Dr Lucy Gunn

Dr Gunn is a Senior Research Fellow with the Healthy Liveable Cities Lab at the RMIT Centre for Urban Research (CUR). 

Dr Gunn’s research interests include using quantitative techniques to explore the relationship between the built environment and health and wellbeing outcomes. To investigate this she uses geographic information system (GIS) data of the built environment combined with health and wellbeing survey information.

Her current research explores how the structure of built environments are supportive of healthy behaviors, such as walking, or healthy outcomes such as subjective wellbeing.  A key interest is in analyzing and understanding which built environments are supportive of health, since this provides an evidence base to policy makers and planners on what constitutes good built environment design and provides feedback on the implementation of past and current urban design plans. In this area, a health focus is being applied to evaluate and perform economic evaluations of built environment interventions applied to recent precinct structure plans in partnership with the Victorian Planning Authority.

She has found inequity between people when examining socio-spatial indicators of people living close to polluting sites with those living across metropolitan Melbourne. Other publications have explored the use of indicator systems based on consultant working and involvement with Community Indicators Victoria in partnership with EPAV, Ballarat, Boroondara and Cardinia Councils. In this capacity she has delivered training on the use of indicators in Community, Health and Wellbeing planning using Results Based Accountability.

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Related Content

Projects

Creating Liveable Cities in Australia – Scorecards

2018 (ongoing)

A scorecard and priority recommendations for Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane developed using results from the 'Creating Liveable Cities in Australia' (2017) report.

Early delivery of equitable and healthy transport options in new suburbs

2018–2021

The project will produce evidence and tools to assist both the public and private sectors provide transport options to residents of Melbourne’s new suburbs as soon as they move in.

News & Blog

News

New tool shows active transport benefits to health and finances

23 November 2023

Today a team from the RMIT Centre for Urban Research are launching THAT-Brisbane, a transport and health assessment tool for planning healthier cities.

Blog

Two new projects to help promote active transport and understand healthy ageing

08 March 2023

Two new projects led by Dr Lucy Gunn aim to improve our health by understanding the health impacts of our neighbourhoods.

News

Walk or drive? New tool shows the health effects of your travel choices

21 April 2021

RMIT researchers and the Victorian Department of Transport launch a new digital tool to measure the health impacts of replacing car trips with walking and cycling trips for Melburnians.

News

Bringing the buzz back to Melbourne: what’s it going to take?

15 March 2021

Melbourne is ready for business and to entice Victorians to stay and play in metropolitan Melbourne the State Government is releasing travel vouchers. But is this enough to revitalise the city?

News

Ten ways RMIT research is helping to build a more sustainable future

21 September 2020

From turning back the emissions clock to building more durable roads from old tyres, RMIT researchers are tackling today’s biggest challenges and developing solutions for a more sustainable world.

Blog

Coronavirus reminds us how liveable neighbourhoods matter for our well-being

21 April 2020

We are witnessing changes in the ways we use our cities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The liveability of our local neighbourhoods has never been more important.

Blog

The average regional city resident lacks good access to two-thirds of community services, and liveability suffers

16 March 2020

The way our growing cities are planned and built is becoming ever more important in building healthy, liveable and sustainable communities.

Media

Australia’s most liveable regional cities revealed

16 March 2020

Victoria is home to Australia's most liveable regional cities – Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong – according to new research that for the first time maps health and liveability across the country’s 21 largest cities.

Blog

No need to give up on crowded cities – we can make density so much better

18 February 2020

The more immediate need is to focus on improving conditions in our major cities. Our smaller towns matter, but we can’t neglect the urgent need to get better at doing the bigger ones right.

News

Landmark liveability research wins at national planning awards

17 May 2019

Pioneering RMIT research that delivered the first true measurement of liveability in Australia’s capital cities has been recognised with a top planning award.

Media

Want to get people walking? Make train stations about more than transport

29 April 2019

Train station precincts with more shops and apartment blocks are key to getting residents walking, a new report has found, with stations in Melbourne’s north and south-east ripe for redevelopment.

News

Meet the women helping plan the cities of tomorrow

05 March 2019

As Melbourne grows, we need to better plan how we build healthy, equitable and liveable cities. Here four RMIT researchers talk about how their work is helping deliver better cities.

Publications

Integrating spatially detailed micro-environmental attributes to a routable transport network for active travel modelling: A pilot study in Greater Manchester

S M Labib, Irena Itova, Corin Staves, Dr Belen Zapata-Diomedi, Dr Alan Both, Dr Lucy Gunn, Haneen Khreis, Ali Abbas, Aruna Sivakumar, Jenna Panter, Emerita Professor Billie Giles-Corti, James Woodcock

30th Annual Geographical Information Science Research UK

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