact across • Updating planning

• Modest impact on a • Changes to hours of

area and/or community • Small change to a

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High impact on High impact on Modest impact on Modest impact on

Involve/collaborate Involve/collaborate Consult Inform

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Determine the context

• demographic and economic information, including population projections or analysis of community

• reports about local character and streetscape

• traffic information, and future and historic infrastructure plans

• previous community engagement outcomes for similar projects, locations or demographics.

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