Neighbourhood design and disability

1. Neighbourhood design and disability: a policy review

The aim of this project is to review Australian State and Territory government neighbourhood design policies related to disability, mobility and accessibility. The findings will be used to inform the development of policy-relevant geo-spatial measures, investigating how neighbourhood design contributes to the relationship between disability and health. As the environmental exposure measures identified in this project will arise from current policy, our subsequent investigation using these measures will therefore have direct implications for current policy in practice. This will provide an understanding how current policy that guides neighbourhood design influences health inequalities between those with and without a disability.

Funded by University of Melbourne and Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences.


2. Using machine learning to examine neighbourhood characteristics associated with physical function

We plan to use machine learning algorithms to help gain an understanding of how neighbourhood design characteristics contribute to inequalities in physical function. This will be achieved through using the physical function and address data from a representative dataset of Brisbane residents.

The data will be combined with images from Google Maps and Google Street View to generate examples of neighbourhood design and streetscape characteristics associated with inequalities in physical function.

Research Team

Dr Jerome Rachele, Disability and Health, University of Melbourne
Dr Haifeng Zhao, Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne
A/Professor Bec Bentley, Centre for Health Equity, University of Melbourne
Professor Mark Stevenson, Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne
Professor Gavin Turrell, Queensland University of Technology

Funded by The Economic and Social Participation Institute, University of Melbourne.