Great Neighbourhoods
Don’t Happen by Accident
Good Neighbours Movement is an independent consultancy on a mission to shape stronger, healthier, and more sustainable communities across Australia.
New communities are being built every day – but too often, people are left out of the plan.
Our purpose is to reimagine how neighbourhoods are shaped – helping governments, developers, and organisations plan and deliver communities that are stronger, healthier, and built to last.
By putting people and evidence at the centre, we work to ensure every neighbourhood is a place where connection, access, and wellbeing are the norm, not the exception.
“We believe designing resilient and connected neighbourhoods drives positive economic, social, and environmental outcomes for all stakeholders.”
How We Help
We’re not here to pave footpaths - we’re here to pave the way for smarter, more connected communities.
Good Neighbours operates at the intersection of community experience and commercial reality – supporting more informed, inclusive, and future-fit development through:
Surfacing
What Matters
We gather lived experience and community insight early - especially from those shaping new communities day-to-day - to influence better decisions around planning, policy, and funding.
Translating Insight
Into Influence
We craft compelling narratives, tools, and strategies that turn grassroots knowledge into policy-shaping frameworks and commercially relevant planning inputs.
Aligning
Stakeholders
We work with fragmented landowners, councils, and state government to support Heads of Agreement and shared accountability around PSPs and community infrastructure plans.
Shifting the System
From reframing co-design to challenging broken development models, we advocate for a new way forward - where people aren’t an afterthought but a starting point.
Enabling Innovation,
Not Bureaucracy
We help developers and councils navigate risk-averse systems - championing practical innovation while holding all players to a higher standard of community responsibility.
Our work combines data, partnerships,
and clear communication to:
Inform better planning & development decisions
Strengthen alignment
between stakeholders
Elevate resident voice
& lived experience
Reduce long-term social
& economic costs
Create tools for smarter investment, policy
& place design
Over the past year, Good Neighbours has surveyed more than 800 residents across 17 suburbs in Melbourne’s west to understand what’s working, what’s missing, and what people want next from the places they call home.
The findings show strong pride in neighbourhoods shaped by parks, schools and connection, alongside growing frustration about infrastructure gaps, safety and trust.
Our latest research turns lived experience into practical insight for councils, developers and communities shaping the next decade of growth.
Listening at scale: inside our latest community research
Calling for Better Communities
Our Focus Areas
We’re committed to improving
outcomes across:
Social connection
& inclusion
Equitable access to
essential services
Smarter, people-centred planning
Public safety &
community vibrancy
Our Work
From large-scale growth area research to place-based pilots, we support public and private sector leaders to test, learn, and embed what works.