Creating Vibrant Communities

Dean Landy, author of Creating Vibrant Communities discusses how we can create active, healthy and fulfilled communities in his latest column for Urban Melbourne

Creating active, healthy and fulfilled communities The idea that the built environment plays a role in shaping people's’ physical and mental health is not new, however, it is only recently that it has become a key consideration for urban development.

The Heart Foundation are leaders in thinking about how the urban environment can support healthy lifestyles. Their report 'Good For Busine$$', discusses how places that enable active journeys create both health benefits as well as great commercial returns.

Good for Busine$$

Walkability is an essential feature of any healthy place, and it is now a feature that is being measured. Its a powerful tool - One Walk Score point can increase the price of a home by an average of $3,250 or 0.9 percent. Type in any address at the Walk Score website to ascertain a walk score.

Check out Walk Score Type in any address to ascertain its Walk Score.

There is great data out there to show us where the least healthy places in our urban environment are. This report from RMIT's Centre for Urban Research explores the geographic dispersion of important markers of health and liveability across Australia's cities.

CloudStor - CloudStor is powered by AARNet Creating_liveable_cities_in_Australia_ONLINE.pdf is publicly shared

Having had a good look at the importance of creating places that support social connectedness, Creating Vibrant Communities is now moving on to exploring how we can create places that promote physical health. The Australian Institute for Health and Welfare has recently released a report entitled, 'A picture of overweight and obese in Australia' which captures the enormity of the noncommunicable diseases epidemic in Australia.

Sydney's overweight and obesity hotspots Government snapshot provides an overview of several reports generated using ABS data.

This article uses a Victorian case study to illustrate how to increase social interaction in neighbourhood centres.

This is how to create social hubs that make 20-minute neighbourhoods work Low-density suburbs can cause social isolation that's harmful for individual and community well-being. But research confirms we can plan neighbourh...

With the intensification of urban infill and the increase in apartment living, developers are giving greater consideration to enabling social connection in apartment projects.

Communal spaces in modern apartment designs are being given an Australian edge Close to the CBD, the City of Sydney expects around 80 per cent of its residents to be living in apartments by 2030, creating vertical villages on ...

Thinking more deeply about the street furniture we include in public spaces is another way that we can encourage people out of their homes and improve opportunities for social connection.

People-friendly furniture in public places matters more than ever: Christian Tietz Generally the design of this kind of public furniture has a strictly defined scope.

Population ageing and urbanisation are two global trends that together comprise major forces shaping the 21st century. The World Health Organisation responded to this trend 10 years ago with the release of their guide for creating age friendly global cities. The principles discussed are useful considerations for urban development of any scale.

http://www.who.int/ageing/publications/Global_age_friendly_cities_Guide_English.pdf

For too many people growing older is a journey of loss; losing work, mobility, relationships, independence. Studies show that 7 – 8% of people over 65 years are socially isolated and report being lonely. The Hume City Council has compiled this incredible toolkit for improving social connections for elderly members of the community.

http://www.gvpcp.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2016-Social-Connections-Toolkit.pdf

Troy Innocent, City of Melbourne knowledge fellow 2017-18 and senior lecturer in games and interactivity at Swinburne University of Technology provides another great perspective on encouraging social connection in the urban environment.

Bringing back an old idea – playing on the street: Troy Innocent The processes that run a city may be abstracted into algorithms that feed on big data, their design optimised for efficiency, commuting, work and o...

Behaviourologist, Urbanist and Designer, Jonathan Daly of Studio Huss provided a unique perspective on how we can encourage social connection via the urban environment when we interviewed him for the CVC book.

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