Is ‘shade’ a Perth design and transport problem?

Could the lack of shade in Perth be a reason most people drive in Perth? Or, have we designed our city in a way that suits where and how we live?

I was walking the 15 minutes from a morning dip at a Mosman Park beach to the 107 bus stop sometime mid-morning, and so had to cover about 4 or 5 suburban blocks – all with paths paved in concrete, and the occasional verge-side eucalpyt tree. I’ll admit it was mainly uphill. Cars whizzed by, and I couldn’t help but wish I was in one of them, with its aircon and shade, rather than traipsing, sweating, in the full sun to the distant bus stop.

That’s when I realised it – as a city, Perth is generally quite hot and very sunny, and it’s one of the ‘jewels in our crown’. But the amount of places that, if we were a city were it RAINED all the time, are not covered and so don’t provide any sun protection (or rain protection for when it does rain) is very high. I don’t mean suburban streets, but then again why not? Trees do grow well in the West (unlike say, Abu Dhabi) and ensuring there is pedestrian sun protection for 6 months a year doesn’t seem like such a strange idea. But more importantly, what of those places like the hospitals, were sick, old or infirm folks don’t get a nice shaded or covered walkway to the bus stop? Anyone walking down the long ramps or stairs from any of the train stations on the Mandurah-Clarkson line must be baking by then time they get there. Compare most car parks, which are underground or covered, or not as far away as public transport stops. It’s cars 40:love.

People still flock to Perth Station to enjoy the acres of shade

So I don’t mean we should be putting up shade-sails all over Perth, or trees every 5 metres, but I do believe we can be more thoughtful about how we design the city that we’ll all be living in, ideally, for a long time. Hopefully, all of Perth’s new arrivals and visitors will feel the same way, that Perth is a city that is easy to use, enjoyable and worth staying in – and also worth contributing to and caring about. As our city grows, we can make Perth the kind of place we love to live in. And it starts by thinking about the little things that make the biggest differences to all of our daily lives.