A new 150 page report has been published, full of evidence of how to help kids walk to school. It’s from Peter Murray, who was awarded a scholarship to conduct the research.
The report begins with a quote from Jan Gehl, who rightly points out if you invite people to walk more and use public spaces more, you get more life in the city…You get what you invite.
The report recommends taking a whole of neighbourhood approach, which is similar to what Council used to do with their Local Area Place Making (LAPM) program, which has sadly been cancelled.
One of the report’s main recommendations is to use car traffic filtering, also known as modal filters, to reduce the speed and volume of cars on local streets. Yarra already has a bunch of modal filters, such as the ones on Canning Street, most of which where installed a long time ago.
The report’s recommendations align with many other design guides and Yarra’s adopted Transport Strategy:
A key recommendation is to think about the whole neighbourhood around each school, not just the streets immediately around each school, although that is a good place to start:
Our view
This is an awesome report, full of evidence and actionable recommendations to help kids walk to school. We urge Councillors to read it, and follow its recommendations, such as implementing modal filters to reduce the volume and speed of motor vehicle traffic in the neighbourhoods around schools. One place to start is to approve the modal filters proposed on Wellington Street in Collingwood.
Published 24 October 2025