Healthy Streets pilot with Liverpool City Council.

In 2023 Inhabit Place was delighted to complete the Healthy Streets demonstration pilot with Liverpool City Council. The Inhabit Place methodology was utilized to capture detailed observational data about the public life of Moore Street, a key street within Liverpool, alongside an assessment of the physical qualities of the street through the Healthy Streets methodology. The project was completed in partnership with qualified healthy streets practitioners from Liverpool City Council, and overseen by the South Western Sydney Local Health District.

Liverpool is growing fast. These 305 square kilometres in Sydney’s south west, already home to almost 250,000 people, will be the focus of several massive projects in coming years; the long-awaited Western Sydney International Airport, the Western Sydney Aerotropolis, several large new land release areas, and the establishment of central Liverpool as Sydney’s third CBD.

The population in this area is highly diverse, with a greater proportion of non-English speaking residents than any other major centre in Sydney. Just under half of its residents were born in another country, and this trend looks like it will continue.

This makes the challenge of ensuring that the population of Liverpool is cared and catered for during the period of these upcoming developments a significant and tricky one. Tim Hays, a Senior Urban Designer with the Liverpool council, has been charged with creating a framework to do just that.

“We’ve been inspired by the South Western Sydney Local Health District’s Healthy Streets Demonstration Program” Tim said. “The program was part of the District’s efforts to promote the healthy streets approach within South Western Sydney local councils.”

From there, it was decided that part of the Liverpool area would be formally assessed using the Healthy Streets Approach, human-centred framework for embedding public health in transport, the public realm, and planning.

“The assessment itself was seen as an opportunity for Liverpool City Council to evaluate the work undertaken within the Liverpool City Centre Public Domain Master Plan while also trialling a detailed healthy streets assessment to inform future streetscape upgrades right across the Liverpool LGA”

“By utilising Healthy Streets, combined with the NSW Movement and Place Framework, Council can begin to establish street design objectives that prioritise public health outcomes and create streetscapes that are greener, calmer, safer and more attractive places to be and as such promote more healthier lifestyles for people” said Tim

So, with a need and framework established, the Council now need to locate a tool that could assess the streets and people who use them now and in the future. Enter Inhabit Place.

“it was identified that there was a deficit in the skills, knowledge and resources for conducting the place audit assessment in house. Which is why we approached Inhabit Place. There was a clear connection between the healthy streets approach and the data that Inhabit collected” said Tim.

Inhabit Place conducted an assessment of Moore Street, a major area within central Liverpool, using the Healthy Streets Approach to review and inform its proposed future detailed design. The assessment measured the outcomes directly linked to the Healthy Street’s indicators in terms of the function, use and community sentiment of Moore Street.

Place audits were conducted to understand how people use the street. The data collected included recording of how people are travelling on the street, how much time they spend there, the types of activities they are engaged in, and how people feel in the space.

The Report generated by these insights will help the Liverpool Council address future development challenges with a solid set of evidence-based data points that should result in healthier streets.

“The process will inform the future street design process that is being developed as part of Council’s new Street Design Guidelines and will provide council with a guide on how to approach future street upgrade projects ranging from minor works such as seating to major works such as cycleways and refurbished streetscapes” said Tim. “The process has identified the most ideal approach to assessing streets from a public health, people oriented perspective.”

Read more about the Liverpool City Council Public Domain Masterplan https://www.liverpool.nsw.gov.au/development/major-projects/public-domain-master-plan

Find out more about Healthy Streets approach https://www.healthystreets.com/

Get in touch with us to discuss whether this approach might be suitable for your projects