Urban Design

Urban Design

Urban Design plays a pivotal role in shaping urban form and spaces.

At the heart of our approach is a commitment to good design. As leaders of Urban Design in Victoria, we see ourselves as facilitators, applying our understanding of various stakeholder interests to create practical and imaginative solutions that work.

Over the past two decades, our Urban Designers have led strategic master planning, design advisory, expert evidence, and capacity-building projects across both the private and public sectors that have activated, connected, and inspired societies.

Advisory

We provide expert urban design review and advice across all stages of planning and design. Our input strengthens design outcomes, supports statutory processes, and ensures projects respond to context, policy, and place. We work collaboratively with public and private sector clients, stakeholders and allied disciplines to deliver informed, high-quality and practical design guidance.

Expert Witness

Our team provides clear, credible and independent expert urban design evidence at VCAT and Planning Panels. We distil complex issues into accessible reasoning, grounded in policy and design principles. Our experience spans diverse project types, and we are trusted for our rigour, professionalism, and ability to support strong planning outcomes.

Strategies & Frameworks

We have a vast portfolio of strategic urban design projects including structure planning and urban design frameworks at city, township, activity centre and precinct scale. Our evidence based approach supports practical planning controls and implementation outcomes, ensuring design aspirations align with feasibility, amenity, and long-term place outcomes.

Built Form Testing & Guidance

We prepare Built Form Frameworks & Guidelines that define clear parameters for future development. This service translates strategic vision into practical planning tools, supporting councils and developers to achieve context-sensitive, high-quality built form outcomes across activity centres, precincts and key sites. Our evidence based approach informs planning policy, ensuring that built form responses are feasible, appropriate, and aligned with policy objectives.

Public Realm Design

We develop concept designs for public spaces that are inclusive, enduring, and tailored to context. Our work combines landscape, movement, and urban design thinking to create streets, parks and civic spaces that enhance everyday life. We integrate functionality with design quality to deliver inspiring and implementable public realm outcomes.

Active Transport Strategies

We balance movement and place principles through integrated frameworks that prioritise people, access, and place quality. Our work supports transport and planning strategies by embedding design thinking into network planning and placemaking studies. We help shape corridors and centres where mobility, amenity and urban character are holistically addressed.

Development Feasibility & Scenario Evaluation

We evaluate development options through spatial feasibility testing and yield analysis, balancing design intent with development outcomes. Our scenario evaluation supports planning overlays, design responses and masterplans. We provide insight into what is possible, practical and place-sensitive — grounding urban design in economic and physical realities.

International Advisory

Our urban design team has a long legacy of providing urban design services internationally, anchored by our office presence in Vietnam. We provide urban design expertise on a wide range of projects including tourism oriented strategy and development, mobility strategies and city and precinct planning and urban design frameworks. Our expanding international portfolio includes projects across Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Central America.

Gerhana Waty

Director - Urban Design

Gerhana is a Melbourne-based urban designer with almost two decades of expertise across both the public and private sectors. Specialising in urban design, she has a strong foundation in design appraisals, master planning, and framework initiatives, both in Australia and internationally.

With an architectural background, Gerhana is passionate about evidence-based design and urban analytics. Her expertise in these areas allows her to influence design outcomes and decision-making in dynamic urban environments. At Hansen, Gerhana plays a key role in shaping strategic and statutory urban design projects, prioritising the creation of safe and sustainable spaces. Her leadership in projects such as the Surabaya Urban Development Program in Indonesia and the award-winning Streets for People Feasibility Study for the City of Darebin showcases her ability to deliver high-quality urban design solutions.

In addition to her project work, Gerhana provides expert advice to government agencies and developers on urban development applications and design justifications. She also contributes academically as a sessional Master of Architecture Studio Leader at RMIT University and the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne School of Design.

 

  • Streets for People feasibility study & concept design
  • Built Form Review
  • Precinct masterplan
  • Structure plans
  • Activity centre planning
  • Strategic planning
  • Urban design analysis
  • Transit oriented development and pedestrian oriented design
  • Architectural design /public space design

Recent Projects