Planning for disaster resilience in the Illawarra Shoalhaven region

NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure

Illawarra Shoalhaven Regional Adaptive Planning Pathways Project (RAPP)

The Illawarra Shoalhaven region has experienced unprecedented and catastrophic natural disasters over the past few years. The NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, in partnership with CSIRO, have piloted an adaptive pathways approach to disaster risk reduction. This project recognises the necessity of planning to reduce the impact of future disasters and ensure disaster resilience in the region.

Cred Consulting was the community lead on the project. Cred designed and delivered a three part deliberate engagement process with The Gaimaragal Group to build capacity in the community to deliberate on and assess disaster risk reduction options and planning pathways. The key objective of the engagement was to inform and enable delivery of housing that is safe and affordable, particularly in the context of climate change and the increasing intensity and severity of natural hazards.

The engagement process prioritised and empowered the voices of First National leaders and the community by establishing a First Nations Collective (including Traditional Owners and First Nations stakeholders) and an independently recruited Community Panel. This ensured that participants were broadly demographic representatives of the Illawarra Shoalhaven community who reflected the diverse perspectives and lived experiences of the region. The community’s expert and valuable input provided guidance and formed the foundational principles, values and visions for the area.

Conscious of the highly technical nature of the project and the impact of disasters on the community, we carefully planned the engagement process to ensure sessions were empathetic, informative and interactive. As a result, we developed an innovative bespoke game, ‘The Game of Possible FuturesTM’, which integrated fun and skill-building activities that used community-friendly language and personas to help engage our participants in content around future climate scenarios. The game helped community members to build their capacity to respond to the content and helped connect people as well as limit the potential for trauma. As part of the game, participants were introduced to two future climate scenarios in 2060, each player had a role as a particular expert to present new information about the scenario and led their team through a series of actions and questions that helped unfold the complete picture of the scenario, to elicit recommendations for housing, vulnerable communities and infrastructure under those conditions.

 

Jen speaking with participants from the Illawarra Shoalhaven region. Photo by Fancy Boy Photography.

Services
  • Engagement
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How we did it

The engagement took a ‘First Nations first’ and community led approach. The whole process was informed by principles developed by the the First Nations Collective. The First Nations Collective and Community Panel who were engaged at the earliest stages of the project and then re-engaged at intervals throughout the project. Their continuous engagement allowed participants to:

  • build their understanding of the content over time,
  • gain an understanding of the tensions and trade-offs inherent in land-use planning decisions, and
  • develop a framework underpinned by First Nations principles for planning and a values-led deliberation process on adaptive pathways for land-use planning.

Throughout, we reported the community perspectives to goverment stakeholders and continued to inform  participants about how their input and feedback informed the decision-making process – a continuous feedback loop – championing their voice and contribution.

We also engaged young people, peak bodies, service providers and representatives from the development industry during the project cycle.

The outcome

The deliberative process enabled the community to understand the context of adaptation pathways and provide informed feedback in a fun and interactive environment. As a result, participants collectively developed values and a vision for the region while responding to future climate change and planning scenarios and sharing their own lived experiences of disaster.

The valuable recommendations from participants have significantly informed how the NSW Government approach future development of housing and infrastructure in the region. This has been instrumental in guiding the pilot pathways planning project and future regional planning.

Importantly, the engagement program cultivated a safe and empathetic space for the community to share their stories and have a voice in the issues that matter most to them.

A group of people discussing an activity. An older woman is writing.
Participants shared their experiences and thoughts about the impact of disasters in the Illawarra Shoalhaven region. Photo by Fancy Boy Photography.
A woman in a yellow shirt smiling and a man next to her smiling down.
Our deliberative engagement approach sought to create a fun and interactive atmosphere for participants. Photo by Fancy Boy Photography.
Two women clapping and cheering.
Empathy and careful planning helped us to empower community. Photo by Fancy Boy Photography.
A local participant reading a future scenario. Photo by Fancy Boy Photography.