Let’s regenerate streets

I’m Laura.

I work with communities to create street-based solutions that centre human and environmental flourishing.

We all have a role to play in shaping streets that help us flourish

What if, in the future, streets were synonymous with community; and were a source of joy and wellbeing?

What if they were not just the conduits for travelling from A to B, but places where we share experiences and cultivate the future we want, together?

I have a vision for a future in which streets will once again be the place we go to find community, share experiences and cultivate the future we want, together.

The problem is, local streets have lost their appeal as the place where we forge community. You can empower your communities to steward their streets and foster citizen-led regeneration.

Wayfinder Labs’ mission is to reclaim streets as the real-life incarnation of our online communities, where we connect as citizens to regenerate our future together.

We call it regenerative street design

Regenerative Street Design

I work at the interface of community engagement and engineering/ design disciplines to give communities a platform to cocreate street-led initiatives from concept through testing, implementation and benefit management. My approach blends experiment design, project evaluation, systems innovation, user centred design and transport and land use planning.

Put community outcomes at the heart of planning and design.

Level up your systemic thinking with workshops and training

I can help you map out the logic for your next strategy or investment with individual system innovation and investment planning workshops, or tailor training for your team.

Book a call so we can find the approach that’s going to help you catalyse regenerative change in your community

Investment logic mapping

An holistic take on investment facilitation

Accredited investment management system facilitation to help you shape an investment that tells a story of systemic change.

Let me support you by:

  • Facilitating dialogue about the uses and aspirations for streets among stakeholders, to build shared understanding and motivate change

  • Fostering ideation of initiatives to regenerate streets and evaluating these against desired outcomes

    Validating concepts and developing pathways for community-led implementation

Facilitation & training

“The work of community regeneration asks that I bring all of myself to work”

About Dr Laura Aston

I am a transport planner, systems thinker, designer and facilitator. With experience across government, research, consulting and advocacy, I have worked in transport and sustainability from many angles, giving me a sense of both the opportunity as well as the challenges, of collaborating for systemic change.

I completed a PhD at Monash University that explored the impact of urban design and land use on public transport ridership that helped me see the land use-transport system as part of a broader socio-economic system.

I’m also a mother, advocate, inner suburbanite and a deeply curious human being. All of this shapes how I see the world. The work of community regeneration asks that I bring all of myself to work; listen deeply and trust in the reciprocity of people and systems to nurture change.

My experiences have taught me that change is hard, but it is easier when we begin with a shared understanding of where we are and where we ant to go. Yet, too often, we omit the people we are designing for from the process of delivering solutions. The result? We get more of the same. Add to this the fact that communities are experiencing fragmentation driven by the attention economy, artificial intelligence and urban environments that prioritise movement over people.

If we are to bring to life a future that nurtures human and environmental wellbeing, we must revive streets as places that people go to build connections. Streets are the living laboratory of the regenerative future we need. And they are home to all of us.

I am part of the system I want to change. So are you. Let’s chat.