Budget: $814,558
Project dates: 2020 – 2024
Creating healthy, sustainable, ‘liveable’ cities is a priority in both Australia and the UK. Growing evidence suggests how we plan our cities can affect preventable health risks such as physical inactivity, obesity, noise and air pollution, and road trauma.
By testing and estimating the health impacts of scenarios in urban and transport planning interventions in different contexts, we can inform city planners and public health practitioners about what scenarios have the greatest chance of promoting good health for future planning.
Funded by the UK Medical Research (UKRI) and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), this project brings together research linking the built environment, transport and other health behaviours to develop computer models that can better inform urban and transport planning policy and practice in Australia and the UK.
The project is led by Dr Belen Zapata-Diomedi at RMIT University and Professor James Woodcock at the University of Cambridge, and involves a multi-disciplinary team of leading researchers with complementary expertise across Australia (Monash University, University of Melbourne, University of Queensland) and England (Imperial College London, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Leicester). Emeritus Professor Billie Giles-Corti was a member of the leadership team from 2020 until her retirement in December 2022.