In an era where every step, opening hours, Facebook post and spare car park can tell a story, data becomes increasingly important to evidence based placemaking.
Place Score has been working with the City of Stonnington since 2018 to collect invaluable place experience data for over 30 mainstreets across the LGA. The data was being used for understanding customer experience before and after development – but was not being used to inform design development and thus missing the core value of the research to inform decision making.
In early 2025 Place Score was engaged to undertake our full town centre engagement and reporting tool – the Impact Maximiser. By understanding both what is most important to customers, as well as how the streets are currently performing we have been able to deliver clear community priorities to inform a developing masterplan.
Transforming engagement into actionable data
One of the key challenges for any mainstreet or town centre project is managing the expectations of stakeholders. Business owners and landlords have strong opinions regarding what isn’t working but they don’t necessarily align with community priorities.
Place Score engaged directly with the users of the Armadale Station Precinct both in the field and online to provide Council and the masterplanning team with actionable insights to drive high impact investment.
Place Score engaged with over 480 users of the Armadale Station Precinct. The community’s ideal town centre was defined as clean, connected to local history, and supported by local businesses.
The responses indicated clear priorities for each individual street, as well as for the precinct overall:
- Improve business mix to provide grocery and fresh food businesses as well as evening activation
- Increase street trees and other vegetation and ensure they are well cared for
- Invest in the long term care and maintenance of the public domain
What’s next for Armadale Station Precinct?
The City of Stonnington is currently developing the Precinct Masterplan with the help of these powerful data insights that put evidence over anecdotes. By connecting user experience data to investment decisions, Stonnington can maximise the benefits realised by the project – for both business and the wider community.
