Assessing Socio-Cultural Inclusiveness in Urban Planning: An Evaluation Framework and Comparative Case Study of Two Local Government Areas in New South Wales, Australia

This study develops a framework for assessing socio-cultural inclusiveness in urban planning documents and applies it through a comparative case study of two local government areas in New South Wales, Australia – Blacktown City Council and the City of Parramatta. The framework evaluates planning documents against three indicators: consideration of vulnerable residents’ needs, procedural representation and equity, and just planning outcomes. Each indicator is operationalised through sub-questions that allow systematic evaluation and visual comparison. The comparative analysis reveals substantial differences between the two Community Strategic Plans, with the Parramatta plan articulating inclusion more explicitly across all three indicators. The analysis also surfaces a shared pattern: both plans are stronger on the articulation of inclusive principles than on the specification of operational mechanisms, with the largest gaps clustering at foundational rather than operational sub-questions. This finding suggests that document-based evaluation benefits from attention not only to whether inclusion is acknowledged, but to how it is operationalised. The framework offers a tool for examining this distinction in local planning contexts.