Urban design: building sustainable links

Page content: Overview | Related Projects | Forum proceedings

Overview

There are strong links that exists between the built environment, health and wellbeing.

The built environment impacts upon opportunities to engage in physical activity and the way in which we participate in community life. As the focus of the planning profession is to design and create a sound built environment, and the emphasis of public health professionals is to increase opportunities for physical activity and improve community life the two group's objectives are intrinsically linked. Through a shared recognition of these links, more sustainable partnerships can be created between urban, social and health planners at a state and local level to improve the health and wellbeing of the community.

A table demonstrating the relationship between the built environment and a number of public health goal areas is available in PDF format.

Dr Billie Giles-Corti, University of Western Australia was sponsored by Department of Human Services to speak at the Planning Institute 2005 National Congress. Dr Giles-Corti is a leading researcher in the links between the built environment and health.

It takes a whole community to make people healthy - presentation (2.6mb, pdf)

Related Projects

Healthy By Design – Heart Foundation (Victorian Division)
Healthy by Design has been developed by the Heart Foundation (Victorian Division) in response to local government requests for practical guidance in designing walkable, and ultimately more liveable, communities. The design considerations detailed in the guide facilitate healthy planning and healthy places for people to live, work and visit http://www.heartfoundation.com.au/sepavic

Planning for Health Project - Planning Institute Australia (Victoria Division)
In August 2002, with funding from VicHealth, PIA (Vic) employed a Project Officer, Stephanie Knox, to build a closer working relationship between planning and health promotion.

The project objectives are to:

• increase the number of planners aware of and advocating for the integration of planning and health.
• increase the capacity of planners to influence local urban design so that health is "planned in " rather than "planned out".
• gather evidence of good planning for health and well being, including literature and case studies, collated and disseminated to planners.
• identify key planing and design elements that will lead to greater health and social benefits for the community.

Further details are available on the Planning Institute Australia Victoria Division website.

Planning Institute Australia

An Evaluation of Planner Awareness of Health Issues - Final Report (649kb, pdf)
This document is available from the Planning Institute of Australia website.

PIA Victoria 2003 awards for planning excellence (16kb, pdf)

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Planning and Health: Building Sustainable Communities

A series of workshops on this topic were held throughout Victoria in 2002. A key aim of the workshops was to enable planners from different disciplines to exchange ideas, and brainstorm strategies for dealing with challenges and enhancing collaboration.

2002 Forum Proceedings

Proceedings and presentations are available for the following Forums.

Planning and Health: 'Building Sustainable Communities. The Rural Perspective'
Churchill, Victoria
November 2002

Planning and Health: 'Building Sustainable Communities on the Urban Fringe'
Narre Warren, Victoria
August 2002

Planning and Health: 'Building Sustainable Links'
Footscray, Victoria
April 2002

Proceedings and presentations from the forum, "Planning and Health: Building Sustainable Links", are now available on the VicHealth website.

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