Open House Melbourne’s mission is to connect people to place, informing and empowering them to play an active role in shaping their environment.

With a proven track record of delivering community programming and engaging diverse audiences, our place-based and people-centric approach to community consultation is designed to inform, inspire and foster meaningful participation.

We offer a suite of community engagement services to support partners:

  • Community engagement
  • Evaluation + insights
  • Strategic programming
  • Advocacy + advisory

Community Consultation

Open House Melbourne delivers community consultation through a mix of deliberative engagement processes, including:

  • Co-design and collaborative planning
  • Talks, tours, workshops and participatory activations
  • Place-based and thematic public programs

 

Working alongside communities, stakeholders and experts, we co-design programs that respond to local priorities, challenges and opportunities. These initiatives create accessible and engaging ways for people to build a deeper understanding of place and participate in conversations about the future of their communities.

Through this approach, we empower people to play an active role in shaping the future of their built and natural environments.

Evaluation + Insights

Our approach to data helps uncover what matters, measure impact and understand how people connect with places, programs and ideas, including:

  • Engagement reporting
  • Qualitative and quantitative data collection
  • Coding and analysis of engagement data
  • Monitoring and evaluation

 

Working across projects and programs, we analyse data to identify key themes and generate meaningful insights. These findings help build a deeper understanding of communities, places and outcomes, while supporting informed decision-making.

Our reporting is tailored to the needs of each project and audience.

Strategic Programming

Open House Melbourne delivers strategic programming through co-designed, place-based and thematic programs that explore key issues shaping our cities and communities.

Strategic programming includes open days, talks and tours that are:

  • Co-designed, place-based and thematic event development
  • Engagement with diverse and diverse audiences
  • Integrated activations that support data gathering and insight collection

 

These activations are embedded within programs in creative and accessible ways, supporting baseline surveys and broader evaluation frameworks. This ensures engagement is both meaningful and measurable, and the programming is strategically aligned with evidence and impact.

Advocacy + Advisory

We provide advocacy and advisory support that elevates public understanding of the built environment and informs better decision-making across the sector.

Our work includes:

  • Contributing to sector conversations on place, design and liveability
  • Advising partners on engagement approaches and public programming
  • Working with partners to translate community perspectives into strategic actions

 

Through this work, we help shape more responsive, inclusive and informed approaches to the built environment, ensuring community voices are embedded in broader planning and policy conversations.

Recent Community Engagement projects

The City of Melbourne engaged Open House Melbourne to design and deliver a program to facilitate community feedback on the Draft Melbourne Heritage Strategy: Stories of People and Place (Draft Strategy).

The six-week consultation featured a multifaceted engagement program that combined education, conversation, participation and reflection. Activities included two public panel discussions (Stories of Heritage and Challenging Heritage or Heritage Challenges?), a family-focused Open Play workshop, an Open Studio for tertiary students and three key stakeholder Walkshops. These were complemented by an online Participate Melbourne survey and the consultation solicited additional written submissions.

By blending conversation, experience and reflection, the program not only informed the Strategy’s development but also broadened the city’s collective understanding of what heritage means today, and how it is shaped into the future.

As part of the State Government’s Plan for Victoria community consultation, Open House Melbourne partnered with the Department of Transport and Planning to deliver public engagement events across metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.

DTP’s Plan for Victoria project team co-located at strategic festival venues, while the regional program featured design talks, tours, and children’s workshops in venues showcasing thoughtful planning and good design.

By enhancing design literacy and fostering open, constructive conversations, we equipped participants with the tools to engage meaningfully in urban planning.

Open House Melbourne facilitated an on-the-ground survey during the Open House Melbourne Weekend to better understand the audience demographics and cultural design engagement. The survey questions and methodology were developed in consultation with Professor Katya Johanson, Associate Dean of Creative Humanities at Edith Cowan University.

The Footscray Hospital Community Open Day invited the public to explore the hospital before it officially opened. Using a self-guided audio tour, visitors were able to move at their own pace through key spaces including the main foyer ‘Hospital Street’, the Emergency Department and an inpatient ward. At each stop they could hear from hospital staff, artists and the design team about the vision and innovations behind the project.

The new Wyndham Law Courts Open Day offered the opportunity to step inside the Magistrates’ Court, VCAT, the Koorie Court and the Children’s Court. Visitors were invited to wander through the spaces, speak with designers, artists, court and tribunal staff and deepen their understanding of the import role design plays in a court user’s experience and the day-to-day operations of a court facility. Attendees learned about the court’s safe waiting spaces, associated correctional and legal services and the how the new court supports connection with broader community services.

As part of Open House Melbourne’s Catalyst Conversation series, the event Rail as Civic Infrastructure provided a forum for community consultation and education, inviting the public to engage with the design of the Metro Tunnel’s five new stations.

Architect Ivan Harbour (Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners) delivered a keynote address and Ingrid Bakker (Hassell) presented detailed insights into how each station’s design will contribute to urban connectivity and public space activation. A panel discussion with the two speakers and Victorian Government Architect Jill Garner, provided a platform for dialogue between experts and the public.

This event was designed to inform, inspire, and provide a space for questions to the architects on the design of the project.