Streets Alive

Have you ever tried walking or cycling around Kardinya and thought, “This could be much easier” or “I wish it was safer for my kids to walk or ride to school”? Well, you’re not alone! 

Thanks to Streets Alive, Kardy Connect has secured $5,000 from Main Roads WA to co-design solutions with the community, making our suburb safer and friendlier for people move around on foot, by scooter or bike.

Why does this matter? Because we’ve got some big challenges. Kardinya is divided by two busy roads – North Lake Road and South Street – both with 70km/h traffic that makes it pretty scary to cross – especially with kids! The speed limits and lack of safe crossings leave many families feeling like walking or cycling to school or the shops just isn’t an option.

And you know what that means? We spend more time in our cars and less time walking around our neighbourhood. That car dependency isn’t just inconvenient – it has real impacts on our health and sense of community. When we rely on cars for every trip, we lose out on the casual, everyday interactions that happen when you’re walking around your suburb. Over time, this leads to social disconnectedness, with fewer chances to bump into neighbours, say hello, or build those little ties that help knit a community together. 

It’s also been shown that kids who don’t regularly walk or ride to school are more likely to become car-dependent and sedentary as adults. Without building the habits, confidence, and experience of using active transport in their early years, they tend to rely on cars later in life. In fact, over the past 40 years, the number of children walking or cycling to school has dropped from 70% to just 25% – a staggering decline, aligned with an increase in obesity and mental health issues. 

But here’s where you come in! We’re starting a project to try and change that for Kardy. We’ll be working with local residents to map out the popular routes, identify risky spots, and work with the City of Melville, transport and placemaking experts to make it better. Whether it’s adding safer crossings, installing street calming interventions like planter boxes, or just making streets more inviting – we want your ideas.

We’re also looking for local champions from each part of Kardinya to help us engage their neighbours and bring everyone’s ideas together.

The end goal? Firstly, a map of Kardinya that highlights walkable destinations, the best routes for kids to walk or ride to school right now. And we’ll continue to iterate and redistribute it over time. 

Secondly, a concept plan for change that is co-designed with community, placemaking and transport experts that we’ll share with the City of Melville to hopefully see implemented.

It’s a big issue, but we’re up for the challenge! Why? Because more people walking and riding on the streets, creates a vibrant and connected community. And we’re certainly up for that.

Here’s how you can get involved:

1. Download this map and mark destinations, pain points, local tips, and the best current walking or riding routes and send it back to us. We’ll consolidate this information and produce a map or Kardy and distribute it around the neighbourhood; and/or
2. Attend our next Kardy Barby on Sat 23 November to put forward your ideas on how we can improve our streets. We’ll have some interesting experts joining us to help create solutions.