Making Space: LGBTQIA+ Representation in Planning and Placemaking.

As highlighted in the 2024 AWEI Employee Survey, one in five LGBTQIA+ employees are not “out” at work, reflecting ongoing gaps in workplace visibility, safety and inclusion. These gaps don’t stop at the workplace, they’re also persistent challenges in the ways we plan, design and cultivate more equitable cities. For those shaping our built environment, understanding queer perspectives from within the community is essential to creating places where everyone feels safe, valued and able to be themselves.

Since its founding in 2019, Queers in Property (QIP) has emerged as a leading voice for LGBTQIA+ inclusion across Australia’s built environment sector. What began as a grassroots network has grown into a national community of over 1,000 professionals and allies working across development, construction, planning, housing, design, architecture, engineering, and more.

QIP’s mission is to create safe, inclusive networks and spaces for LGBTQIA+ people across the built environment sector and to reframe the heteronormative attitudes that have historically defined it. Through curating impactful events, fostering meaningful connections, advocating for industry-wide change, and supporting organisations to embed inclusive policies, QIP is driving a shift from tokenism toward meaningful representation.

For Adriano Zarosinski, Co-Chair of the Victorian Committee and Associate Town Planner at Tract, representation in planning isn’t optional—it’s essential to doing the work well: “As planners, we have the privilege to shape the cities people live, move and connect in. To do that well, we need to understand diverse experiences and representation in planning helps create places that are safer, inclusive, and reflective of the communities they serve. Queers in Property is creating space for queer voices to share experiences, celebrate successes, and shape both the cities we live in and the workplaces behind them.”

With over 50 events under their belt — including panels talks, project tours, networking nights and industry collaborations — QIP is actively shaping space, not just holding it. Most recently, QIP dialed up the city-shaping conversations with “Queering Urbanism: Cities and Public Spaces”, hosted by ClarkeHopkinsClarke in Melbourne. It marked the final instalment of QIP’s three-part panel series, following earlier events hosted by Tract and Urbis, all exploring how planning and design can better serve LGBTQIA+ communities.

Last year, QIP partnered with industry and research to deliver the “Inclusive Place-based Planning for LGBTQIA+ Communities Project” with the UDIA NSW Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and developers Stockland. Funded by the NSW Department of Planning and grounded in research from Queering Public Space (Catterall & Azzouz, 2021) and Queering Cities (Gorman-Murray et al., 2022), the project offered practical recommendations to inform more inclusive public spaces and urban policy in NSW.

Beyond advocacy and events, QIP has also run several fundraising events with over $455,000 raised for Avalon Homes for the Homeless, Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund, and the Victorian Pride Centre in conjunction with industry group Women in Property. QIP also provides resources and referrals for property organisations offering DEI guidance on inclusive language, policy, and gender equity strategies.

QIP has continued to harness growing community energy to expand its reach and deepen its impact. In 2022, QIP expanded interstate with a Sydney committee, while more recently in Melbourne, momentum continued, welcoming 11 new committee members spanning diverse leadership, industry expertise, and lived queer experience.

If you’re queer, an ally in planning, or curious about where you fit, come along to a future QIP event. It’s a chance to connect with a community whose lived experience brings vital perspective to the cities we navigate daily.

Written by:

Fraser McNally
Creative Producer, Assemble
Queers In Property Committee Member, Naarm/Melbourne 

For PIA Victoria Planning News