How do we deliver quality neighbourhoods?

This article was produced in partnership with Living Cities Forum, an initiative of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation.

Hosted by Hassell at its Melbourne office on Wednesday 26 August, the conversation brought together international keynote speaker Anupama Kundoo, Hassell’s Global Head of Sustainability, Samantha Peart, and Victorian School Building Authority Senior Manager, Targol Khorram. The discussion considered how we can create neighbourhoods that are not only more connected, but places where people can live well, participate in community life, and develop a sense of belonging.

In the weeks following the event, we continued the conversation with Hassell Senior Associate Ryan Braddy, who shared his reflections on what makes a neighbourhood work. Here are some of the ideas that emerged.

A neighbourhood works when the process is as good as the product

Each of the panelists emphasised the importance of slowing down, listening authentically, investing in neighbours and local knowledge, and leaving room for communities to shape outcomes themselves.

Braddy, who welcomed guests at the event, reflected afterwards that the neighbourhoods that hold up over time are usually the ones where something existing was protected rather than designed over.

“The relationships, local knowledge and community groups that generate neighbourhood buzz and give narrative to a place – they don’t come back once construction is finished, so protecting what’s there must come before adding anything new,” he says.

A city feels most alive when everyday life is visible in the urban fabric

In his keynote presentation at the 2026 Forum, Malmö City Architect Finn Williams described a city as a patchwork of places with distinct characters shaped by landscape, history, climate, materials, communities and culture – rather than a single imposed aesthetic.

The same idea emerged throughout the discussion, that a city’s character is accumulated through its streets and ordinary public life, not only through its landmark projects.

Braddy sees this vitality in the informal ways people take ownership of a place.

“Kids using a step as a seat even though it wasn’t designed for this purpose, a laneway turning into an informal social spot because a café has taken over a hole in the wall – that kind of use can’t be designed in,” he says.

“It happens when the street already feels safe and comfortable enough that people want to stick around.”

Density done well is key to a thriving neighbourhood

Committee for Melbourne’s "density done well" agenda recognises that housing supply and liveability should not be treated as competing priorities. The challenge is to create density that supports the conditions people need to live well.

For Braddy, this means thinking beyond affordable housing and towards affordable lifestyles.

“If we had to pick one lever, it’s balancing density around what’s already walkable, rather than treating transport access as a primary driver for development,” he says.

“That gives people more equitable access to daily life, allows us to design streets that are safer and more comfortable, and creates the conditions third spaces need to thrive.”

This suggests a need to think about density more broadly across Melbourne, rather than concentrating it exclusively around major transport hubs.

“We’d like to see quality density become a broader standard than a feature of a few well-connected hubs.”

Public spaces, amenities, and local businesses are the connective tissue of neighbourhood life

Public spaces create opportunities for everyday encounters, facilities and amenities make local living practical and inclusive, and local businesses contribute to a neighbourhood’s identity and economic resilience.

Importantly, these elements take time to become embedded into daily life. A place becomes more valuable as people develop routines around it and relationships with it.

“A café, corner shop or community centre gets more valuable the longer it’s woven into people’s routines, and that only deepens with time,” Braddy observes.

“That’s why patience over reactivity is critical. A neighbourhood is better served by one well-worn, well-used amenity than a constant churn of new ones that cannot become ingrained into daily habits.”

Neighbourhoods develop identity and belonging when we begin with what already exists

Identity grows from local culture, ecology, history, skills, and lived experience, rather than being manufactured through branding or imposed design. Belonging also requires care for Country, and for the people who will inhabit the infrastructure and systems we build today.

This was a recurring theme throughout Living Cities Forum 2026, where speakers considered the value of repair, adaptation, and reuse. Futurologist Ludwig Engel, for example, reflected on demolition culture and the ways in which the wholesale replacement of existing places can erode local identity.

Braddy similarly emphasises the importance of building on what is already there.

“Every neighbourhood has a story. Belonging comes from what gets built on top of that story rather than what replaces it - the pub that gets restored instead of knocked down, the community group whose programmes are given space in the design, or the local knowledge that helps shape the brief for a master plan,” he says.

“That’s exactly what rapid growth puts at risk, because layering is often more complex. Sometimes the more valuable intervention is in backing the people willing to restore or activate what’s there, rather than adding another well- and possibly over-designed building in its place.”

Together, these ideas point towards a broader understanding of what makes a neighbourhood successful. It is not simply a question of what we build, or how quickly we build it, but of whether we create the conditions for places to develop character, connection, and belonging over time.

All sessions of Living Cities Forum 2026 are now available to watch on demand at livingcitiesforum.org/learn.