A Connected Morley: Project 2 Public Space Improvement

Background

The City is working in partnership with Library users and key community stakeholders to design a new semi-permanent public space in front of Morley Library.

The 212sqm2 space is within a high profile area and adjacent to a community facility (Morley Library). The design must consider:

• community and public art elements;
• use of library building and walls interfacing the green space;
• a multipurpose space that has the possibility of hosting small events and gatherings; and
• community education elements, particularly in the area of sustainability.

Why are we activating this site?

Morley as a town centre has some fantastic strengths and values including its multiculturalism, retro feel and suburban grit, however is lacking streetscape appeal. The town centre is surrounded by significant carpark, and has little green space to provide relief and opportunities for people to spend time outdoors.

The site is located outside the Morley Library, and as it currently stands provides no infrastructure to encourage people to use this space.

Implementation 

The City has contracted The Forever Project to manage the engagement, design, construction and evaluation of this project. The Forever Project is an environmental/sustainability business in WA that works to transform underutilised urban spaces, incorporating ecological design and placemaking principles.

Find out more about their eco-placemaking approach and some similar projects here.

Community Engagement

Thank you to the people that attended one of our two scheduled workshops held at the Morley Library and contributed ideas to shape the function and design of this public space in the on-line ideas forum (see below). You can see the engagement outcomes and some images from the workshops to the right, the outcomes report provides a summary of ideas and inspiration provided. The Powerpoint from the workshop which explains some of the vision behind the project is also available within the document library.

The draft concept  was recently available for public comment from those who were involved, and everyone interested in commenting. Thank you for your participation. The community feedback was positive, and the community were generally happy with the concept a agreed the concept reflected community’s aspirations and ideas from the co-design workshops. The main change was the addition of the fence along the Walter Road West perimeter due to expressed safety concerns.

Project launch

The project was launched in March 2022 at a community event.

Tell us what you think

As the project is now completed, we would like to ask you a few questions to understand how you use Morley Town Centre and to see the impact these design interventions have had on the local community.

Please complete the survey by 5pm on Tuesday, 27 June 2023 to enter into a draw to win one of 3 x $50 vouchers to spend at Bite My Banh Mi, Bobaboba or King Hotpot.