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"In Neighbourhood: Designing a Liveable Community, renowned architect, professor and urban planner Avi Friedman describes the planning of a new neighbourhood in Middlesex Centre, a rural municipality in southern Ontario. Friedman explores how good and bad design affect our homes and civic life. In his quest to build a new kind of neighbourhood, Friedman talks about personal architectural and community touchstones that have informed his work through the years. Over the past decade or more, worrisome signs--climate change, depletion of natural resources, unrelenting urban sprawl, the tyranny of the automobile, the decline of face-to-face human contact--have motivated us to radically rethink home and community design. In Avi Friedman's view, these issues have combined to force us to question fundamental practices and come up with better solutions."--

Background The RESIDential Environments (RESIDE) project is a unique longitudinal natural experiment designed to evaluate the health impacts of the "Liveable Neighbourhoods" planning policy, which was introduced by the Western Australian government to create more walkable suburbs. Objectives To summarize the RESIDE evidence of the impact of the planning policy on a range of health-supportive behaviours and wellbeing outcomes and to assess the consistency and direction of the estimates of associations. Methods An audit of 26 RESIDE research papers (from 2003 to 2012) identified the number of positive associations (statistically significant and consistent with policy expectations), negative associations (statistically significant and inconsistent with policy expectations), and null findings from multiple-exposure models between objective and perceived measures of 20 policy design requirements and 13 health-supportive behaviors and wellbeing outcomes. Results In total 332 eligible estimates of associations (n = 257 objective measures and n = 75 perceived measures) were identified. Positively significant findings were detected for: 57% of walking estimates with objectively measured policy design features (negative = 3%; null = 40%) (n = 115) and 54% perceived measures (negative = 0%; null = 33%) (n = 27); 42% of sense of community estimates with objectively measured of policy design features (negative = 8%; null = 50%) (n = 12) and 61% perceived measures (negative = 8%; null = 31%) (n = 13); 39% of safety or crime-related estimates with objectively measured of policy design features (negative = 22%; null = 39%) (n = 28) and 100% perceived measures (n = 7). All (n = 4) estimates for mental health outcomes with objectively measured policy-related design features were positively significant. Conclusions The synthesis of findings suggests that new suburban communities built in accordance with the "Liveable Neighbourhoods" policy have the potential to encourage health supportive behaviors and wellbeing outcomes including transport and recreation walking, and to create neighborhoods with a stronger sense of community where residents may feel safer.

BACKGROUND: The RESIDential Environments (RESIDE) project is a unique longitudinal natural experiment designed to evaluate the health impacts of the "Liveable Neighbourhoods" planning policy, which was introduced by the Western Australian government to create more walkable suburbs. OBJECTIVES: To summarize the RESIDE evidence of the impact of the planning policy on a range of health-supportive behaviours and wellbeing outcomes and to assess the consistency and direction of the estimates of associations. METHODS: An audit of 26 RESIDE research papers (from 2003 to 2012) identified the number of positive associations (statistically significant and consistent with policy expectations), negative associations (statistically significant and inconsistent with policy expectations), and null findings from multiple-exposure models between objective and perceived measures of 20 policy design requirements and 13 health-supportive behaviors and wellbeing outcomes. RESULTS: In total 332 eligible estimates of associations (n = 257 objective measures and n = 75 perceived measures) were identified. Positively significant findings were detected for: 57% of walking estimates with objectively measured policy design features (negative = 3%; null = 40%) (n = 115) and 54% perceived measures (negative = 0%; null = 33%) (n = 27); 42% of sense of community estimates with objectively measured of policy design features (negative = 8%; null = 50%) (n = 12) and 61% perceived measures (negative = 8%; null = 31%) (n = 13); 39% of safety or crime-related estimates with objectively measured of policy design features (negative = 22%; null = 39%) (n = 28) and 100% perceived measures (n = 7). All (n = 4) estimates for mental health outcomes with objectively measured policy-related design features were positively significant. CONCLUSIONS: The synthesis of findings suggests that new suburban communities built in accordance with the "Liveable Neighbourhoods" policy have the potential to encourage health supportive behaviors and wellbeing outcomes ...

The article examines the environmental qualities perceived by ageing populations in suburban low-density and car-oriented neighbourhoods in comparison to more dense and central areas. The study focuses on Nicosia, Cyprus, a city that suffers from extended sprawl and car dependency in almost every urban district. The aim of the article is to investigate how older adults perceive and evaluate their place of residence and if this assessment relates to the suburban or the city centre profile of their neighbourhoods. For this reason, the study takes five residential districts, two central and three suburban areas, as case studies. Each of the selected residential districts performs differently in terms of percentage of the population over the age of 65; scale and street layout; adequacy in supporting land uses; building density; distance from the city centre and public space availability and condition. The almost exclusive use of private cars, as the main transportation mode is a common feature of all older adults interviewed in these areas. The older adults' perceptions of place are assessed through the Place Standard (PS), a simple recently awarded framework which structures conversations about place in regard to its physical elements as well as its social composition. PS is used as an interview tool, which allows the mapping/visualization of qualitative data. Qualitative in-depth interviews conclude to an evaluation of fourteen aspects that outline a residential district profile from mobility to green and urban image attractiveness, and from facilities to social contact and safety, covering almost every aspect of daily life. The article concludes that the neighbourhood assessment from older residents varies depending on the nature of the suburban neighbourhood. Density, layout and distance from the city centre matter according to the participants' evaluation and there is a clear preference towards suburban low-density areas.

Tenant movements are increasingly impacting urban governance and the development of housing in Canadian cities. Tenants resisting violent and 'gentler' forms of gentrification—through outright expulsion or being priced out of their communities—have demonstrated their unwillingness to allow financialized real estate to determine their housing futures. At the same time, tenants also have to contend with discourses of urban improvement that increasingly dominate the terrain of financialized rental housing (re)development. Community benefits agreements and other similar arrangements emphasizing neighbourhood liveability and wellbeing are increasingly deployed as devices to justify housing (re)development, but also work to facilitate gentrification. Through an examination of a struggle between tenants and a financialized real estate investment firm in Canada's capital city Ottawa—which aspires to be North America's most liveable mid-sized city—this article explores the implications of a Community Wellbeing Framework for a neighbourhood redevelopment project forged through tenant resistance efforts.

In a groundbreaking longitudinal study, researches studied seven similar social housing neighbourhoods in Ireland to determine what factors affected their liveability. In this collection of essays, the same researchers return to these neighbourhoods ten years later to see what's changed. Are these neighbourhoods now more liveable or leaveable? Social Housing, Disadvantage and Neighbourhood Liveability examines the major national and local developments that externally affected these neighbourhoods: the Celtic tiger boom, area-based interventions, and reforms in social housing management. Additi

The translation of research into tangible health benefits via changes to urban planning policy and practice is a key intended outcome of academic active-living research endeavours. Conversely, policy-makers and planners identify the need for policy-specific evidence to ensure policy decisions and practices are informed and validated by rigorously established evidence. In practice, however, these two aspirations rarely meet and a research-translation gap remains. The RESIDE project is a unique longitudinal natural experiment designed to evaluate the health impacts of the &lsquo ; Liveable Neighbourhoods&rsquo ; planning policy, which was introduced by the Western Australian Government to create more walkable suburbs. This commentary provides an overview and discussion of the policy-specific study methodologies undertaken to quantitatively assess the implementation of the policy and assess its active living and health impacts. It outlines the key research-translation successes and impact of the findings on the Liveable Neighbourhoods policy and discusses lessons learnt from the RESIDE project to inform future natural experiments of policy evaluation.

The translation of research into tangible health benefits via changes to urban planning policy and practice is a key intended outcome of academic active-living research endeavours. Conversely, policy-makers and planners identify the need for policy-specific evidence to ensure policy decisions and practices are informed and validated by rigorously established evidence. In practice, however, these two aspirations rarely meet and a research-translation gap remains. The RESIDE project is a unique longitudinal natural experiment designed to evaluate the health impacts of the 'Liveable Neighbourhoods' planning policy, which was introduced by the Western Australian Government to create more walkable suburbs. This commentary provides an overview and discussion of the policy-specific study methodologies undertaken to quantitatively assess the implementation of the policy and assess its active living and health impacts. It outlines the key research-translation successes and impact of the findings on the Liveable Neighbourhoods policy and discusses lessons learnt from the RESIDE project to inform future natural experiments of policy evaluation.

Significant attention has been given in urban policy literature to the integration of land-use and transport planning and policies—with a view to curbing sprawling urban form and diminishing externalities associated with car-dependent travel patterns. By taking land-use and transport interaction into account, this debate mainly focuses on how a successful integration can contribute to societal well-being, providing efficient and balanced economic growth while accomplishing the goal of developing sustainable urban environments and communities. The integration is also a focal theme of contemporary urban development models, such as smart growth, liveable neighbourhoods, and new urbanism. Even though available planning policy options for ameliorating urban form and transport-related externalities have matured—owing to growing research and practice worldwide—there remains a lack of suitable evaluation models to reflect on the current status of urban form and travel problems or on the success of implemented integration policies. In this study we explore the applicability of indicator-based spatial indexing to assess land-use and transport integration at the neighbourhood level. For this, a spatial index is developed by a number of indicators compiled from international studies and trialled in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The results of this modelling study reveal that it is possible to propose an effective metric to determine the success level of city plans considering their sustainability performance via composite indicator methodology. The model proved useful in demarcating areas where planning intervention is applicable, and in identifying the most suitable locations for future urban development and plan amendments. Lastly, we integrate variance-based sensitivity analysis with the spatial indexing method, and discuss the applicability of the model in other urban contexts.

The walkability of urban neighbourhoods has emerged as a strong component in policy and design models for active, liveable communities. This paper examines the proposition that more walkable neighbourhoods encourage local social interaction, a sense of community, informal social control and social cohesion; and that the relationship is explained by walking for transport or for recreation. Multilevel analyses of data from an Australian sample showed a modest association between the walkability of a neighbourhood and sense of community only. Walking for transport, but not recreation, mediated this relationship although the effect was small. These results support contentions that 'walkability' is more complex than usually defined and that factors influencing neighbourhood sociability extend beyond issues of urban form.

AbstractPopularly known as Amsterdam's Red‐Light District, De Wallen is one of the Netherlands' most well‐known yet controversial areas. This politicised neighbourhood has witnessed years of gentrification and touristification. Many contemporary debates concerning De Wallen, and the municipality's policy interventions have been around the topic of liveability. This case study examines the neighbourhood's liveability from the eyes of diverse local stakeholders and analyses how their perceptions of liveability get reflected, or not, in the citizen participation mechanisms. De Wallen's stakeholders, apart from the municipality, include residents, business owners, sex workers, socio‐cultural institutions, and employees of various establishments. By interviewing some of these diverse voices, the study highlights the plurality in the liveability perceptions of the local stakeholders. Thus, this research builds onto existing theoretical and empirical work by underscoring the importance of analysing liveability from a contextual lens and evaluating whose liveability perceptions are given primacy while creating policies for an urban area.

Purpose. Evaluate the implementation of a government planning policy (Liveable Neighbourhoods Guidelines) and its impacts on residents' walking behaviors. Design. Cross-sectional study of participants from the RESIDential Environments project (RESIDE). Setting. Nineteen "liveable" and 17 "conventionally designed" housing developments across Perth, Western Australia. Subjects. Five hundred ninety-four participants from RESIDE who resided in 36 housing developments. Measures. Developed in geographic information systems to assess the on-ground implementation of 43 policy requirements. Policy compliance was defined as the degree to which construction of the developments adhered to the standards outlined. Walking behaviors were measured using the Neighborhood Physical Activity Questionnaire. K-means cluster analyses identified groups of homogeneous developments with respect to policy implementation. Analysis. Logistic regression with generalized estimating equations estimated the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for the likelihood of undertaking any and ≥ 60 minutes of transport and recreational walking associated with (1) policy compliance and (2) different clusters of developments. Results. There were few significant differences in on-ground outcomes between the two development types. Despite incomplete implementation, the odds of walking for transport increased with overall levels of policy compliance (OR= 1.53, 95% CI 1.13–2.08) and compliance with the community design (OR = 1.3, 95% CI 1.13–1.42), movement network (OR = 2.49, 95% CI 1.38–4.50), and lot layout elements (OR = 1.26, 95% CI 1.06–1.50). Conclusion. Consistent with the aims of the policy, residents in walkable (i.e., liveable) neighborhoods may be more physically active.

30 years after the Independence and 96 % of Lithuanian people in the five major cities are living in apartment-buildings, while more than 60 % of all Lithuanian population overall are residing in houses built during Modernist planning period. "Airy visions of towers rising out of vast expanses of grass and greenery" borrowed from Le Corbusier theory, proved to be flawed due to a lack of humanity (over-scaled, unidentifiable urban elements, ignorance to natural human life-cycle, psychology and social needs) and fragmented urban structure (segregation of different functions and physical separation of urban elements, such as neighbourhoods and districts), by everyday usage of Modernist urban neighbourhoods. Fast, but low-quality constructions of Soviet period, accompanied with a lack of sophistication and consciousness in later urban planning, and overall national politics of a young independent country after the fall of Soviet Union, stopped Modernist urban neighbourhoods from further development. Urban developers and citizens preferred downtowns or even suburbs, while neglecting these vast middle zones. This master thesis analyses possibilities of urban developments in these neighbourhoods that would ensure attractiveness of these urban element to nowadays citizens and that would impact them with long-term self-evolution. New Urbanism evolved as a direct contraposition to Modernist urban planning, appreciating traditional urban living style and suggesting essential principles of urban development oriented to a human. Urban networks, on the other hand, recognize city as a multi-layered system of social, cultural and economic facets, intertwined together in a physical space. These two concepts together are able to convey a fundamental ideological perception, systematisation and complexity for spatial urban solutions, thus, are chosen as leading theories for problem solving. This thesis consists of three main parts: the theoretical and the empirical researches, and the experimental design project. The theoretical part analyses problems of Modernist planning, tries to deconstruct the city to its primal elements and looks for urban design tools in literature and relevant cases, finishing the research with the hypothetical model of a liveable urban neighbourhood. The empirical part takes advantage from Sociotope mapping and various Space syntax methods, while looking for the answers, what are the values and flaws of the particular urban places, and why some of these places are liked, while other are forgotten by the residing people. The empirical research is concluded with the conceptual model of the revitalisation of Modernist urban neighbourhoods. The experimental project suggests the design strategy and tools for reaching the objective of the thesis, and presents their practical application in the urban fabric. Finally, the project is validated by application of the patterns by Ch. Alexander et al. that were selected in the theoretical research as the practical tools, ensuring the vitality of an urban neighbourhood, and by repeatedly modelled Space syntax analyses for pedestrian movement in the re-developed urban area. Both of these approaches of the evaluation confirm that that the project is successful, as the re-developed area of the Modernist urban neighbourhood gains the complexity of overlaid urban networks and becomes a well-reachable place of pedestrian attraction.