Block undertakes community engagement programme with the City of Mandurah to identify what really matters and set vision for the future
Block has unveiled a new community engagement programme for the City of Mandurah, in what is the largest public consultation initiative undertaken in the city’s history. Following a motion put to council in July by Mayor Rhys Williams (pictured), Mandurah Matters was developed to encourage residents to come together and set a collective vision for the City’s future.
The programme, designed from the ground up by Block in collaboration with the City, aims to give the 87,000 residents of Mandurah direct input into the process by which the City set its vision for the next 20 years, and also a framework to track and have regular input into the projects that will result.
“Our best chance at developing a compelling vision for the future is to work in close collaboration with our community – and Mandurah Matters is the manifestation of that”, said CEO Mark Newman.
From the outset, Block was involved in guiding the overarching strategy, as well as creating the campaign naming, planning and rollout. Block also consulted with the City to assist with the development of the methodology and framework behind the phasing and rollout.
Community engagement and citizen led visioning is the guiding principle, and Mandurah Matters will hear and enact the vision of its citizens through a three phase process developed by Block and the City: firstly through in-depth consultation and conversations with the community, followed by think tanks with leading experts to create solutions, and finally a community summit to set the action plan for the vision.
“The opportunity to be involved ‘upstream’ in the creation of a programme like Mandurah Matters, and to apply design thinking to the entirety of the process, was a privilege and a testament to the Council’s commitment to go much deeper than the veneer which too often passes for community consultation,” said Block Strategy Director Emma Watton.
“It is a rare client that has the foresight to take a multi-year approach rather than the more common short-term, politically expedient, ‘campaign’ thinking.”
Proud community advocates from Mandurah were chosen as the faces of the campaign, to represent the diversity of issues the city faces and the campaign framework has been picked up by residents and they are creating independent hosted conversations.
“The message we needed to deliver was that everyone’s voice mattered – to stress the importance of the city’s future whilst empowering its residents to feel like they could play their part in shaping it”, said Block Account Manager, Adam McGlashan.
“The campaign Mandurah Matters, coupled with the faces of leading community members reinforces that strong sense of people and place. In Stage 1 alone, over 1,600 community members engaged in the online survey and 23 hosted conversations have been held throughout the community.”
The rollout will continue to appear across social media, digital, print, radio and community activations.
Mandurah Matters is just one community consultation project Block is currently engaged in, having recently been appointed to develop an initiative for the Perron Group’s Cockburn Gateway redevelopment – and it follows their award-winning work on significant placemaking projects including for the City of Swan’s New Junction Precinct Plan and Curtin University’s Greater Curtin Masterplan.
Block
Director of Strategy: Emma Watton
Account Manager: Adam McGlashan
Writer and Art Director: Louis Boys
Creative Director: Mark Braddock
Writer: Steve Browning
City of Mandurah
Strategic Visioning Project Coordinator: Claire Taylor
Corporate Communications Manager: Jane Pole-Bell
Senior Communications Consultant: Elysse Goddard
Communications Consultant: Bobbi-Lee Fairclough
Production
Photography: Daniel Wilkins
Videography: Shaun Atherstone, Dear Rabbit Photography
Radio: Tim Count, MDS Audio