Welcome to this week’s update in which we celebrate Greater Dandenong City Council being named the winner of the Best Main Street Place Activation – Council Led (Over $100K) at the 2025 Mainstreet Australia Awards recently.
This is a national level award recognising large-scale, council-led initiatives that deliver transformative placemaking, multi-day events, and high-impact activations that bring our streets to life. With five of Australia’s largest councils shortlisted (including cities like Adelaide and Subiaco), the competition was fierce, and entries were of outstanding calibre. We were proud to have stood out for our bold vision, inclusive programming, and deep collaboration across sectors in the 'Our Street Noble Park' project.
This winning initiative was noted for its strategic placemaking that transformed public spaces in Noble Park into vibrant community hubs; extensive cross-sector collaboration involving local businesses, artists, Bunurong Land Council and cultural groups; multi-day programming that celebrated diversity, creativity, and local identity; and most importantly the infrastructure integration and improvements that ensured long-term impact beyond the event itself.
This award is a testament to our commitment to progressive placemaking and revitalisation of our activity centres and precincts and fostering a strong sense of place and community.
It is a fantastic achievement and well-deserved recognition of the team's hard work and dedication.
Stub It Bin It
As part of the Springvale Revitalisation Program, Waste Services is working with Place Making to address cigarette butt litter in and around Multicultural Place. A small-scale program will be implemented to promote the appropriate use of the cigarette top bins in the Springvale CBD.
The message Stub it Bin it has been developed to be trialled in this area to encourage people to properly dispose of their cigarette butts using the bins with ashtray tops provided by Council.
Stub it Bin it collateral includes bin signage, bin decals and ground decals as shown below.
Collateral will be installed in and around Springvale CBD at the beginning of October 2025.
Economy and Place Strategy
The Business Development and Investment department is developing an Economy and Place Strategy. The Strategy will serve as a framework for Council for the next 5-10 years to drive investment, create jobs and meaningful places for people.
The Economy and Place Strategy will aim to:
- Foster sustainable economic growth
- Enhance community connection and wellbeing
- Strengthen the vibrancy of Greater Dandenong
- Nurture the foundation of a future-ready economy and globally competitive economy
A comprehensive first phase of engagement has been undertaken to gather ideas and feedback from the diverse range of internal and external stakeholders to shape this priority (whole-of-organisation) strategy. Phase one engagement included a workshop with our people leaders (approximately 100 staff) at Council’s Annual Leadership Conference on Friday 19 September. It was great to see everyone engaged and sharing thoughts and ideas as we all play a role in economic development of our city through the services and programs we deliver.
The team are now analysing engagement findings to workshop with Councillors in November. The draft strategy will be developed in consultation with internal stakeholders over the coming months, ready for public exhibition in early-2026. Subject to Council approval, implementation of the strategy will commence from July 2026 through a five-year action plan.
Sanjay Manivasagasivam, Executive Director City Futures