Your Development

Developers are well-placed to promote health if they carefully consider the needs of people when planning their development. Benefits for human health can help to strengthen the case for sustainable development (including mass transit).

This fact sheet provides an overview of the range of health issues relevant to residential development. Other fact sheets in Your Development cover topics with relevance to health (such as design issues like layout, connectivity, design for mixed uses, density, open space provision).

Issues include:

• opportunities for physical activity
• availability of, and access to, healthy food
• opportunities for social interaction (conviviality)
• opportunities for contact with nature
• safety and sense of security
• exposure to sound and noise
• exposure to extremes of temperature
• exposure to pollution (air, water, soil)
• exposure to ultraviolet and other radiation
• time use.

Active living

Physical activity has a range of benefits for health (both physical and mental). It has been estimated that a healthy amount of physical activity is 10,000 steps per day (or equivalent). We can get this exercise by going to the gym, or doing other organised sports. Alternately, we can get this exercise “incidentally” – just doing our daily business.

If our environment is planned and developed in ways that encourage physical activity, it is possible to get plenty of physical activity walking to the bus or train, walking to the shop, walking to school, cycling to work, walking up and down stairs in buildings etc. Of course, it’s important to remember that some people are not able to walk or cycle, and developers must still consider the needs of people who are less physically able.

Useful guidance on planning for active living is available on the internet (see links below). Further information is also available in the Your Development fact sheets on public transport, active transport and mobility management, mix of modes, walkable neighbourhoods.

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Ready access to daily needs

There are many benefits from ensuring that people are able to meet most of their daily needs within walking or cycling distance of where they live. This includes access to shops (selling groceries, fruit and vegetables, newspapers, basic chemist items), services (primary health services such as general practitioner and physiotherapist; other community services such as library), parks and other community spaces. The benefits include:

1. physical activity
2. opportunities for social interaction
3. reduced need for motor car transport (less emissions, including carbon dioxide)
4. convenience for those who do not have a motor car and enabling the elderly to “age in place” by maintaining independence beyond when they otherwise would.

A good ambition for any development should be that residents can meet most daily needs within walking or wheeling (bicycle, wheelchair) distance of where they live.

There are two challenges to achieving this objective. Firstly, the economic viability of neighbourhood-level shops and services. Mass transit can make a difference. If the businesses are sited in a cluster that is served by a train or bus route(s), or close to a trip generator such as a school, this will help create a market for the goods and services. The second challenge is the need for some co-ordination across multiple agencies (government and non-government).

Further information is also available in the Your Development fact sheet on planning for walkable neighbourhoods.

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Convivial and safe place to live

People like to live in places that are friendly and lively, with opportunities for social interaction (convivial places). This can have benefits for mental wellbeing. Other Your Development fact sheets address planning for diversity, “age-friendly” places and culture (community integration – diversity, age, connection/interaction, places for community, public spaces, heritage and culture).

Feeling safe, and being safe, in places is a pre-requisite for active participation in the community and connection and engagement with other residents. A mix of people, from across the age spectrum, in public spaces and on footpaths provides opportunities for informal “supervision” of behaviour in these places. This may be more effective than security cameras and other technologies.

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Basic physical needs

A number of additional issues relating to basic physical needs for people are covered in other Your Development fact sheets (healthy materials, waste management, bushfire, climate/microclimate, water management and re-use).

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Key Issues

Benefits

• The health and wellbeing of people who will live, work or play in the development should be a key consideration for the developer. It’s important to “think people” – think about how people will interact with this new place.
• It does not need to cost a lot to address these issues.
• There can be “co-benefits for health” when developing in a sustainable way – for example, if mass transit is available, people can walk to the bus stop (which benefits their health) at the same time as they reduce their carbon footprint (by reducing motor car usage).
• Developing communities that are healthy can provide a good marketing opportunity for the development.

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Risks

• “Walkability” and “cyclability” are important and it’s also important not to forget the needs of people who are less physically able. It’s important to achieve a balance between investment in the needs of people and the environment, whilst still ensuring developments are economically viable.

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Savings

• There will be additional costs to the community if developers do not consider health impacts – additional costs of health care and loss of productivity. For example, it is estimated that the obesity epidemic is currently costing Australia $20 billion per annum – on average $1000 for every person every year. Healthy development could save some of these costs
• Potential for shared use of community facilities e.g. school and community libraries and sporting facilities

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Costs

• There will be some modest additional costs to consider how people will live in this new place, and the consequences for their health, because of the time required to do so.
• Making provision for multiple modes of transport will cost the developer more, but purchasers may be prepared to pay more because of the benefits, including reduced “ongoing” costs of living.
• The sharing of costs between the developer, government and the consumer is important. For example, if the motor car is the primary mode of transport, initial costs to the developer and government may be lower, but the resident is left with ongoing costs of running a motor car (or perhaps several motor cars). These costs are not always acknowledged.

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Barriers

• The main barrier is a lack of appreciation of the opportunity to promote health through urban development. To overcome this barrier it’s important to raise awareness about the relationships between health and urban development, including via the sharing of good case studies.

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Benchmarks

• Australian drinking water guidelines have been developed by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in association with the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council (NRMMC).
• Air quality guidance is being developed at the State level. An example is that of the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation.
• Shade planning and design guidance has been developed in association with the Cancer Council.
• The health impacts of chemical contamination of land come under the jurisdiction of the environment protection agency in the relevant State or Territory.
• The benchmark for incidental physical activity is 10,000 steps a day, or equivalent. These steps can be taken within buildings and moving between buildings and other places.
• Healthy By Design – a planner’s guide to environments for active living. National Heart Foundation (Victorian Division)

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Development phase actions

Feasibility

Questions to consider are:

• How does the development fit with other established places? How will the development connect with other places – jobs and educational, social, cultural and sporting opportunities?
• Will there be mass transit available (from early on)? How frequent are the services? Are the routes likely to meet the needs of residents?
• How might the development contribute to the creation of local employment?

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Planning

Questions to consider are:

• Will residents be able to meet most of their daily needs in walking or cycling distance of where they live?
• Are there safe walking and cycling routes to local schools, shops, services, parks and other destinations?
• How can accessibility be maximised for all residents – including disabled people who are less physically able, children and elderly people?

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Design

The design of any development should consider the following human needs:

• physical activity
• access to healthy food (both food shopping and growing food locally)
• safety
• social interaction (conviviality)
• contact with nature
• minimise exposure to noise, extremes of temperature, pollutants (of the air, water and land), radiation.

There should also be careful consideration of how people use and value their time. Everyone makes time choices every day. Some people choose to drive almost everywhere because they perceive it’s the quick option. In reality, this is often not the case – riding a bicycle is often a faster way to travel in our congested cities. Is 10 minutes spent walking to the shop, rather than a few minutes in the car, a waste of any additional minutes? When the health benefits (physical activity, reduced emissions, possible social interaction etc) are considered, the additional time invested in this journey is a sensible use of time.

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Construction

• In the construction phase there are health issues related to occupational health and safety for construction workers.

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Lot Creation

• Issues include orientation and siting of lots to maximise natural ventilation and solar passive opportunities.
• The layout to of streets and lots can facilitate, or inhibit, physical activity and accessibility. The provision of pathways and cycleways between lots is another key consideration at this stage.

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Completion

• Once the development is completed it could still be necessary to encourage people to make healthy choices – to maximise the health benefits from good design and planning.
• A targeted health promotion campaign, in association with the marketing of the development, may be helpful.
• There may also be a place for ongoing community development initiatives.

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Barton H, Tsourou C. 2000, Healthy urban planning, London: Spon.

Capon AG, Blakely EJ, 2007 'Checklist for healthy and sustainable communities', NSW Public Health Bull ; 18: 51–4. http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=NB07066

Frumkin H, Frank L, Jackson R, 2004, Urban sprawl and public health: designing, planning and building for healthy communities, Washington DC, Island Press. 

Johnson C, editor, 2004, Healthy environments, Sydney, Government Architect’s Publications.