Understanding community and business engagement with smoke-free areas to inform policy

Challenge

Smoking and vaping around building entrances is an issue that affects amenity, public health and the experience of visitors, residents and staff. It also intersects with broader city goals to create a healthier, safer and inclusive Central Business District (CBD).

The City of Melbourne has already committed to a long-term Smoke-Free Melbourne Policy (endorsed in 2021), with 14 existing smoke-free areas introduced, some through prior community engagement (e.g. Bourke Street Mall, Queen Victoria Market). The next step was to consider civic buildings, a high profile and symbolic change that needed robust community evidence and sensitive communication.

The City of Melbourne therefore sought to understand community and business views on extending smoke-free areas to the entrances of its major civic administration buildings, Melbourne Town Hall and Council House 1 and 2 (CH1/CH2).

Approach

The program required an adaptable approach to ensure meaningful input from a diverse public in a transit-heavy part of the CBD. The City of Melbourne sought a balanced perspective across the community and businesses and statistically sound results to deliver confidence to decision-makers despite intercept and environmental limitations.

Verian brought expertise in mixed-methods community engagement, behavioural insights and public policy research, alongside prior experience running community consultations for the City of Melbourne in 2024 (Mental Health and Wellbeing, and Food Security). Our approach included:

• Intercept and business engagement: Five weeks of in-person intercept surveys at Melbourne Town Hall, CH1 and CH2, supported by telephone interviews with businesses.
• Participate Melbourne survey integration: Alignment with Council’s survey platform, postcards with QR codes and a quick poll installed in the Melbourne Town Hall Customer Service Hub.
• Observational data: Ad hoc recording of smoking and vaping behaviour and environmental conditions around entrances.
• Promotion and communications review: Desk review of prior consultations, tracking of postcards distributed, information provided in newsletters, social media and internal City of Melbourne promotions.
• Adaptability: Shifting strategies in-field to maximise participation.

Our output included a comprehensive final report with quantitative analysis, thematic insights, a community engagement scorecard and practical recommendations for the Council.

Impact

Our work enabled the City of Melbourne to:

• Present robust, evidence-based findings to Councillors via the Future Melbourne Committee report.
• Demonstrate broad community and business support for the smoke-free proposal (72% community, 71% business, 85% quick poll support).
• Identify and transparently report on differences in views between the community and businesses and smokers/vapers and non-smokers/vapers.
• Capture practical insights on fairness, enforcement and communications that can help shape implementation if the proposal proceeds.
• Confidently position the proposal as aligned with the City of Melbourne’s Smoke-Free Melbourne Policy and wider health and inclusion goals.

The report was presented as an item at the Future Melbourne Committee meeting on 11^th November 2025, when the proposal to officially designate the areas as smoke-free was put to a vote. The consultation’s robust evidence gave Councillors the assurance that prescribing the smoke-free area was both wanted by the public and beneficial to the community.

The Future Melbourne Committee unanimously resolved to designate the smoke-free areas under the Activities Local Law 2024. With the policy approval in November 2025, the City of Melbourne moved into implementation planning.

Client acknowledgement:

“Again, thank you for all the effort, determination, and expertise you bought to the consultation.”

“We appreciate the efforts you have gone to in order to make this a really comprehensive final report.”

“Thanks to you all for delivering this project so thoroughly, we have enjoyed working with you.”