Based on Actual Evidence 

Lucinda Hartley: As our name suggests, CoDesign is a design-based organization. We are a social enterprise operating as fee-for-service consultants – that’s our revenue model. But as a social enterprise, we focus on building social sustainability and ensuring our projects deliver positive social benefits.

What we try to do is find underutilized or underperforming spaces – whether it’s a vacant site, a rundown building, an undeveloped greenfield site, or simply a space that needs extra “love.” Then, we work with the local community to mobilize their ideas, vision, and capacity to repurpose those spaces for positive social outcomes. Sometimes, that means temporary interventions or pop-up spaces. We do a lot of these types of projects because they are an effective first step to getting people involved. It’s not just about the outcome…

LH: Exactly. It’s a practical, physical way to engage people, which then helps drive long-term strategies, plans, or designs.

LH: We all have some connection to the built environment. My colleagues include architects, I’m a landscape architect, and we also have a transport planner, a placemaker, and an industrial designer. Additionally, we have interns across various disciplines, including marketing, law, and architecture.

Our work essentially combines three elements – placemaking, urban design, and community engagement – simultaneously. You could call it community placemaking. We started about three and a half years ago as a volunteer group of design professionals who wanted to support communities that lacked the resources to pay for professional services. Some of our early projects were international, while others were in Australia, all done pro bono.

Through that volunteer work, we developed valuable tools and frameworks for working with communities to integrate social benefits into design projects. About two years ago, we transitioned into a social enterprise, applying what we had learned during our volunteer phase. We explored whether we could essentially sell that service or framework to local governments, property developers, and large nonprofits like the Brotherhood of St. Laurence and Mission Australia – organizations focused on community projects and public space improvements. Many of these groups want to enhance social sustainability but don’t know how. Or, in the case of local councils, they want to engage residents but aren’t sure how to do so effectively.

Our focus is on working directly with communities – helping them improve their neighborhoods. The way we do that is by collaborating with councils and property developers to facilitate the process.

LH: That’s very true. I found that in my own education – we were taught to design places for people but not with people.

What’s interesting is that in fields like industrial design, product design, or software design, the assumption is that you’re creating something for people, so you actively seek their feedback. You test your designs with users to ensure they meet their needs. But in architectural design, there’s often this notion that “we know best,” and we present the final product without much input.

At CoDesign, we take a different approach. We adopt an iterative model where we listen to our audience, trying to understand how they live, work, and what their aspirations are. It’s not just consultation – it helps us design better.

LH: Yes. This way, we design based on actual evidence rather than assumptions about what might work.

LH: Exactly. In fact, if something doesn’t work, it’s a valuable experiment. It also means you haven’t wasted a huge budget on an ineffective solution.

LH: Yes, both. Even our permanent projects tend to have modest budgets. One way we maximize resources is by leveraging community assets.

When working on a space, we ask residents or community members what they can contribute. For example, if they want to improve a park, we ask, “How can you help make it better?” Then they might say, “My uncle is a carpenter; he can help build something,” or “I know a concreter who could assist.” This way, we stretch the budget by involving the community directly.

LH: Our first project was a school in India, in collaboration with Global Citizens for Sustainable Development. They were working to improve educational opportunities for rural-urban migrants in Bangalore. A major issue for these communities is that when people move to cities, they leave behind their villages and schools, losing access to education.

This organization also had a strong focus on sustainability and environmental education. We helped them facilitate the design process by engaging the local community and developing concepts for the school. We ran an intensive one-month workshop with Indian designers from Bangalore and Australian designers from across Australia – about 20 people in total – along with community members.

By the end of the workshop, we had created a masterplan for the school, which is now being implemented – more or less as we designed it, though some aspects have evolved. One of the biggest takeaways from that project was the benefit of working alongside local designers and professionals. India has thousands of architects, so they don’t necessarily need Australian architects. But by collaborating, we achieved much more interesting results.

LH: Yes, we’re actually about to start a self-initiated project on our own street – Eassey Street – called Life on Eassey Street. We’re using it as a sort of experimental lab for our methods. We haven’t told the neighbors yet, but we think it’ll be fun!

Many of our projects are now in Australia, particularly in Melbourne. One reason is that international projects require significant long-term commitment.

LH: Yes, that’s always a challenge. Unless you have a strong, long-term partnership, it’s difficult to fully understand the issues and avoid misinterpretation. You can do it, but it requires deep focus and sustained effort. We may return to international projects in the future, but for now, we’re focused locally.

We also encourage our volunteers to gain experience in their own neighborhoods before working overseas. It’s easier to develop skills without cultural barriers before taking on international work.