When a family buys a home in a new estate, they’re not just looking for a roof over their head. They’re looking to build a life brimming with opportunity and connection. You might think that happens automatically when a new estate is built.
In reality, it takes thoughtful planning, partnerships with local services and of course, real conversations with the community in question. This is exactly what happened at Movida Estate, a new neighbourhood built by Peet, nestled beneath the foothills of the glorious Swan Valley.
Peet engaged Creating Communities to lead community development at the estate. This meant supporting the community to build their skills, attributes and attitudes, so they could live fulfilling lives, connected to their community.
Our relationship with Movida started 10 years ago. Over this time, we’ve built strong connections with the community, and with our clients at Peet.
We spoke with Senior Community Development Consultant Ross Robins about our more recent work with the community of Movida over the past three years.
Meet Movida
There’s no easy way to work out what a community needs to live a rich and connected life. It takes time, and most importantly, conversations with the people themselves – not to mention stakeholders, including local government, businesses and support services.
Ross said 12-months of consultation was needed to discover what mattered to the people of Movida. These conversations, along with social data and research, allowed us to understand what they needed to live fulfilling and connected lives.
“It’s about trying to see the future they want and the aspirations they have,” he said.
“It’s not just looking at what’s missing, it’s understanding what people bring to a community and how we can bring that out.”
During these conversations, Ross got to know the incredible people who call Movida home.
“Movida’s a really low-key, down-to-earth community,” he said.
“They’re cruisy, they show up, they bring food to share; it’s rare to see that level of community-mindedness.”
A Multicultural Mecca
More than 46.5% of the Movida community was born outside of Australia, including a high population of Filipino and Indian residents. The neighbourhood also has a strong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander presence, with a population of more than double the national average.
Ross saw Movida’s rich multicultural community as an asset from day one.
“For us, it was about using that diversity and leveraging it as a strength in the community,” he said.
Ross and our team went about building strong partnerships with culturally aware services, like the Child and Parent Centre Swan, who shared they had been struggling to engage with young families in the estate.
“We started up a weekly multicultural parent group that’s been running now for about 12 months, with the Child and Parent Centre,” he said.
“That came from recognising that Movida was a bit of a black hole for family services, and wanting to change that.”
The group allows families from different cultural backgrounds to come together, in a safe and welcoming space. It meets every Thursday and is still going strong.
Connecting People
When we build connection in a community, our job is to lay the groundwork, then get out of the way. That means creating the right conditions for connection to kick off and then grow (and grow). We believe building communities from the inside out is how organic and sustainable growth happens.
At Movida, we laid the groundwork by discovering what the community truly needed. We held messy play sessions, which encouraged families to come out and share what mattered to them.
We ran a laid back basketball game, sundowners and other activities where residents could have fun and meet up, while we got to know what was on their minds.
These conversations, along with a decade of local experience, helped us create a Community and Economic Development Plan (CEDP), which would set the future vision for the estate. As a result, we were able to create more opportunities for the community to grow together, including many cool initiatives the community has now taken ownership of.
“Our job is about connecting the dots,” Ross said.
“It’s not about delivering services ourselves, but making sure the community knows what’s available and feels confident accessing support.”
That’s a Wrap
Ross says working with Movida was a joy. The people were positive, they rallied together, and they took ownership of the events and initiatives created with their needs in mind.
Now our work with Movida has wrapped, we’re excited to see the community grow stronger and more connected. (And they’ve been doing a great job already!) We’re also proud to work with clients like Peet, who get that building homes isn’t just about pouring slabs and top-notch construction.
“There’s a social responsibility if you’re building houses, you’ve also got a responsibility to build community,” Ross said.
“But this also helps with trust, planning approvals, and reputation, because if the community feels valued, you have fewer issues, better communication, and people talking positively about the place.”
Head here for more on how we create connected and resilient communities all around Australia. If you’d like to talk about how we can support your project, please get in touch.
