Liveable neighbourhoods have the potential to enhance public health, the economy, social inclusion and environmental and social sustainability.  While there has been an increase in research on the built environment and health, important research gaps remain that prevent the translation of research into policy including the need for studies using complex-systems models designed in consultation with urban planning experts and tested using advanced statistical methods.

This project builds on the national liveability indicator work supported through the first phase of The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre, and other related work funded by the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Healthy Liveable Communities, and the Clean Air and Urban Landscapes (CAUL) Hub of the National Environmental Science Program.

In this second phase of work, we will partner with Commonwealth Department of Health, VicHealth and SA Health to improve understandings of the relationship between built environments, daily activities and travel choices.  We will show how this varies within and across Australia’s 21 largest cities (i.e., selected to align with the Federal Government’s National Cities Performance Framework), and use simulation as a tool that allows possible interventions to be tested and benefits quantified.

The combination of evidence-based indicators, insights from large-scale individual-level activity models and an economic evaluation framework will provide researchers, policy-makers and practitioners the ability to identify and test prevention strategies during the project.

The aims of this project are to:

 (1) Extend and develop the national platform of urban liveability indicators in order to benchmark and monitor the health and wellbeing of cities;

(2) Use these indicators in conjunction with other data within complex systems simulation models; and

(3) Assess the economic merit of specific interventions designed to create healthy, liveable communities including their effect on health and wellbeing outcomes and health care expenditure.

Funding:

The Australia Prevention Partnership Centre