With its population expected to rise from 70,000 to 160,000 in the next 25 years, the City of Playford engaged Elton Consulting and Sustainable Focus to look at what community infrastructure would be needed to manage this growth. The result was the Future Directions of Community Centres Strategy which recently received a commendation award from the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA), South Australian branch.
The strategy identified effective and innovative ways to meet Playford’s needs for community centres in the future. It identified where the Playford population will live in 25 years time, where community centres need to be located and how they can be managed effectively with the provision of a spatial plan and management model for future community centre provision. The strategy was the result of research into case studies in South Australia and Australia-wide, combined with a strong evidence base of population data.
Judges in the Social and Community Based Planning category of the SA PIA Awards said the strategy ‘included an excellent overview of varying models of community centres, their costs and management structures which will inform future planning for centres in the region.”