![Woman and son, running and cycling together.](https://4413900.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/4413900/hubfs/Woman%20and%20child%20active.jpeg?width=300&name=Woman%20and%20child%20active.jpeg)
Community & Place
The Community & Place team is a passionate and talented team who focus on planning and design that supports communities and encourages active and sustainable travel. We also support delivery of other work including safe system audits and health and safety reviews, especially when they have an element of active travel or community focus.
How we work
The Community & Place team are about making our towns and cities safe, vibrant, and inclusive. We are passionate about street design that allows people of all ages and abilities to walk, cycle, access public transport, and scoot safely. Creating livable cities that reduce the need to travel and increase the opportunity for active travel choices also contributes to reducing carbon emissions.
We work with design teams, schools, councils, and government agencies, prioritizing environmental, social, and economic sustainability across our projects, helping our clients achieve project outcomes while positively impacting our communities.
Our team delivers innovative and pragmatic solutions in active travel/inclusive planning and design; consultation and engagement, travel planning and travel demand management and transport data, monitoring and evaluation.
We work across a range of sectors
We work with organisations to address transport network challenges, unlock data insights, progress transport resource consents, and optimise the use of spatial technology.
![Man in wheelchair with Woman on bicycle.](https://4413900.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/4413900/hubfs/Activetravel.jpg?width=300&name=Activetravel.jpg)
Our team has extensive experience developing walking, pedestrian, cycling, and public transport guidance in New Zealand and Australia. Using our research and guidance expertise, we work with clients in updating local guidance and planning documents to reflect best practice.
We assist clients in updating code of practice reviews, standard detail designs, or updating cycle parking district plan requirements. We also provide industry training on good street design, pedestrian network guidance, and installation of tactile indicators to help deliver successful outcomes on the ground.
We work with clients to deliver designs as part of business cases or for individual projects. We also have a wealth of experience working in project teams for schools and council projects from concept through to detailed design. We provide design reviews when transport health and safety concerns have been identified. Our team also provide expert advice for more complex and politically sensitive projects.
Our team has experience in developing designs that cater for people with disabilities, young and old people, catering for micro-mobility, and providing safe connections to the public transport network. We combine our experience and expertise to deliver great outcomes.
Our Consultation and Engagement (C&E) team works with clients in New Zealand and Australia to shape and deliver consultation and tactical communication & engagement strategies.
We collaborate with council and central government clients enabling them to engage meaningfully with their communities and stakeholders to meet project and funding requirements. We create frameworks and programs and support individual projects to validate designs. We provide structured and evidence-based feedback to deliver successful outcomes.
Our team works on a range of projects, including parking management, speed management, travel demand management, national road safety implementation programs, road safety infrastructure improvements, active modes & travel, and public transport improvements.
Through our collaborative and hands-on approach, we work with our clients to mitigate risk and maximize stakeholder and community engagement.
![C&E engagement-1](https://4413900.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/4413900/hubfs/C%26E%20engagement-1.png?width=300&name=C&E%20engagement-1.png)
![Man cycling in cycleway on busy road](https://4413900.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/4413900/hubfs/man%20cycling.jpg?width=300&name=man%20cycling.jpg)
Understanding how people use the transport network is crucial in informing how we develop and adapt our streets and neighborhoods. Transport surveys, including pedestrian, cycle, scooter, and parking surveys, can help identify existing challenges and recommend design changes and travel solutions. Our team uses various techniques to conduct these surveys, including video, drone survey technology, and on-the-ground surveys. We also gather qualitative data through questionnaires and direct engagement to report on the impact of a project from the community perspective.
We provide before and after evaluation packages to assess the impact of projects and support the design and engagement process, demonstrating project impacts.
We work with clients to develop travel plans that encourage and support more people to walk, scoot, cycle, and take public transport. Our team of transport and behavior change experts work with councils, schools, and businesses to provide the full suite of travel planning and travel demand solutions. We can provide full travel planning support or assist in the delivery of specific elements. Our services include travel surveys, audit of policies, and facilities to understand current conditions, stakeholder engagement, developing action plans, and monitoring activities. We can support clients to increase cycle parking provision and advise on parking management/car-sharing solutions.
Using our CarbonWise tool, our clients can understand current carbon emissions and we can develop plans to meet emission reduction requirements.
We work with our clients to develop and deliver Travel Demand Management (TDM) programs that are fit for purpose, considering measures and interventions that influence travel choice, to optimize the efficiency of a network and support funding applications. Abley is one of the few companies in New Zealand to have delivered a TDM single-stage business case lite for the Queenstown-Lakes District Council in 12 weeks and successfully secured funding.
![Bus in Auckland driving past.](https://4413900.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hub/4413900/hubfs/Bus%20in%20Auckland.jpg?width=300&name=Bus%20in%20Auckland.jpg)
Get in touch
If you’ve got a question or want to chat to us about how we can help you, complete the form and we’ll respond as soon as possible.
We look forward to talking with you.