IN-PERSON: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

The Australian Urban Observatory (auo.org.au) is a digital liveability planning platform measuring and mapping liveability across 179 municipalities, 3100 suburbs and 40,000 neighbourhoods across 21 Australian cities. All liveability indicators included in the AUO have been conceived through a social determinants of health lens and combines public health, urban planning and geospatial data science to communicate and translate research evidence into policy, identify areas of inequity and direct future planning and policy action. The AUO digital platform has been developed at RMIT University using customised open-source software to measure, map and monitor liveability in Australian cities at the geography of municipalities, suburbs and local neighbourhoods. The platform is built on a framework of liveability and liveability indicators for two time periods: 2018 and 2021. Demographic indicators derived from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census are also included in the AUO providing a unique liveability planning tool that links people and place. It is the first time in Australia that both place (local natural and built environment liveability indicators) and people (demographic indicators) can be interrogated in a single digital resource supported by easily understood data vizualisation tools. This presentation will investigate liveability changes across Australian cities between 2018 and 2021 and the benefits derived from understanding both local liveability and the local residents who live in an area to support evidence-informed planning. It will also touch on how evidence derived from the AUO is being translated into policymaking through co-design with health and urban planning practitioners.