Websites about creating walk-friendly communities

Australia

Active by Design (Heart Foundation)  

A planner's guide to environments for active living resource and other activities.

Less Traffic 

A Brisbane-based website dedicated to helping you and your city tame traffic

PedBikeTrans 

A networking and education resource for professionals involved in pedestrian and bicycle planning.

Public Toilet Map 

Public toilets help to make places more walkable, so use this site to find out where the public toilets are in your area.

Safe Speed Interest Group

A collaboration of health and local government groups that is advocating for 30km/h speed limts in urban environments to create better walking (and cycling) conditions.

Thinking Transport  

An information resource for local governments hosted by the Victorian Local Governance Association.  The VLGA  is a peak body for councillors, community leaders and local governments.

Walktober

An annual Victorian campaign to encourage walking that has hundereds of walking events in the month of October.

 

International

America Walks               

At the heart of a growing movement to create walkable communities across North America. Includes links to member organisations accross USA.

Canada Walks

An initative that brings together a diverse group of projects that focus on promoting walking and walkable communities.

International Walking Charter

A charter to guide people wanting to create healthy, efficient, sustainable communities where people choose to walk. Some Victorian councils have signed the charter!

Living Streets

A British pedestrian association formed in 1929  that campaigns to create better streets and public spaces for people on foot.

Living Streets Aotearoa

A New Zealand pedestrian and walking advocacy body that runs lots of great grass roots and national campaigns.

PARK(ing) Day

PARK(ing) Day is a one-day, global event where people collaborate to temporarily transform parking spots into "PARK(ing)" spaces: temporary public parks.

Safe Dehli

Safe Dehli is an NGO in India with a focus on making Delhi safe for women.

Street Films

An absolutlely brilliant website that has an eclectic array of liveable streets, public space, sustainable transport and community action videos.

Sustans

A UK stustainable transport body that provides creative, imaginative and practical solutions to transport, environmental and health challenges.

Walk England

A UK social enterprise to create opportunities for people to choose to walk, to walk more often, to walk to more places, and to feel safe while doing so.

Walkable Communities

A not-for-profit organisation based in Florida USA that assists communities to become more pedestrian-friendly.

walkON

A Canadian community partnership offering a menu of program activities to engage the community in creating environments that support walking.

Walk Score

Walk Score calculates the walkability of your suburb based on the distance of your house to nearby amenities. Walk Score measures how easy it is to live a car-lite lifestyle!

 

Some other useful websites

 

Austroads Engineering Toolkit

A reference tool for road engineering practitioners that outlines best-practice, low cost, high return road environment measures to reduce road trauma.

ANHLC (Victoria)

The Association of Neighbourhood Houses and Learning Centres is the peak body for Victorian neighbourhood houses and learning centres. Search the site to find your local neighbourhood house.

Climate Movement

A hub for Climate Action Groups around Australia to connect with each other, access resources, share success stories and collaborate.

Cool Melbourne

 

Cool Melbourne explains climate change and important environmental issues in plain English. Find out the challenges Melbournians face and what people are doing to get Melbourne back on track.

Green Walks Victoria

Green Walks are an initiative of Bushwalking Victoria that aims to increase walking participation in the community.  

MAV Transport

The Municipal Association of Victoria is the peak representative and advocacy body for Victoria's 79 councils. The MAVs transport role is to support local government's advocacy and delivery of improved mobility and transport.

Our Cool School

Our Cool School works with students to empower them to bring about change in their schools and local communities.

Planning Insititute of Australia

PIA (Vic) plays a key role in promoting and supporting the planning profession within Victoria and advocating on key planning and public policy issues.

pt4me2

A website to give the community another way to have a say about public transport in Melbourne.

Smartplay

Smartplay aims to reduce the incidence and severity of injuries in sport, recreation and physical activity.

VCOSS Transport

The Victorian Council of Social Service focus on transport concerns improving low income and disadvantaged Victorians' access to jobs, education, services and community life.

 

Government websites

 

Department of Transport (Victoria)

The website includes the Government's transport publications and information including research and policy development publications.   Some key publications include The Victorian Transport Plan and The Walking and Cycling International Literature Review.

Department of Planning and Community Development (Victoria)

The DPCD website for information about planning processes including the Planning: a Short Guide and Using Victoria's Planning System, which is a useful guide about procedures in the planning system. Also see information explaining what is urban design, urban and regional research publications, some of the big projects the Governemnt is doing and Melbourne 2030.   DPCD promotes collaboration at the local level to achieve better outcomes for all, so if you need advice on DPCD, community building or available grants it has local teams of staff in all areas of Victoria to assist.

Find your local council

A handy tool to find contact details for your local council. They are responsible for local streets and roads, and support many initiatives that build stronger communities and improve local amenity.

Go for your life

A Victorian Government initiative which encourages people to eat more healthily and increase their levels of physical activity. It includes information on walking for fun and fitness,  the walking for good health benefits and a whole lot of (walking tips) for how to look after yourself when you are out and about.

My Place Crime Statistics for your area

A Victoria Police website that can provide crime statsitics for your area including suburbs or towns.

Transport Connections

Transport Connections is a Victoria Government initiative supporting communities to work together to improve local transport. There are 32 projects active throughout all Victorian rural, regional and interface municipalities, see if there is one in your area.

TravelSmart

A Victorian Government initiative that aims to reduce people's dependency on cars and encourage them to choose sustainable travel alternatives.

WalkSmart

 

A project of the Victorian Government that aims to reduce people's dependence on cars and promote use of sustainable alternatives such as walking and public transport.

VicRoads

VicRoads is the Victorian government authority responsible for major arterial roads and freeways. See also information relevant to pedestrians. See also Victorian Road Rules.

 

 

Grants and funding

 

Creating Better Places

Grants for urban design projects in specific locations around Victoria.  Only open to local councils - but you could encourage your council to apply!

Climate Communities Grants Program

A Victorian Government initiative  that provides local groups with information, advice and grants of up to $50,000 to take action on climate change.

Grants@DPCD

Information about all the grants offered by the Victorian Department for Planning and Community Development.

GrantsLINK

The Commonwealth Government community grants site.

Local Government

Many local councils provide grants to support community initiatives. Use the Local Government Victoria site to find your local council.

Our Community

This social enterprise provides resources, training, advice and tools for community organisations. Their monthly EasyGrants newsletter and database gives the latest information on new and recurring grants around Australia. It is available by subscription for a small fee.

Philanthropy Australia

Provides information for those seeking funds as well as those providing them. The Directory of Philanthropy, which lists more than 420 trusts, foundations, and corporate giving programs is also available here for a fee.

Victorian Commission for Gambling Regulation

This section has an FAQ section on permit requirements for community and charitable raffles.