Thinking in practice

We don’t plan life’s moments. We plan for them.

The decisions made when planning a community can influence everyday life in ways both large and small. How people move. Where they meet. The freedom children have to explore. Our relationship with nature. The moments of activity, connection and calm that become part of an ordinary day.

Thinking in Practice is where we share some of the ideas, observations and lessons that inform the way we create communities, together with examples of how that thinking is being put into practice.

A woman walking her dog along a grassy path beside a creek lined with gum trees

Nature + planning

Bringing nature into the heart of a community

There is a difference between living close to nature and living with it.

Two women laughing as they walk along a bush track

Nature + wellbeing

Designing for more than ourselves

Creating places for people also means thinking about the wider living systems we’re part of.

A family sharing a picnic at a table under a park shelter

Connection + belonging

Creating the conditions for connection

We can’t design relationships. But we can think carefully about where they have the opportunity to grow.

An aerial view of a park with looping paths through native bushland

Movement + wellbeing

Making movement the easy choice

What if healthier communities begin not with exercise, but with making movement a natural part of everyday life?

A girl and a dog running across a green lawn beside a playground

Landscape + place

Letting the landscape speak first

Before deciding what a place needs, understand what it already has.

An artist’s impression of a nature play area, with children on stepping stones among rocks and logs

Play + discovery

What if play begins with the place itself?

The most memorable places to play aren’t always playgrounds.