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ChillOUT Tree, our first modular shade system, has won a prestigious Good Design Award – at Gold level – for outstanding innovation in the Product Design, Commercial and Industrial category. The award is shared by Street Furniture Australia with ChillOUT Hub collaborators – Georges River Council, UNSW and the University of Sydney – partners in prototyping, installing, testing and researching these smart outdoor community spaces as part of a pilot project for the federal Smart Social Spaces program. The Good Design Awards are the highest honour for design and innovation in the country. Entries are evaluated by Australian and international Jurors – including designers, engineers, architects and thought leaders – according to a strict set of criteria including Good Design, Design Innovation and Design Impact. Recognition at the Gold level …

With the ongoing uncertainty and upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 was another tough year for us all. Outdoor public spaces continue to be vitally important, offering communities a reprieve from living and working indoors. Street Furniture Australia is proud to have contributed to many inspiring and caring places in 2021. Here are 10 of our subscribers’ most-read StreetChat e-newsletter stories for the year. 10. 1.5 million battens: Ari’s 25-year anniversary Street Furniture Australia employee Ari Zaharopoulos celebrated 25 years working with the company. Throughout his career, he has processed an impressive estimated 1.5 million battens. Read more 9. Kirribilli Pop-Up NSW A pop-up project by North Sydney Council, designed by Turf Design Studio and Studio Garbett, has transformed newly pedestrianised Kirribilli streets. Part of the ‘Streets as Shared Spaces’ …

The Smart Places Customer Charter, launched by the NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment in November, invites place designers and custodians to commit to six principles guiding the creation and upkeep of smart city projects. Organisations involved with designing, creating or managing public spaces can sign up to the Charter to demonstrate a commitment to prioritising people, country, sustainability and resilience when creating and maintaining smart places. The six principles have been shaped by direct community input and suggest that “smart places should be built for people and designed with people,” and aim “to harness the potential of new technologies to meet the needs of citizens.” The Charter’s principles are: Co-creating smart places: giving custodians and customers a genuine voice throughout the smart places’ life cycle. Respecting local character: …

UNSW, the University of Sydney, Georges River Council and Street Furniture Australia together have won a 2020 PIA NSW Award of Excellence for the ChillOUT Hubs – Smart Social Spaces Creating Connected Green Places project. CM+ developed site plans and furniture arrangements for the construction phase. The PIA – Planning Institute of Australia – is the national body representing planning and the planning profession. State finalists from this year’s awards are eligible for the National PIA awards to be held in 2021. ChillOUT received an Award of Excellence in the Best Planning Ideas (Small Project) category, which recognises a project that benefits a site or a local place. It is awarded for planning documents, programs, policies or projects that advance current planning practice within a localised setting. The judges said: …

As the value of public spaces comes into focus, this article shares seven case studies of street furniture being used to help improve community wellbeing. Both tactical pop-ups and permanent installations are featured below, with examples of projects that foster community engagement and measure social impact. Street Furniture Australia products have been tried-and-tested to activate spaces and deliver results. Select from our range to bring life, joy and comfort to your community. Case 1. Creating Millions of Smiles Woden Experiment was a six-month prototype installation by the ACT Government that aimed to bring life, joy and comfort to Canberra’s Woden Town Square. Brightly coloured seats and tables were configured in random positions to create a casual and welcoming vibe. Community interviews, observations and workshops were at the heart of this …

A new 400-page strategic handbook has been released by World Bank Group to help cities unlock ‘hidden value’ by working with public and private partners and communities to invest in the co-creation of human-centered, sustainable, economically vibrant and socially inclusive public spaces. Smart and sustainable strategies implemented across public-space asset life cycles yield returns on investment far exceeding monetary costs, the authors say, and enhance city livability, resilience, and competitiveness. According to the report, while globally about a third of a city’s land area is covered by public spaces, the potential of public-space assets to transform cities and improve urban life is often overlooked. “The resulting degradation of public spaces into congested, vehicle-dominated, and polluted places often becomes a liability, creating a downward spiral that drains public resources and exacerbates …