Playford Alive
'Playford Alive' is an integrated community and urban renewal project aimed at regenerating the Peachey Belt suburbs in northern Adelaide and creating new communities nearby. While the project aims to deliver physical improvements and foster Ecologically Sustainable Development, it also has ambitious goals to build skills and capacity in these communities.
URPS was engaged by the Department for Families and Communities, the Land Management Corporation and the City of Playford to spearhead the project's evaluation process, including the establishment of an evaluation framework and the collection of benchmarking data.
Too often, evaluation is undertaken once a project has been completed. The problem with this approach is that it is difficult to measure success or otherwise without a clearly defined reference point-that is, the nature of the community as it existed prior to the project.
In partnership with Truscott Research, Andrew Beer (Flinders University) and Peter Rossini (UniSA), the project involved engaging the community through market research and survey work, undertaking land use analysis, and reviewing statistical data as the first on-the-ground works took place. This means that the ongoing evaluation of the project will have a clear benchmark, allowing meaningful comparison in coming years. It also means that the creation of any unintended adverse outcomes can be readily examined, together with the identification of better ways to achieve the project's objectives as it progresses.