Award-Winning Community Engagement: Port Phillip Urban Forest Strategy

As we look ahead to the 2026 Engagement Excellence Awards, it’s worth revisiting the projects that are setting the standard for engagement across the sector.

One standout from 2025 is the Port Phillip Urban Forest Strategy 2024–2040 — a project that shows what’s possible when engagement is designed to genuinely inform decisions, not just support them.

Faced with a complex and often polarising topic, Port Phillip City Council needed to balance competing priorities — from urban growth and climate resilience to accessibility and community expectations. Residents held strong and sometimes conflicting views, and there was a clear need to build trust while navigating misinformation and uncertainty.

Rather than defaulting to a single consultation phase, the Council delivered a staged, iterative engagement process that brought people in at the right moments and in the right ways. More than 600 individuals and organisations participated, contributing to a process that was both broad and deeply informed.

What set this project apart was its commitment to transparency and inclusion. Participants were given access to clear, accessible information — including data, mapping and benchmarking — and could see how their input shaped the strategy as it evolved. This helped shift engagement from a transactional process to something more collaborative, building confidence and shared ownership along the way.

The result was a strategy with more than 80% community endorsement, unanimously adopted by Council, and supported by stronger internal alignment across teams. Just as importantly, stakeholders who had previously been sceptical became constructive contributors — a powerful outcome in any engagement context.

What Practitioners Can Learn

1. Design for diversity

Engagement needs to reflect the reality of the communities we work with — not just in who participates, but how they participate. Using a mix of methods creates more accessible entry points and ensures a broader range of voices can contribute meaningfully.

2. Combine data with dialogue

Providing clear, accessible data alongside engagement builds confidence in the process. When people understand the context and constraints, they’re better equipped to contribute — and more likely to trust the outcome.

3. Engage early — and keep engaging

A staged, iterative approach creates space for input at the right moments. Bringing people in early, and continuing the conversation over time, leads to more informed decisions and stronger alignment.

4. Make impact visible

Closing the loop is critical. Showing participants how their input influenced decisions strengthens trust and reinforces that engagement is meaningful — not just a formality.

5. Build for the long term

Great engagement doesn’t end with a project. It builds relationships, shifts perceptions, and creates a foundation for ongoing collaboration — turning scepticism into participation over time.

Read case study

Watch video