The project invites residents to paint their wheelie bins to celebrate the community and promote road safety. Residents will showcase their decorated bins at a town oval event, where a panel of judges and community votes will determine winners in various categories. It will serve as the Town Team’s inaugural project, highlighting placemaking and active citizenship. The residential and town centre zones of Cowaramup are the target area for this project.
Community members from both sides of Bussell Highway are invited to participate, including Parkwater, Symphony Waters and Cowara Heights.
Build local capability and capacity: Relationships built with community groups (Capes Athletics and Cowaramup CWA) who attended the event to provided catering and help judge ‘people’s choice award’ for bins. Funds raised by Woven for event co-ordination have been dedicated to the creation of a shared workshop/storage facility for future community workshops and events.
Change attitudes and behaviours through citizen-led actions Involvement of following judges helped raise the profile of road safety issues in our town to encourage appropriate investment from local government Shire of Augusta Margaret River President Julia Meldrum Traffic warden and long standing resident Lisa Clews Enhance the street environment Approximately 60 wheelie bins were painted with colourful murals, encouraging drivers to pay more attention to the street environment and encourage social interaction.
Changes in Attitudes and Behaviour reflection: During the event there was a noticeable increase in community interaction, as residents and pedestrians came together in shared community spaces. People seemed to engage more with their neighbours and share experiences in an environment with a focus on road safety. After the event, many residents expressed a desire to see more decorated wheelie bins in their community. Some asked for more workshops on how to do this and they were disappointed they missed out.
People who might normally have viewed streets solely as a means of transportation began to see them as vibrant public spaces for being able to share messages and create a sense of community and have the ability to spread messages.
After the event, there was a broader understanding of how public spaces can be used beyond just transportation. Some residents began to see the potential for reimagining their streets as spaces for leisure, play, and social gatherings, sparking discussions about how to redesign urban environments for people instead of just vehicles, therefore decreasing traffic speed and increasing road safety.
