The Freo Alternative

Suburban areas of the the City of Fremantle have shown a decrease in housing options over the past 25 years. What do people want from their future suburb? What is missing and how can we transform these environments? We designed an interactive customisable model suburb so that the policy makers could make decisions based on practical and community generated evidence. Community open days invited people to come and create their own ideal piece of future suburb and we recorded their designs and preferences. People came face to face with the opportunities and challenges of transforming suburbs.

This resulted in a new planning led policy to allow smaller infill dwellings in suburban areas. This policy was successfully gazetted by the state planning minister in February 2019. It’s the next step moving beyond ‘granny flats’ or ADUs to stimulate small and moderately sized infill. Learn more about the project HERE on the City of Fremantle’s website.

‘The model really helped us to engage in a meaningful way on complex planning policy.’

‘Participants used the model to think through the various issues and show how urban infill could be delivered with the constraints of existing trees and houses, where car parking could go and what should or shouldn’t be included in the development. ‘

— Paul Garbett – Director of Strategic Planning and Projects, City of Fremantle