Client: City of Parramatta, NSW | Project timeframe: 2022-2026
“The Place Governance Award goes to the City of Parramatta in partnership with Place Score and Place Intelligence for its outstanding leadership in the management and measurement of Parramatta Square, one of Australia’s most complex and high-profile public domains. Through a first-of-its-kind Place Measurement Framework that turns real-time data into actionable decisions, Council brought together Place Score, Place Intelligence, and local data to create evidence-based reports that guide everything from cleaning standards to cultural programming. Over 7.6 million visits and 567 event days later, the data continues to shape strategy, spending, and stakeholder collaboration across more than 20 organisations. This governance approach is a best-practice model for transparent, accountable and community-informed governance of public space. “
Jury, Place Leaders Asia Pacific
The problem
Parramatta Square is one of Western Sydney’s most significant public domain investments – a 6,000sqm civic heart delivered after more than 20 years of planning and development. But delivering a space is not the same as sustaining its success.
For Council, the challenge was not simply how the space is performing, but:
- How do we measure whether this landmark civic investment is achieving its intended social and cultural impact?
- How do we ensure future activation, programming and maintenance decisions are evidence-based?
- How do we demonstrate return on investment to stakeholders and the broader community?
In an era of increased public accountability, infrastructure scrutiny, and place-based sustainability goals, Council required a rigorous, repeatable and community-centred measurement framework aligned to the four principles of the Parramatta Square Place Plan.
Without a structured measurement approach, long-term place performance risks being shaped by anecdote rather than evidence.
The solution
In 2022, Place Score partnered with the City of Parramatta to design and implement a Place Measurement Framework to monitor performance, track trends and inform investment decisions at Parramatta Square.
The framework combines multiple tools to provide both experiential and behavioural insight:
- Quarterly Street PX Assessments
- LGA Town Centre Care Factor (2022)
- Quarterly Parramatta Square Performance Reports
- Annual Trend Analysis Reports
Data is collected quarterly, providing real-time insights into:
- Place Experience (PX) performance
- Visitor sentiment and demographic variation
- Maintenance and cleanliness perception
- Activation and programming impact
- Longitudinal performance trends
This structured, repeatable model ensures that Council’s decisions around programming, activation, design refinement and maintenance are grounded in what the community values most.
The outcome
The City of Parramatta now has an ongoing Place Measurement Framework that is not static, but continuously reviewed and refined to remain aligned with Council’s strategic direction. Parramatta Square is now supported by a governance model where data informs action, strategy informs measurement, and place performance remains central to the city’s long-term evolution.
Rather than delivering a one-off evaluation, this partnership has embedded a structured, repeatable performance model into the ongoing governance of Parramatta Square. Quarterly insights, annual trend analysis, and stakeholder workshops ensure the framework evolves alongside the place itself.
In 2025, the framework was formally updated in preparation for 2026 reporting, incorporating alignment with the new Parramatta 2050. This ensures that place performance indicators directly support the Council’s long-term vision for growth, sustainability, and civic excellence.
The result is not simply strong place experience scores – it provides institutional confidence in future place investment.
These outcomes have provided Council with confidence that long-term strategies are working, helped identify local strengths and the City’s competitive advantage, and clarified where further effort is needed.
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