A new city liveability study will soon map the health and wellbeing of residents across increasingly populated Australian cities, helping the government to design healthier living spaces.

Australian cities are growing incredibly fast, and large state capitals such as Melbourne and Sydney are creaking at the joints under the massive annual influx of new residents.

Most city dwellers in Australia settle in far-flung suburbs that lack services and infrastructure including public transport, education and health and services, according to Distinguished Professor Billie Giles-Corti, Director of the Enabling Capability Platform for Urban Futures at RMIT University.

Her team of researchers is analysing these places to find the most pressing issues that have both health and economic costs for all of us.

“We’re looking at the concept of liveability,” Billie says.

“It includes a number of different dimensions, such as access to affordable housing, shops and services, social infrastructure, public transport and public open space as well as walkability.”

“Hopefully by the middle of 2017 we’ll have a liveability index for Melbourne that brings all these things together. We’re mapping these indicators across all Australian capital cities to find who the winners and losers are, and hope to replicate the index for other cities in the future.”

With a tailored Australian liveability index on hand, government authorities and advisory groups involved in city planning will then have evidence to work on designing healthier urban spaces for everyone.

“’What can we do to fix this?’ is the question I want to challenge people with,” Billie says.

For more information:

RMIT University Research & Innovation
James Giggacher
+61 03 9925 4143
james.giggacher@rmit.edu.au