High Life Study protocol: a cross-sectional investigation of the influence of apartment building design policy on resident health and well-being

Abstract

IntroductionThe rapid increase in apartment construction in Australia has raised concerns about the impacts of poorly designed and located buildings on resident health and well-being. While apartment design policies exist, their content varies across jurisdictions and evidence on their impact on health and well-being is lacking. This cross-sectional observational study (2017–2021) aims to generate empirical evidence to guide policy decisions on apartment development and help to create healthy, equitable higher-density communities. Objectives include to benchmark the implementation of health-promoting apartment design requirements and to identify associations between requirements and resident health and well-being outcomes.Methods and analysisEligible buildings in three Australian cities with different apartment design guidelines will be stratified by area disadvantage and randomly selected (~n=99). Building architects, developers and local governments will be approached to provide endorsed development plans from which apartment and building design features will be extracted. Additional data collection includes a resident survey (~n=1000) to assess environmental stressors and health and well-being impacts and outcomes, and geographic information systems measures of the neighbourhood. The study has 85% power to detect a difference of 0.5 SD in the primary outcome of mental well-being (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale) at a 5% level of significance. Analyses will compare policy compliance and health-promoting design features between cities and area disadvantage groups. Regression models will test whether higher policy compliance (overall and by design theme) is associated with better health and well-being, and the relative contribution of the neighbourhood context.Ethics and disseminationHuman Research Ethics Committees of RMIT University (CHEAN B 21146-10/17) and the University of Western Australia (RA/4/1/8735) approved the study protocol. In addition to academic publications, the collaboration will develop specific health-promoting indicators to embed into the monitoring of apartment design policy implementation and impact, and co-design research dissemination materials to facilitate uptake by decision makers.

Measuring the high life: A method for assessing apartment design policy implementation

“…The High Life project is a cross-sectional, observational study evaluating the implementation of design policy requirements in apartment buildings in three Australian cities and their association with the health and well-being outcomes of approximately 1000 adult residents of these buildings [8] . It aims to provide empirical evidence on the association between apartment design requirements and resident health and wellbeing outcomes to guide future policy decisions on the design and location of residential apartment buildings, thereby contributing to the creation of healthy, equitable higher-density communities [8] . The study focuses on recently constructed (i.e., in the last 10 years) apartment buildings in Sydney, NSW, Melbourne, VIC and Perth, WA.…”

“…Apartment buildings were randomly selected from the greater metropolitan areas of Sydney, Melbourne and Perth based on their distance to the central business district and area level of Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage (IRSD, low, medium or high) [8] . To be eligible, buildings needed to: have >40 apartments; be three or more storeys; be built between 2006 and 2016 and have available endorsed architectural or development plans (including floor plates for each building level and elevations for each aspect).…”

“…To be eligible, buildings needed to: have >40 apartments; be three or more storeys; be built between 2006 and 2016 and have available endorsed architectural or development plans (including floor plates for each building level and elevations for each aspect). Further detail on the methodology for identifying eligible apartment buildings is available elsewhere [8] . The final sample comprised n = 173 buildings (NSW = 57; WA = 69; VIC = 47) containing n = 10,533 apartments (NSW = 2679; WA = 4462; VIC = 3412).…”

Implications of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Canvassing Opinion from Planning Professionals

“…These aspirations are already partly reflected in the policies. However, different apartment guidelines currently apply in each Australian city, with some providing more comprehensive guidance on the design features that impact health and wellbeing than others (Foster et al, 2019). For example, private internal and external space standards differ between states, and some states lack minimum apartment size standards altogether.…”

“…For example, private internal and external space standards differ between states, and some states lack minimum apartment size standards altogether. Evidence is currently lacking on whether these policy-specific minimum standards are appropriate for health under optimal circumstances (Foster et al, 2019), let alone during social distancing when people spend more time at home. Nonetheless, the design quality that these apartment design codes aspire to will likely become increasingly important in a post-COVID world and as Australia's apartment dwelling population increases (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2017).…”