Engagement Model

The TOOWOOMBA 2050 project is the largest and most comprehensive community engagement program ever undertaken by Toowoomba City Council. In order to successfully deliver the project a tailor made Community Planning Model was developed.

The TOOWOOMBA 2050 community planning model is based on the Oregon Model of Community Visioning and the concept of Appreciative Inquiry, and focuses on:

• Deliberative democracy that replaces 'public opinion' with 'public judgement', and encourages involvement of the whole community in the decision-making process; and
• Broad ranging participative approaches that provide opportunities for the whole community to be involved at various levels and times.

The following principles for effective community consultation also guided the development and delivery of the TOOWOOMBA 2050 community planning model:

• Make it timely
• Make it interactive and deliberative
• Make it community focussed
• Make it matter
• Make it effective
• Make it open, fair and subject to evaluation
• Make it well facilitated
• Make it flexible
• Make it work cost effectively
• Make it inclusive and...
• Make it ours!

Key Process Questions

The TOOWOOMBA 2050 community planning process is based primarily on developing answers to the following questions adapted from The Oregon Model:

Where are we now?

This question is about the current situation and the things that we value about our city, as it exists today.

Where are we going?

This question is about identification and analysis of the trends and changes that are likely to impact on the city into the future and perhaps lead us in a direction that we would prefer not to go.

Where do we want to be?

This question is about imagining a preferred long-term future for our city 20, 30, 40 or more years ahead and describing our vision.

How do we get from here to there?

This question is about agreeing strategies to guide us from where we are today towards our preferred future and related actions for implementation.

How do we measure our progress?

This question is about developing monitoring and evaluation parameters to ensure that implementation is proceeding as intended and that the plan remains current over time.

Project Themes

Another key element of the TOOWOOMBA 2050 Project has been the organisation of topics for investigation, particularly through the deliberative working group process. The following "themes" were identified and defined as a way of facilitating workshop activities:

Click here to view the scope of each theme (New window).

Engagement Processes & Activities

One goal of the TOOWOOMBA 2050 project is to hear the thoughts and ideas of as many people as possible to help plan for the future of the city. Over 2,500 people have actively participated in the planning process to date.

View the Engagement Activities Diagram (New window), which illustrates the range of activities and processes that have been utilised to make the community aware of the TOOWOOMBA 2050 project, and to facilitate development of the initial draft TOOWOOMBA 2050 Community Plan.

• Relevant activities and processes, including facilitated working groups, questionnaires, focus groups and competitions, are outlined in the September 2007 edition of TOOWOOMBA 2050 News (New window).
• Over 500 community representatives attended the project launch functions in early April.
• A professional facilitator was commissioned by Council to facilitate working group and focus group processes, including the youth summit which was attended by over 250 secondary school students.
• Over 150 individuals representing over 50 city based organisations have participated in working group activities, with another 140 people participating in targeted focus group meetings.
• Over 140 people have also contributed by utilising the do-it-yourself engagement kit.
• In addition, over 1,450 people completed project questionnaires, including the quick questions contained in the April 2007 edition of TOOWOOMBA 2050 News (New Window).
• Numerous other people have participated in competitions, children's art workshops and other project based activities.