Joondalup (/ˈdʒuːndəlʌp/) is a suburb located approximately 26 kilometers (16 miles) north of Perth’s central business district in Western Australia. It serves as the central business district for the regional City of Joondalup and is the main urban center for the northern suburbs of Perth.
In the late 1960s, the Metropolitan Regional Planning Authority (MRPA) created the Corridor Plan for Perth, which was published in 1970 and endorsed by Parliament in 1973. This plan aimed to establish five “sub-regional” retail centers—Fremantle, Joondalup, Midland, Armadale, and Rockingham—to serve as commercial and economic hubs, reducing the retail load on Perth’s CBD.
To support these sub-regional centers and other regional shopping centers, the MRPA introduced a Retail Shopping Policy in 1976, leading to the creation of the Perth Metropolitan Region Retail Structure Plan to regulate the retail industry. This plan was periodically updated to accommodate new centers. However, a review in 1987 found that these sub-regional centers had not successfully competed with the regional shopping centers in the middle-distance suburbs.
Development in Joondalup began in earnest from the late 1980s to early 1990s, transforming it into the “city of the north” with the establishment of homes and businesses. The area’s significance as a regional hub was confirmed by the Western Australian State Government’s Directions 2031 strategy, which designated Joondalup town center as one of two Primary Centres for the Perth metropolitan area.
The name Joondalup, derived from Lake Joondalup, is a Noongar word first recorded in 1837. It possibly means “place of whiteness or glistening” or “place of a creature that can only move backwards.”
