Victoria Walks has some great resources to increase walking and active living in your council area.
Projects to inspire visits to tracks and trails or to activate other public spaces can be spearheaded by council staff working in public health and wellbeing, recreation participation, community engagement, or in tourism and business development.
Many councils are also working to encourage mode shift from short car trips to walking as part of zero carbon and sustainability strategies.
Your organisation may wish to enquire about partnering with Victoria Walks to deliver one of the below walking participation projects (recreation) or to learn about behaviour change programs designed to encourage more people to walk for transport to local destinations such as schools.
Accessible Walks
In addition to the below resources for councils Victoria Walks has developed an accessible walks audit tool to assess whether local walks are accessible to people of all abilities / with mobility disability. Find the tool and information about promoting accessible walks at this page.
Walking for Transport
For council staff involved in urban planning and transport planning, see this section of our site.
Also see the Department of Transport and Planning Tip Sheet #2 'Gendered Differences in Transport Journeys' (Gender Impact Assessment tip sheet for transport planning). While women use public transport more than men, they also walk more for transport (including walking to public transport).
Other resources
- VicHealth is currently providing councils with training modules focused on building communities that work for young people. One of the three core modules is Building Active Communities, which includes activities on designing neighbourhoods that promote physical activity and running programs that increase participation by children and young people who face greater barriers. Read more or sign up as a 'Fast Track' council here.
- MAV has a Walking and Bike Riding Resource Hub for councils here.