‘North Richmond Housing Estate’ community design
Client: Department of Human Services / North Richmond Housing Estate (Aus)
Consultant: CoDesign Studio (Melbourne)
Role: Design consultant / project co-lead
North Richmond Housing Estate Renewal Project is an applied practice-led research project that addresses the socio-spatial challenges of urban renewal within high-density, culturally diverse public housing environments. Situated at the intersection of urban geography, social design, and spatial justice, the inquiry interrogated how participatory co-design methodologies can empower marginalized immigrant communities to shape their immediate living environments. Serving as project co-lead for CoDesign Studio under contract to the Victorian Department of Human Services, I helped direct a comprehensive spatial and social audit of the North Richmond Housing Estate. Methodologically, the work established an iterative participatory design framework that coordinated twenty researchers and volunteers across multiple rounds of community engagement and co-design workshops, generating new knowledge on how collaborative design bridges institutional policy and resident identity while advancing professional practice in social urbanism. The research significance is demonstrated through direct public-sector commissioning, formal state government adoption of the findings, and the execution of a high-impact, community-anchored spatial framework that successfully enhanced liveability, social cohesion, and urban connectivity for public housing residents.