City Road Podcast

We’re travelling up the east coast of Australia with two early career researchers to talk about families and cities. Our first stop is Wollongong, about 70 kilometres south of Sydney with Dr Susannah Clement. Our second stop is Brisbane, about 900 kilometres north of Sydney with Dr Kate Raynor. Susannah has been tagging on with mothers and their children as they walk along the streets of Wollongong. She’s interested in the everyday experiences of family life in the city, and how walking is experienced by families with young children. For these families, a walkable street has been design with families in mind, and this includes opportunities for care and play. Susannah suggests that a walkable street – a street with spaces of care and play – is a street where pedestrians and cars are held in tension. Thinking about streets in this way forces us to think about the role of cars in our cities, but it also opens up new spaces for, well, being a family. Then we leave the street and head up into a high-density ap