The Atlas of Belonging is an independent collaborative research project exploring how belonging can be defined and enabled for thriving cities.
What is it?
The Atlas of Belonging was officially launched at MPavilion on 19 March 2026. It is an independent collaborative research project exploring how belonging can be defined and enabled for thriving cities.
It is intended as an evolving resource and evidence base for designers, place managers, community members and sector leaders interested in progressing community inclusion.
The Atlas brings together shared knowledge - markers, patterns, strategies, indicators and stories - emerging from university design studios, public conversations, surveys and community workshops.
Over time, this material will be developed, synthesised and distilled to support research, practice and potentially, policy. The Atlas will continue to grow with different projects, partnerships and public moments.
Who is involved?
The Atlas of Belonging is led by creator Jocelyn Chiew FRAIA AILA FRLA, Director Place Assembly, with input from a growing network of collaborators and contributors.
Co-curating the 2026 public program at MPavilion and Melbourne Design Week are:
+ Tim Dow - Tim Rob Don Dow
+ Annelise Porter - UrbanID
with kind support from:
+ Rümeysa Kul - Image author & MLA student
+ Agata Pytka - BLA graduate
Photos by Madeline and Mine Studios x The Atlas of Belonging
Contributors
Contributors to the project include event panellists and studio guest lecturers and participants.
Collective Moments
Moment 3 - Shaping the Atlas of Belonging, Melbourne Design Week 2026
Photography
Suzie Haslam
Moment 2 - Shaping the Atlas of Belonging presented by MPavilion 2026
Photography
Madeline & Mine x The Atlas of Belonging
Moment 1 - Sites of Belonging design studio at RMIT University 2025
Photography / Art
Madeline & Mine x The Atlas of Belonging / Agata Pytka
Collective Insights
Where have you felt like you belonged? Where have you felt like you didn't belong? What makes you feel like you belong? What makes you feel like you don't belong? Some of the questions posed to participants at Shaping the Atlas of Belonging presented by MPavilion. Photo by Madeline and Mine Studios x The Atlas of Belonging
On 19 March, we launched The Atlas of Belonging with our first public workshop! Shaping the Atlas of Belonging presented by MPavilion invited participants to reflect on what belonging means to them, where it has been experienced and how this knowledge can inform the design of future spaces and places. Drawing on insights from Jac Semmler - Super Bloom Plant Practice, Olson Hamilton-Smith - Loop Cycles and Sam Ziino - MECCA, participants identified patterns, strategies and indicators for belonging. The event was curated by Jocelyn Chiew - Place Assembly, Tim Dow - Tim Rob Don Dow and Annelise Porter - UrbanID. Photo by Madeline and Mine Studios x The Atlas of Belonging
"Belonging emerges when public spaces allow cultures and unique individuals to blend quietly and naturally, forming a shared narrative where difference exists without standing apart from one another.” Design for an Islamic Australian tile, combining motifs from the Quran and Australian native flora. Image by RÜMEYSA KUL as part of RMIT Landscape Architecture studio - Sites of Belonging 2025
'Under Pressure' develops a spatial strategy grounded in sequences of gathering, holding, and releasing to modulate sensory load. Informed by close engagement and observation, these conditions create public spaces that are more legible, welcoming, and supportive for neurodiverse people. The drawing maps disturbances - sound, sight, touch and feeling across the Melbourne Arts Precinct - revealing where sensory pressure accumulates and eases. The project makes visible the often-unseen impacts of public environments on neurodiverse bodies. From this mapping, the project proposes a set of design guidelines intended for broader application across the city. Project by LUCINDA THOMPSON as part of RMIT Landscape Architecture studio - Sites of Belonging 2025
‘Urban Avisary Refuge’ foregrounds designing for Australian songbirds in urban environments. It manipulates above and below ground conditions to foster habitat formation. Inclusionary and exclusionary zones explore the coexistence of humans within the refuge. Design proposal by MAX LEONARD as part of RMIT Landscape Architecture studio - Sites of Belonging 2025
Bespoke planting palette (excerpt) for 'Urban Avisary Refuge', informed by Hassell's 'Wildlife Habitat Design in the Public Realm' talk which shared the significance of hides and materiality such as rocks, wood and flora to formulate a super ecology. Design by MAX LEONARD as part of RMIT Landscape Architecture studio - Sites of Belonging 2025
Design studio workshop with landscape architects, JERRY DE GRYSE FRLA, Founder of award winning Nipaluna (Tasmania) based practice, Inspiring Place and EMMALINE BOWMAN, Founder of award winning Narrm (Melbourne) based practice, STEM Landscape Architecture and Design. Part of RMIT Landscape Architecture studio - Sites of Belonging 2025
Proposal for an Islamic-informed Australian garden, building on the persona of a Muslim-Australian woman with protanopia (red-green colour blindness). Design by RÜMEYSA KUL as part of RMIT Landscape Architecture studio - Sites of Belonging 2025
Observation by AGATA PYTKA as part of RMIT Landscape Architecture studio - Sites of Belonging 2025. Photo © Ignacy Płażewski / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Proposal for an Australian garden informed by the 'Safer Parks for Women and Girls Guidance', focussing on topography as the agent for prospect, refuge and equity. Design by JINRUI RAY CHEN as part of RMIT Landscape Architecture studio - Sites of Belonging 2025
Proposal for a public garden, 'Psithurism Place', (the calming, natural, and sometimes almost human-like sighing sound of trees and leaves), foregrounding the needs of immunocompromised users and their carers through seating diversity, use of low allergen planting and immersive soundscapes. Design by ALEXANDROS TSAKETAS-CHIU as part of RMIT Landscape Architecture studio - Sites of Belonging 2025
Topographical study informed by the 'Safer Parks for Women and Girls Guidance' by JINRUI RAY CHEN as part of RMIT Landscape Architecture studio - Sites of Belonging 2025
A dog and dog owner's journey illustration by AGATA PYTKA as part of RMIT Landscape Architecture studio - Sites of Belonging 2025.
Interested in collaborating?
Please send us a brief message outlining your interest and we will be in touch within two business days.
© 2026 The Atlas of Belonging and Jocelyn Chiew. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise stated, the content on this website is protected by copyright under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Copyright in individual contributions remains with their respective authors. The compilation, curation and presentation of material are copyright of The Atlas of Belonging. Content may not be reproduced, adapted or distributed without prior written permission, except as permitted under fair dealing for the purposes of research, study, criticism or review, with appropriate acknowledgement.