At the heart of creating vibrantcommunities.org is a new methodology for delivering better urban development outcomes, that is, Tribus – A Community Evolution Process.
Traditionally, those involved in urban development have focussed on tangible or hard elements – that is, what to build, the bricks and mortar (REALISE phase). Tribus aims to extend this perspective to include a phase either side of realising the bricks and mortar, a 3 phase process; Visualise, Realise and Activate.
Visualise is about creating a broader vision for each and every project that considers intangible, or soft elements such as social cohesion and job creation.
Realise helps to bring greater rigour to decisions about what to build via consideration of 9 hard elements.
Activate considers how to connect community members once they have moved in to a new place, further supporting success with achieving soft or intangible outcomes.
All the shared knowledge resources, fresh thinking articles and passionate people profiles are allocated to the appropriate Tribus phases and elements. This allows easy searches to be made for specific content you may be interested in.
Soft Elements are the intangible aspects that should be considered and planned for when creating a vibrant community. If we first consider how we want people to feel, behave and connect within a place, it will force us to consider soft, or ‘people focused’ inputs differently, which in turn will then direct us towards the most appropriate hard outputs to support this.
The Soft Elements provide a mixture of practical considerations such as targeting a specific number of jobs, through to more emotive considerations such as capturing a sense of place. However, with the Soft Elements front of mind, combined with the intention to create shared value across a broader group of stakeholders, we start to see a different set of drivers informing where we should focus the Hard Elements.
There are 9 soft elements to consider as part of the Tribus Process:
 |
People Understand the people that make the community. |
 |
Place Create a unique sense of place. |
 |
Diverse Consider a diverse mix of housing, uses, and densities. |
 |
Connected Ensure a strong connection between all elements. |
 |
Active and Healthy Encourage more active and healthy lifestyles. |
 |
Local Economy Create a strong local economy. |
 |
Safe Ensure people feel safe. |
 |
Sustainable Consider how to achieve economic, environmental and social sustainability. |
 |
Time Consider the time it takes to build a community. |
Hard Elements are the tangible aspects that should be considered and planned for when creating a vibrant community.
While it is the actual function or service provision of each hard element that will address the community’s needs, be it housing, healthcare or somewhere to do their shopping, it is the architecture, urban design and landscaped environment that will influence the quality of their experience in that place. Therefore, when we are discussing the Hard Elements we are referring to both the function or service that each element provides, as well as the architectural form and physical presence those elements, be it a building, pedestrian pathway or a park.
Depending on the scale of the activity centre in question, not all of the Hard Elements will necessarily apply, however, they can be used as a reference point or guide to assist with deciding what is relevant to the site context whilst maintaining a holistic perspective.
The key objective is to consider as many of the elements as possible and encourage a greater level of vibrancy through a truly mixed-use outcome.
There are 9 hard elements to consider as part of the Tribus Process:
 |
Public Realm Places to enjoy the outdoor environment. |
 |
Transport A variety of transport options. |
 |
Community Places people can come together and connect. |
 |
Retail Places to shop, eat and socialise. |
 |
Commercial Places for services, offices and trade. |
 |
Health and Wellbeing Places to provide care and pursue good health. |
 |
Education Places to allow whole of life learning. |
 |
Recreation and Entertainment Provide places for sports, relaxation and enjoyment |
 |
Residential Provide a variety of living options. |
