Join us for the LG Professionals SA Community Development Network Forum: Places for People: Social Infrastructure for Connection, Belonging and Wellbeing.
We are pleased to offer this Network Forum as an exclusive benefit available only to LG Professionals SA Members. To access this benefit, log into your LG Professionals SA account and register for your complimentary in-person or online attendance. Not sure if you're a Member? Reach out to our friendly team, and we can assist.
This Forum will explore how social infrastructure supports connection, belonging and wellbeing across our communities. Through council case studies, sector insights and shared discussion, attendees will consider how places such as community centres, libraries, recreation spaces, sporting clubs, sheds, public spaces and accessible beaches can be planned, activated and sustained to better serve the people who use them.
Whether attending online or in person, this Forum will offer practical lessons, honest reflections and fresh thinking on how councils can create places that are not only built for people, but shaped with and sustained by the communities they serve.
Before the Forum, attendees can join a guided tour of Ngutungka Henley. After the Forum, attendees can join for a Henley Beach accessible walking tour.
The Forum will be held in-person at Ngutungka Henley, 378 Seaview Rd, Henley Beach SA 5022 and online via Zoom on Thursday 27 August 2026 from 10:00AM – 12:30PM.
Program
9:30AM – In-person Ngutungka Henley Tour (optional)
10:00AM – Online and in-person Forum begins
12:30PM – Forum concludes. In-person Accessible beaches walking tour commences
1:00PM – In-person pay your own way lunch at the Ramsgate Hotel (optional)
Read more about the sessions below:
Integration of social infrastructure into the public life of our cities
Dr Janelle Arbon
Senior Landscape Architect
City of West Torrens
Dr Janelle Arbon will explore the role of social infrastructure in shaping the public life of cities, and why it is often delayed, reduced or excluded in major projects. Drawing on case studies from master planned developments, this session will highlight the opportunities and barriers that influence the delivery of social infrastructure as a valuable public resource.
Harpers Field
Michelle Atkinson, Lead, Community Recreation and Sport
Ann-Marie Arthur, Team Leader Community Development
City of Tea Tree Gully
This session will explore the $14 million transformation of Harpers Field in the City of Tea Tree Gully into a multi-use community recreational hub. Through the story of the Harpers Field Sporting Club, shared sporting facilities and a council-run community centre, presenters will share the successes, challenges and lessons learned from creating and sustaining a shared community space two years on.
The Nailsworth Community Shed Story
Andrew Murray, Team Leader Community Development
Katie Faraonio, Manager Community Relations and Programs
City of Prospect
This session will share the story of the Nailsworth Community Shed,
which grew from a resident donation and a vision to create a more inclusive community space. Now a well-used and welcoming place for connection, the
project offers valuable lessons on managing expectations, adapting along the way and bringing social infrastructure to life through community-led ideas.
How the Pasadena Community Lounge shaped the Design for a Community Centre
Rebecca Olthoff 
Community Centre Coordinator - Pasadena
(Project Manager Pasadena Community Centre 2022-2026) City of Mitcham
This session will explore the transformation of the former Sea Scout Hall into the Pasadena Community Centre, a community-led space designed to foster connection. Rebecca will share how community consultation, the Pasadena Community Lounge and a multidisciplinary project team helped shape the centre’s vision, operations and ongoing role as an inclusive place where local connection can grow.
Universal design and building community
Bill Skinner
Coordinator Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
City of Charles Sturt
The concept of ‘universal design’ plays an important central role in contemporary urban design and planning thought, often seen as a template for physical infrastructure and the built environment. In this presentation, Bill will explore how a universal design lens can help embed access, inclusion and participation into social infrastructure planning and organisational decision-making from the outset. We will draw from our Disability Access and Inclusion Planning process and associated projects to highlight practical possibilities.
Campfire Session
This interactive Campfire Session will invite attendees to share ideas, learn from peers and explore creative ways to deliver meaningful community outcomes with limited resources and competing priorities. Come ready to share examples, listen to others and take away practical approaches to maximise impact and continue delivering for communities.
Accessible beaches walking tour
To finish the day, join Bill Skinner, Coordinator Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, for a relaxed walking tour of Henley Square to see how Henley Beach has become more accessible. The tour will highlight inclusive social infrastructure including 24/7 beach matting, free hire of beach wheelchairs and beach walkers, and the Changing Places facility, with the opportunity to see the equipment and learn how it is accessed by the community.
Registrations for this forum are open to Local Government Professionals Australia, SA members, council employees, employees of regional subsidiaries and Local Government Professionals Australia, SA invited guests.
By registering for this Forum, you will be subscribed to the LG Professionals SA mailing list. Should you wish to unsubscribe at any time, please email admin@lgprofessionalssa.org.au
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