We’re creative urbanists
with a focus on participation, inclusion, and human infrastructure for happier, healthier lives.
We specialise in urban experience research and creative community engagement, for everyone.
If you want to create socially connected, delightful places and include a wider variety of people in how you plan, design and manage public space, networks and programs, we’d like to work with you.
We can help you experiment with new ways to hear from many different kinds of people. When needed, we focus on raising the voices of girls and women* especially, because we know that involving them makes places better for everyone.
Our services are novel, customisable and zeitgeisty. If you're looking for fresh ideas to get things moving, let’s connect!
About Us
Hey!
I’m Karen Lee.
I founded Solidaria Studio to offer creative participation processes and measurement methods to bring more diverse people into shaping lovable, equitable places and mobility networks.
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I’m a planner, sociologist and cargo-bike eccentric with specialist expertise in creating community participation processes, designing systems to support active transport, and measuring human experience of public space.
I love to immerse myself in my clients’ worlds to help them build their strategies, capabilities and public programs, evaluate their progress, celebrate their success stories, and connect a wider variety of people to richer community creation processes that make better places.
I combine a cross-disciplinary approach with my particular socio-spatial awareness, a profound justice sensitivity and a big appetite for change to gather new data and voices and help people make their places and programs more welcoming, convivial and delightful for everyone.
In addition to specialist training in Planning Cycling Cities (University of Amsterdam); Measuring Public Life (Gehl Institute); the Healthy Streets Framework (UK); Community Engagement and Deliberative Democracy (IAP2), I have a Bachelor of Arts in Community Development and Sustainable Development (Murdoch University, 2018) and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning (UWA, 2024). My affiliations include IAP2, TPA, PIA, PLAWA, Healthy Streets (Designer), Global Walkability Correspondents Network, Active Transport Forum Australia and New Zealand and the Parlour Collective.
Before becoming a full-on urban nerd, I worked in creative industry development and funding, ran a community radio station, and created large-scale arts experiences to bring people together.
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Transformation & Culture Specialist
Martine is a transformation specialist who partners with clients and communities to uncover opportunities and design solutions that create genuine and lasting impact. Known for her curious and action-oriented approach, she creates environments where diverse perspectives can flourish. Her approach ensures technology serves communities and places authentically rather than creating barriers to participation. Martine's expertise in human-centred design and agile methods power her creation of accessible solutions and compatible products.
Martine combines technical fluency with organisational strategy and culture expertise, backed by extensive cross-sector experience in technology adoption, arts management, and public and private sector innovation. She bridges business needs, people, and technology to help organisations navigate complex change while building more inclusive and equitable practices. She facilitates strategy development and delivery from organisational vision to detailed implementation.
In addition to specialised training in Agile coaching and transformation (ICAgile ICP-ENT and ICP-CAT), Martine holds cyber security certifications, earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Western Australia (2020) and a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and Public Relations from Curtin University (2010).
Martine is drawn to challenges where innovative thinking and collaborative action can build stronger, more inclusive organisations and communities.
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Director, Numbat Geospatial
Geospatial Specialist and Bicycle UX ResearcherGeorgia is a geospatial specialist and active transport advocate with expertise in spatial analysis, data visualisation, and community-focused mapping. She founded Numbat Geospatial to help small organisations and community groups harness the power of spatial data to tell compelling stories and create positive change.
Georgia works collaboratively with clients to transform complex spatial information into accessible tools that support decision-making, grant applications, and community engagement. She specialises in creating maps and visualisations that reveal patterns and insights that might otherwise remain hidden.
Georgia combines technical expertise with a deep commitment to open-source methodologies, ensuring clients can maintain and build upon their spatial resources independently. Her approach emphasises accessibility, knowledge-sharing, and developing solutions that make places better for everyone.
In addition to her decade of experience in transport planning and advocacy, Georgia holds a PhD from Curtin University. Her research developed innovative approaches to understanding and visualising active transport infrastructure and community needs. She has completed training in Community Engagement (IAP2) and the Healthy Streets Framework (UK).
She prioritises projects that promote equitable access to community resources and sustainable transportation options across Western Australia.
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Via Premise, part of the Amey Group
Senior Transport Research Advisor
Marina has over 15 years’ experience with a broad range of skills across the land development and urban infrastructure market sectors. Her skills include traffic and transportation planning, provision of Gateway review services, road safety auditing, traffic modelling using SIDRA software and Paramics software for macro, meso and micro modelling, car park design, concept design drafting using AutoCAD and graphic design skills using MS Office and Adobe Package programmes.
Marina was a founding Director of KCTT, now part of Premise Group Services. Being a working director gives Marina direct insight across the range of scales and allowed her to innately understand connections between the minute detail and high-level strategy. Marina’s skills are in selection and development of information and operating systems, business development, team mentoring, traffic engineering and transport planning. She has either completed the modelling and reporting or supervised the project delivery on over 700 traffic and transport engineering studies. Being a qualified Architectural Engineer and Urban Designer, Marina’s perspective and understanding of traffic and transportation issues are unique.Her key strengths are that she understands how great urban locations function, and she has coupled her understanding of urban planning with her knowledge of the mathematical principles and power of modelling. This provides her with superior capabilities in integrating the intended human behaviour of proposed land uses to produce best practice planning outcomes. Marina is an excellent facilitator and negotiator, with diversified business and civic experience as Chair of the NGO group The Bend in The Road in Perth which advocates for redevelopment in the City of Stirling and enhancement of public spaces on the Scarborough Beach Road corridor. This is coupled with her role in the deployment of smart cities technologies in the Republic of Serbia with the NGO Pametni Grad (which when translated from Serbian means “Smart City”).
Marina’s qualifications include a Graduate Diploma of Urban Design (AUDRC, UWA) and a Master of Architecture / Engineer of Architecture (University of Belgrade). She is a certified Road Safety Auditor – MRWA & IPWEA (Registered in WA, NSW, QLD), a Gateway Team Member – BLTI (Registered Member in WA, NSW, QLD, VIC, NT), a Healthy Streets Design Practitioner and is Movement and Place (NSW) qualified.
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Urban Experience Experts
Wherever possible, we use co-design methodologies that put young people’s experiences and knowledge at the centre of public realm research and design.
This approach enhances their capacity to understand how their right to the city is shaped by planning processes and builds their capabilities so they can influence they places they live for the better.For our clients, our young consultant team provide design insights that allow us, together, to reach young people with authentic invitations to contribute and share their perspectives and ideas for future places that meet their needs.
Our small team of emerging young consultants who have completed a BIKE-CURIOUS program cycle are engaged and supported to participate and contribute throughout suitable projects.
Our principles
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Imagine a bright future
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Build trust across divides
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Affirm individual and collective potential
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Illuminate the way
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Raise others up
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Delight in discoveries along the way as well as destinations
*When we say girls and women, we mean to be as inclusive as possible, extending space for the particular and generalised experiences of trans and intersex girls and women, and including a respectful welcome to gender diverse people who are comfortable in spaces where the experiences of girls and women are centred. We acknowledge and seek to better understand the intersectional factors and circumstances affecting women of colour, First Nations women, women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, LGBTIQA+ people, neurodivergent women, women who are parents, and women disabled by barriers in society and city space.
Feel free to suggest updates to our language or practices; we love to learn.
Our goals
We align our work with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Our affiliations
