Liveability aspirations and realities: Implementation of urban policies designed to create healthy cities in Australia

Lowe, Melanie; Arundel, Jonathan; Hooper, Paula; Rozek, Julianna; Higgs, Carl; Roberts, Rebecca; Giles‐Corti, Billie

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112713

Cited by 46 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The spatial indicators were linked to formulas to indicate potential health impacts. Earlier work from the RESIDential Environments (RESIDE) project had estimated the relationships between the built environment’s multiple features and a range of health-supportive behaviours and well-being outcomes for participants living across Perth, Western Australia [ 45 ]. A formula was programmed into the CommunityViz to estimate the probability that an individual undertakes (any) transport walking that took in the values for each spatial indicator multiplied by the identified coefficients.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the potential for planning support systems to bridge the research-translation gap between public health and urban planning

Hooper

Boulangé

Arciniegas³

et al. 2021

Int J Health Geogr

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Background There is consensus that planning professionals need clearer guidance on the features that are likely to produce optimal community-wide health benefits. However, much of this evidence resides in academic literature and not in tools accessible to the diverse group of professionals shaping our cities. Incorporating health-related metrics into the planning support systems (PSS) provides an opportunity to apply empirical evidence on built environment relationships with health-related outcomes to inform real-world land use and transportation planning decisions. This paper explores the role of planning support systems (PSS) to facilitate the translation and application of health evidence into urban planning and design practices to create healthy, liveable communities. Methods A review of PSS software and a literature review of studies featuring a PSS modelling built environmental features and health impact assessment for designing and creating healthy urban areas was undertaken. Customising existing software, a health impact PSS (the Urban Health Check) was then piloted with a real-world planning application to evaluate the usefulness and benefits of a health impact PSS for demonstrating and communicating potential health impacts of design scenarios in planning practice. Results Eleven PSS software applications were identified, of which three were identified as having the capability to undertake health impact analyses. Three studies met the inclusion criteria of presenting a planning support system customised to support health impact assessment with health impacts modelled or estimated due to changes to the built environment. Evaluation results indicated the Urban Health Check PSS helped in four key areas: visualisation of how the neighbourhood would change in response to a proposed plan; understanding how a plan could benefit the community; Communicate and improve understanding health of planning and design decisions that positively impact health outcomes. Conclusions The use of health-impact PSS have the potential to be transformative for the translation and application of health evidence into planning policy and practice, providing those responsible for the policy and practice of designing and creating our communities with access to quantifiable, evidence-based information about how their decisions might impact community health.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the potential for planning support systems to bridge the research-translation gap between public health and urban planning

Hooper

Boulangé

Arciniegas³

et al. 2021

Int J Health Geogr

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…At the global level, indicator frameworks have been proposed to assess both the UN's Sustainable Development Goals [37] and its New Urban Agenda [38], and include a selection of indicators that, if achieved, would support sustainable development in cities [39]. Mapped spatial indicators also assist in measuring the extent of policy implementation and infrastructure delivery [21,31,40,41], and could help to identify spatial equalities in access to amenities within cities [42].…”

Section: Evidence-informed Planning and The Use Of Accessibility Indicatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Achieving ‘Active’ 30 Minute Cities: How Feasible Is It to Reach Work within 30 Minutes Using Active Transport Modes?

Both

Gunn

Higgs

et al. 2022

IJGI

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Confronted with rapid urbanization, population growth, traffic congestion, and climate change, there is growing interest in creating cities that support active transport modes including walking, cycling, or public transport. The ‘30 minute city’, where employment is accessible within 30 min by active transport, is being pursued in some cities to reduce congestion and foster local living. This paper examines the spatial relationship between employment, the skills of residents, and transport opportunities, to answer three questions about Australia’s 21 largest cities: (1) What percentage of workers currently commute to their workplace within 30 min? (2) If workers were to shift to an active transport mode, what percent could reach their current workplace within 30 min? and (3) If it were possible to relocate workers closer to their employment or relocate employment closer to their home, what percentage could reach work within 30 min by each mode? Active transport usage in Australia is low, with public transport, walking, and cycling making up 16.8%, 2.8%, and 1.1% respectively of workers’ commutes. Cycling was found to have the most potential for achieving the 30 min city, with an estimated 29.5% of workers able to reach their current workplace were they to shift to cycling. This increased to 69.1% if workers were also willing and able to find a similar job closer to home, potentially reducing commuting by private motor vehicle from 79.3% to 30.9%.

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“…The spatial indicators were linked to formulas to indicate potential health impacts. Earlier work from the RESIDential Environments (RESIDE) project had estimated the relationships between the built environment's multiple features and a range of health-supportive behaviours and well-being outcomes for participants living across Perth, Western Australia (33). A formula was programmed into the CommunityViz to estimate the probability that an individual undertakes (any) transport walking that took in the values for each spatial indicator multiplied by the identi ed coe cients.…”

Section: Development Of the Urban Health Check Pssmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Potential for Planning Support Systems to Bridge the Research-translation Gap Between Public Health and Urban Planning

Hooper

Boulangé

Arciniegas

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: There is consensus that planning professionals need clearer guidance on the features that are likely to produce optimal community-wide health benefits. However, much of this evidence resides in academic literature and not in tools accessible to the diverse group of professionals shaping our cities. This paper explores the role of planning support systems (PSS) to facilitate the translation and application of health evidence into urban planning and design practices to create healthy, liveable communities.Methods: A review of PSS software and studies featuring a planning support system with a built environment and health impact assessment for designing and creating healthy urban areas was undertaken. Customising existing software, a health impact PSS (the Urban Health Check) was then developed and applied to a real-world planning application with an industry partner allowing for: (i) automated calculation of built environment variables; (ii) “sketch planning” functionality; and (iii) a health impact indicator that estimates the probability of walking for transport. A participatory evaluation framework evaluated the "utility", "usability", and "usefulness" of the Urban Health Check.Results: Eleven PSS software applications were identified, of which three were identified as having the capability to undertake health impact analyses. Three studies met the inclusion criteria of presenting a planning support system customised to support health impact assessment with health impacts modelled or estimated due to changes to the built environment. Evaluation results indicated the Urban Health Check PSS helped in four key areas: visualisation of how the neighbourhood would change in response to a proposed plan; understanding how a plan could benefit the community; Communicate and improve understanding health of planning and design decisions that positively impact health outcomes; engagement – allowing community members to provide direct feedback and see the immediate implications of amendments to a proposed plan. Conclusions: The use of health-impact PSS have the potential to be transformative for the translation and application of health evidence into planning policy and practice, providing those responsible for the policy and practice of designing and creating our communities with access to quantifiable, evidence-based information about how their decisions might impact community health.

show abstract

Liveability aspirations and realities: Implementation of urban policies designed to create healthy cities in Australia

Cited by 46 publications

References 37 publications

Exploring the potential for planning support systems to bridge the research-translation gap between public health and urban planning

Exploring the potential for planning support systems to bridge the research-translation gap between public health and urban planning

Achieving ‘Active’ 30 Minute Cities: How Feasible Is It to Reach Work within 30 Minutes Using Active Transport Modes?

Exploring the Potential for Planning Support Systems to Bridge the Research-translation Gap Between Public Health and Urban Planning

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