Mapping out our health

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Previous research has focused on individual neighbourhood characteristics, directly addressing health issues. For instance, established research considers how air pollution impacts children’s well-being and health development. To her knowledge, no Australian research has ever assessed a combination of those dynamics and the environment.

‘‘And you may say ‘why is this important?’,’’ she says. ‘‘Imagine your children are living in some area with a really nice park, and they’re going to the park to play a lot in the trees, do exercise. Great.
‘‘But what happens when you look around the park – if there are a lot of fast-food restaurants? So those fast food restaurants potentially could outweigh the benefits of the park,’’ she says. ‘‘So,’’ she adds, ‘‘if we only look at one side, how can we get the full picture?’’

To that end, she will create The Australian Environmental Quality Index for Children (AusEQI-C) which identifies which neighbourhoods fully support our children’s health and development.

Policy makers and city planners will then be able to use the information to improve some neighbourhoods and better map out new residential development areas. As Sydney and Melbourne experience explosive population growth, we must give our children a better living environment for them to mature in.

‘‘So that is the innovation and what I hope to achieve,’’ she says.