Case Study: Wellington City Council achieves record citizen engagement and youth participation with Squiz Matrix

Digital Engagement Platform for Planning for Growth Engagement Programme

Wellington City Council engaged Squiz to build a digital engagement platform for its “Planning for Growth” programme, which seeks input on how the city should accommodate an additional 80,000 residents over the next 30 years. The challenge was to reach citizens across all demographics—especially youth—encourage transparent commenting and conversation, and protect participant privacy; Squiz delivered a responsively designed site running on Squiz Matrix to meet these needs.

Squiz implemented a purpose-built, flexible website integrated with council internal and third‑party services to support multi‑phase consultation and evolving requirements. The platform enabled Phase One feedback on four growth scenarios, captured 1,372 submissions (surpassing prior engagement expectations), drove strong youth participation and social media reach, and equipped the council planning team for year‑to‑year iteration.

Wellington City Council

Tabitha Proffitt

Advisor, Planning