In 2021 and 2022, Global Research was contracted by the City of Melbourne to undertake analysis and reporting for ten neighbourhood community engagement projects.
Victoria’s 30-year infrastructure strategy ~ Mosaic Lab | Infrastructure Victoria
Every 3 to 5 years, Infrastructure Victoria updates their 30-year strategy and makes recommendations to the Victorian Government on how to address infrastructure challenges. Major challenges facing the region that present infrastructure opportunities are climate change, fair access, future shocks and disruption, and the economy. In the beginning of 2023, it was time to engage with the public to give them the opportunity to influence and shape the direction of the updated strategy to be published in 2025.
Global Research’s role was to design a survey that could adequately assess the infrastructure priorities of respondents, while taking into consideration constraints to funding and options, and to present the survey results in an easily digestible and informative way. The aim of this survey was for respondents to make trade-offs between future options and, through this, communicate priorities.
Ongoing customer Survey ~ EA Networks (2019 and 2021)
Prior to 2019, EA Networks had been conducting customer and contracting services surveys every two years. Global Research was contracted by EA Networks to help with this research. Our aim was to combine these two research activities into one, and target three key areas of investigation:
Customer satisfaction, focusing on core services, communication, pricing & value, image, and reputation;
Contracting services, focusing on efficiency, outcome, and communication;
Brand awareness.
Coastal Hazards Adaptation Planning ~ Christchurch City Council
In late 2022, the Christchurch City Council (CCC) sought the opinions of people in the Whakaraupō Lyttelton Harbour and Koukourarata Port Levy areas to assist with the Coastal Hazards Adaptation Planning programme. The purpose of the research was to better understand local and community values and priorities in relation to the coastal environment now and in the future, as the impacts of climate change are felt through increased coastal flooding, erosion, and rising groundwater.
Mining recent engagements for insights: Informing Wellington's 2023 Long Term Plan ~ Wellington City Council
Wellington City Council existing public engagement results for insights re-interpreted to inform planning for the 2023 Long Term Plan. Understanding the value in the information collected over successive years and wanting to ensure the best use is made of their resources, they asked Global Research to reconsider existing data, and repurpose it to tell a story about what the community thinks and feels about priorities, challenges, and opportunities for the city.
Cycleways Survey ~ Christchurch City Council
In 2020, The Christchurch City Council wanted to track how the developing cycleway network was perceived by both users and residents living on cycleway routes. To find out how people experience the newly constructed cycleways, CCC commissioned Global Research to repeat and build on a survey they conducted in 2018 which examined cycleway perceptions.
Examining reactions to new cycleways feeds into a broader set of Christchurch City Council aims to provide safe, convenient, comfortable, and attractive options for city travel.
Customer Experience Surveys ~ Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa
Hanmer Springs thermal pools has proven a popular destination for those seeking rest and recreation for over 150 years. The Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa marketing team aims to understand the attitudes and preferences of its visitors and regularly surveys pool guests as part of a dedicated strategy to provide a top-class customer experience.
Tracking guest satisfaction ~ Patterson Hospitality Group
The Patterson and Ward families have a long history of dedication to guest satisfaction, including for over 50 years at Christchurch’s Commodore Hotel. In the last seven years their hotel ownership has expanded to include the Hotel Montreal (Christchurch) and the Queenstown Park Boutique Hotel. Global Research has been privileged to partner with them for over 10 years to inform their guest satisfaction and other business decisions with ongoing and one-off pieces of research.
Imagine Peninsula 2040 ~ Cochrane Research Solutions and Mornington Peninsula
Global Research was contracted to work in partnership with Melbourne-based research company, Cochrane Research Solutions to code and analyse a large amount of data for Mornington Peninsula Shire in the Australian state of Victoria. The project was a visioning exercise to ascertain people’s values and hopes for their communities to the year 2040. It elicited over 2,500 responses.
Perceptions Study ~ Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism
In 2017, against the backdrop of reduced tourist numbers to Christchurch following the 2010/2011 earthquakes, the region’s Regional Tourism Organisation (RTO) sought to assess the opinions of North Island residents on the city as a domestic tourism destination. They wanted to see what perceptions people have about Christchurch, their reasons for visiting/not visiting, and what might draw more visitors.
Seafarers Rest ~ City of Melbourne
Seafarers Rest is a public park in the Docklands area of Melbourne that is earmarked for renewal. The City of Melbourne (CoM) worked in partnership with the Victorian Government, developer Riverlee, and landscape architects Oculus to create a park that meets a myriad of purposes – increase pedestrian and cycle access and improve public amenity, while protecting neighbouring heritage sites, preserving trees where possible, and responding to the site’s contexts and constraints.
Public Space Strategy ~ City of Port Phillip
The City of Port Phillip (CoPP), Victoria, Australia is developing a Public Space Strategy to create a vision and blueprint for the future of public space. A draft Strategy document was prepared, outlining the challenges, outcomes and actions required to realise the full potential of the network of parks, gardens, streets, foreshore, and urban plazas. The Port Phillip community was asked to rank outcomes and projects outlined in the draft Strategy, justify their choices, and offer further suggestions for the improvement of the Strategy.
Shaping Sydney to 2050 ~ City of Sydney
In June 2019, the City of Sydney ran the ‘Shaping Sydney 2050’ workshop, to solicit ideas from stakeholders about what they wanted the future of Sydney to look like. This event drew 283 stakeholders from a variety of community sectors including: cultural; economic; environmental; governance; planning; public domain; social; and, transport.
Working in Partnership ~ Cochrane Research Solutions
Councils and government organisations are often under intense time pressure to complete community engagement projects, present the findings, and make decisions that can have a huge impact on their communities.
Earlier this year, an Australian local council ran into this problem, and Global Research teamed up with Melbourne-based research company, Cochrane Research, to help get things done.
Active Rangatahi ~ Sport Canterbury
Central Library Redevelopment ~ Wellington City Council (WCC)
The Wellington Central Library was closed to the public in March 2019 due to new guidelines for concrete buildings revealing a high level of potential failure in a significant earthquake.
A public engagement consultation ran between 27 July and 7 September 2020 to examine preferences for the Central Library redevelopment. The consultation process invited the public to comment on five options for a redevelopment of the Central Library, three with different levels of remediation, and two which proposed a new build.
Melbourne: A Great Place to Age ~ City of Melbourne
The City of Melbourne (CoM) undertook a public engagement to better understand what matters to Melburnians when it comes to ageing. This research was created to inform the development of CoM’s, Melbourne: A Great Place to Age strategic plan, which aims to create “a more connected community that brings people together in their local neighbourhoods, and ensures older people are supported to fully participate and feel valued and respected for their unique life experience.”
Consumer Home Performance Preferences – Perceptions From Industry Experts ~ BRANZ
BRANZ (Building Research Association New Zealand) wanted to gain a deeper understanding of what was driving consumer decision making while buying or building a home, specifically with regards to building performance. The aim of the project was to examine how building performance of new and existing houses might be improved, and what barriers are operating to the improvement of building performance generally.
Queen Victoria Market: Charter Consultation ~ City of Melbourne
The City of Melbourne (CoM) launched a community consultation process around the redevelopment of the Queen Victoria Market Precinct, engaging Global Research to provide a report with the findings of this consultation. Melburnians were asked to provide their views on how they think a new 1.5-hectare public space, Market Square, should be used.
Moonee Ponds Creek ~ City of Melbourne
The Victorian Planning Authority (VPA) and City of Melbourne’s (CoM) vision for Moonee Ponds Creek is for it to become “a thriving corridor that supports the liveability and resilience of the city”. To achieve this aim, CoM sought community feedback on the draft Moonee Ponds Creek Strategic Opportunities Plan, which highlights strategic opportunities and management issues along the creek. The creek is envisaged as an exemplar corridor for water management, public space and community activity, active transport, biodiversity, heritage and culture.