The challenge
Brisbane City Council needed a strategy to generate innovative ideas that would shape the transformation of Brisbane’s inner city centre and surrounding precincts, over the next 10 years and into the future.
Our action
Articulous was engaged to develop a communications and engagement strategy to harness this excitement and spark curiosity, and we developed the InnerSpark project identity and engagement strategy.
How it happened
We identified a methodology that would be action in four stages.
Phase 1:
Spark Bright and Bold thinking – A series of Council-led workshops were held with targeted stakeholders, including city-planners and design students, facilitating a call for to action to provide ‘Big Ideas’ to be shared with the wider Brisbane Community.
Phase 2:
Spark an Idea – Broad in-person and online engagement activities were facilitated on behalf of the wider community to gather ideas to activate, beautify and transform city spaces. Engagement methods were accessible, varied and captivating, and included ‘in place’ activities, including engagement booths, in-person deep dives and interactive street art attractions and online surveys and bespoke web page, including place-based mapping tools and an online ideation hub.
Phase 3:
Council refined ideas for inclusion in the master plan by considering a short list of ideas producing a summary report on engagement findings and participation outcomes from the first two phases.
Phase 4:
Council prepared a series of collateral influenced by and celebrating the most successful ideas and recommendations of the engagement program, including the ‘Book of Big Bright Ideas’, the City Centre Master Plan and the Inner-City Framework.
The outcome
The project resulted in distinct community investment in the revitalisation of the Brisbane inner-city, as demonstrated by the submission of 1,348 total ideas from the community and 30,000 combined votes on big ideas and community ideas, derived both online and with the input of 6,760 in-person attendees. Almost 700,000 impressions were recorded across Council’s social and external media.
Inner Spark was award Highly Commended in the Planning Category of the International Association for Public Participation Australasia Conference Awards in 2023.
