Cities 96 (2020) 102420
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The high life: A policy audit of apartment design guidelines and their potential to promote residents' health and wellbeing
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Sarah Fostera,b, , Paula Hooperb, Alexandra Kleemana, Erika Martinoc, Billie Giles-Cortia a
Centre for Urban Research, School of Global Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia Australian Urban Design Research Centre, School of Design, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia c University of Melbourne, Grattan Street, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia b
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A B S T R A C T
Keywords: Apartment design Health and wellbeing High density Health audit Policy Australia
Globally, the rapid construction of apartments has ignited concerns about the quality and amenity of new housing, and the impact of poor design on residents. In Australia, different planning policies/guidelines for apartment development apply across states, however there has been no assessment of how these policies address health. We audited apartment design guidance for their inclusion of provisions that impact on health and wellbeing. Policies/guidelines (n = 10) were reviewed, including both current and proposed/superseded documents in states undergoing policy change to track policy progression. Requirements were extracted relating to health-promoting themes identified in the literature (e.g., daylight, ventilation, acoustic privacy, space). Each policy/guideline was scored based on the percentage of health-promoting design criteria addressed. Scores for current policies ranged from 83% (New South Wales) to 20% (Queensland and South Australia). Scores in states undergoing policy change increased, indicating a greater focus on health (e.g., 11% to 75% in Western Australia). Where minimum space standards were stipulated, there was a lack of agreement about where the standard should be set. Several states had policies that, if fully implemented, could promote residents' health. However, post-implementation evaluation is required to assess whether guidelines are applied as intended and provide evidence to inform minimum standards.
1. Introduction
developed (City of Melbourne, 2013; Nethercote & Horne, 2016; Randolph, 2006; State Government of Victoria, 2015). In Melbourne, just 5% of apartments have three or more bedrooms, limiting their suitability for a variety of populations. Some new apartments are also marred by poor internal amenity (e.g., no windows in habitable rooms, low ceilings, inflexible layouts), impacting their use, adaptability, and access to natural light and ventilation (City of Melbourne, 2013). At their lowest extreme, apartments in Melbourne are reportedly as small as 15m2 (Dobbin, 2013), marginally larger than the Australian national standard for a double prison cell (Victorian Office of Corrections, 1990). These concerns about the adequacy of housing stock are not unique to Australia. A UK study found about half the housing failed to meet minimum space standards (i.e., a modified version of the London Housing Design Guide 2010), with flats and terrace houses most likely to be undersized (Morgan & Cruickshank, 2014). Could this be the future for other global housing markets, and what are the potential health implications for residents?
By 2050, 66% of the world's population will live in cities (UN Habitat, 2016). Housing this rapidly growing population presents a major challenge, with The New Urban Agenda calling for a rethink of the way cities are built, managed and governed to ameliorate the health and social impacts of rapid urbanisation (United Nations, 2017). While much of the population growth and urbanisation will occur in developing countries, Australia's population is also projected to double by 2050 (ABS, 2008) necessitating a shift from traditional low-density housing to more sustainable urban development. The construction of apartments is key to transforming Australia's sprawling cities into more compact, accessible communities. Indeed, apartment buildings now account for a third of all residential building approvals in Australia (Shoory, 2016), effectively doubling in the last decade. This apartment construction boom has given rise to concerns about the quality, amenity and future versatility of the housing stock being
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Corresponding author at: Centre for Urban Research, School of Global Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia. E-mail addresses: sarah.foster@rmit.edu.au (S. Foster), Paula.hooper@uwa.edu.au (P. Hooper), alexandra.kleeman@rmit.edu.au (A. Kleeman), emartino@student.unimelb.edu.au (E. Martino), billie.giles-corti@rmit.edu.au (B. Giles-Corti). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2019.102420 Received 20 July 2018; Received in revised form 29 May 2019; Accepted 23 July 2019 Available online 05 August 2019 0264-2751/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.