Harnessing the Power of CoDesign and Place Based Responses to Address Regional Crime

Regional communities across Australia face unique challenges when it comes to crime prevention and community safety. Recent initiatives including announcements recently, such as the Minns Labor Government’s investment of over $4 million in place-based programs for Bourke and Kempsey, highlight the increasing recognition that local knowledge and collaborative approaches are critical to addressing youth crime.

The evidence is clear: strategies that integrate codesign with place-based responses not only lead to better social and economic outcomes but also foster stronger, more resilient communities.

Understanding Codesign and Place-Based Approaches

CoDesign is a participatory approach that involves local stakeholders—including community members, service providers, law enforcement, and policymakers—in the development and implementation of programs. This methodology ensures that interventions are tailored to the specific needs of a community, leveraging the lived experiences of those directly affected.

We like to think about CoDesign like a river system, our motto is "you never step into the same river twice, cause both us and the river are in a constant state of flow". This also really speaks strongly to the significance of Place Based responses in many ways as well, so while we have core principles as part of assessment the breadth and depth of the river no two CoDesign projects are considered the same.

For us at Impact Policy also take this one step deeper, with a strong focus on the engagement and voices of young people with lived experience in the design of services and programs of which themselves or their peers may be accessing, for us it makes sense to start there. To centre the voices of those, that for so long are often silenced or not centred in the discussions about decisions that affect them most. For us in projects recently that has involved going directly into the centres, starting with those kids and then in the true integrity to codesign going back again, reiterating what we are hearing and to give young people agency to speak back.

There is also a critical piece many miss when committing to CoDesign and that is the investment in what we call phase 1 - building the conditions, this phase is focused on building strong relationships and connections with community and delivering engagement, communication and consultation in preparation for designing together. We have seen significant impact in the past, particuarly in projects in these type of scenarios where investment is made in the front end to truly CoDesign alongside community together.

Place-based approaches, recognise that crime is often concentrated in specific geographic locations and that interventions must be designed to address the local context. Rather than applying broad, one-size-fits-all policies, place-based responses focus on the social determinants of crime, such as education, employment, housing, and social cohesion, to create sustainable change.

This is what is exciting around to investment into these types of responses, they recognise often that what our communities are grappling with is crime in the evil sense, but what we know now are more often the symptom of or manifestation of trauma, social disadvantage and often a range of complex social and emotional needs that have been left unmet at a systems and local level. Responding to these complexities requires us to think about this from a systems perspective and is no responsibility of one public sector agency, it requires whole of Government collaboration and partnership to ensure we are building place based approaches that are fit for purpose.

A growing body of research supports the effectiveness of CoDesign and place-based strategies in reducing crime and improving community well-being:

1. Impact of Codesign on Crime Reduction: A study published in the?Journal of Criminology?(Cherney & Sutton, 2019) found that programs developed through community engagement were 30% more effective in reducing reoffending rates than top-down interventions. Research from the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) highlights that Indigenous-led justice programs, designed in partnership with local communities, have significantly lower recidivism rates compared to standard criminal justice approaches.
2. Effectiveness of Place-Based Interventions: Evaluations of the?Stronger Places, Stronger People?program indicate improved outcomes in education, employment, and social inclusion in areas where local communities played a role in program design (Commonwealth Government, 2022). Internationally, the?Project Safe Neighborhoods?initiative in the U.S. demonstrated that crime reduction efforts focused on high-crime areas, with community involvement, led to a 20-30% decline in violent crime (Braga et al., 2018).
3. Crime Prevention Through Social Cohesion: A review by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) found that investment in place-based initiatives, such as community-led policing and youth engagement programs, significantly reduced crime rates by strengthening neighbourhood networks and increasing collective efficacy.

The Case of Bourke and Kempsey

Bourke and Kempsey have long faced complex socio-economic challenges that contribute to youth crime, including high unemployment rates, intergenerational disadvantage, and limited access to services. The NSW Government’s funding aims to support:

• Culturally appropriate diversion programs designed by local Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations.
• Youth engagement initiatives that provide educational and employment pathways.
• Community-led safety programs that integrate traditional knowledge and Cultural pathways

Previous community-driven initiatives, such as the?Maranguka Justice Reinvestment?project in Bourke, have demonstrated how investing in local solutions leads to tangible outcomes. Within five years of implementation, Bourke saw a?38% reduction in major offences?and a?35% drop in domestic violence incidents?(Just Reinvest NSW, 2020).

The Path Forward

To sustain and expand the impact of CoDesign and place-based strategies, key steps include:

• Designing mechanisms and Governance for Community Participation:?Ensuring that local voices are not only heard but embedded in policy design frameworks.
• Cross-Sector Collaboration:?Strengthening partnerships between whole of government agencies, community organisations, and private sector stakeholders.
• Data-Driven Decision Making:?Using real-time data and empirical research to inform interventions and measure success. This includes access to data for Aboriginal communities, in line with principles of data sovereignty.
• Long-Term Investment:?Moving beyond short-term funding cycles to ensure sustainable, long-lasting change. This is critical. We must accept that the challenges we are navigating in community are not going to be solved in a single funding cycle. And that rebuilding takes an investment in relationships, community trust and engagement to truly start to redesign something better, together.

Addressing regional crime requires a paradigm shift—from reactive, punitive measures to proactive, community-driven solutions. Codesign and place-based responses offer a proven, evidence-based pathway to safer and more inclusive communities. The NSW Government’s recent investments are a step in the right direction, but continued commitment and collaboration are essential to ensure lasting impact.

If you want to aceess more resources from Impact Policy that explore the issue of youth justice, CoDesign or decolonising methods follow our LinkedIn and check out our most recent Impact Policy Podcast where we unpack alot of this in more detail.

For further information on the recent announcement around place based responses to crime prevention in regional NSW you can check out the link here https://www.nsw.gov.au/ministerial-releases/local-knowledge-vital-to-addressing-regional-crime