Our team were part of a group of stakeholders who took part in an intensive two-week Sprint workshop to develop design guidelines for two urban infill areas that are currently undergoing intense change and development activity – Fishermans Bend and Arden Macaulay.

A Sprint is defined as: ‘A collective of people working collaboratively through a time boxed iteration of a continuous development cycle of design ideas. Within a sprint, a planned amount of work has to be completed by the team and made ready for review before preparation of an agreed output’.

The primary focus of the Sprint was to develop a unified opinion on how to approach development in flood prone areas and propose how best to do this within the current planning scheme.

“Melbourne is a city enrichened by its relationship with water. Its southern edge is defined by Port Phillip Bay while the city and suburbs are defined by numerous rivers and creeks. These natural assets are major contributors to the quality of life for Melbournians and the rich ecology of plants and animals. Water also brings challenges for the built environment with rising sea levels and increasing intensity of flood events. These challenges require a collaborative approach to enable our streets and neighbourhoods to thrive during ‘normal times’ as active, safe and pedestrian friendly environments as well as remain safe for all during times of flood”.