During the last three decades, environmental education (EE) research has had some success in identifying factors affecting people's environmental understanding and personal behaviour. However, much EE has been targeted at school children, tending to focus on the natural environment, at the expense of urban environments in which much of the world's people live. This paper identifies the opportunity to integrate environmental psychology and community psychology into an empowerment-oriented model of urban adult EE. Many urban environmental issues reflect residents' limited discretion over local development decisions which can damage their sense of urban amenity and sense of community. Reflecting on environmental psychology principles could enable residents to identify how their sense of environmental aesthetics, preferences, place, and privacy, are all affected by invasive changes to their local built environment. Exploring community psychology approaches could assist residents to identify the symbols and shared history reflected in their built environment that contribute to their sense of place, identity, meaning, and, ultimately, their sense of community. Equipped with an understanding of environmental psychology and community psychology concepts, residents would be better able to argue their case in a technical language currently used by developers and bureaucrats to limit meaningful grassroots participation in urban development. Residents could be similarly encouraged to develop skills and confidence in identifying power relationships underlying their concerns, and engaging in personal and collective advocacy.

This paper presents a theoretical frame and process that may be used to clarify purpose inherent in community engagement activities and strategies, and to evaluate progress against these criteria. Participation, empowerment and civic governance are themes of research and practice embraced by disciplines as diverse as health promotion, community psychology, community development and urban planning. Workshop participants were encouraged to reflect on their own practice in light of the theoretical models developed in these disciplines. In this way, the workshop helped promote understanding of the need - and opportunity - to develop interdisciplinary approaches to conceptualising, implementing and evaluating university-community engagement initiatives.

This paper presents preliminary findings of a project investigating the integration and application of ecological public health principles in Melbourne 2030, the Victorian Government's urban planning blueprint for Melbourne for the next 30 years. The study examines the political, organisational, social, and inter-personal factors that impact on the integration and application of broad health considerations into urban planning policy in

Environmental education (EE) research has identified factors affecting people's environmental understanding and personal behaviours. However, it has been criticized for its largely individualistic, apolitical focus on school children. The present research used an action research (AR) approach to develop and test a model of community adult EE drawn from empowerment theory and practice, and health promotion in particular. Participants in two locations in Melbourne, Australia, engaged in skills training in peer leadership, grassroots group development, advocacy, and AR. Using adult education methods of guided discussion and peer interaction, participants were encouraged to establish and lead a group around an issue of personal and local concern, with the researcher acting as consultant. Empowerment-oriented activities and outcomes were documented. The research identified that the adult EE program, and the AR methodology used, was instrumental in fostering personal and collective en...

Researchers are working to identify and promote environment and policy initiatives to encourage more active and healthy communities. Measuring environmental attributes through objective means can verify which physical environment factors are most important. We describe how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) may be used to measure objectively, the features of the built environment that may influence walking. We show how four key attributes currently believed to be of most relevance to walking for transport may be used to create a 'walkability' index. These are dwelling density (higher- density neighbourhoods support greater retail and service variety, resulting in shorter, walkable distances between facilities; driving and parking are more difficult); street connectivity (higher intersection density provides people with a greater choice of potential routes, easier access to major roads where public transport is available and shorter times to get to destinations); land use m...

'Liveability' is a popular, contemporary urban planning concept in Victoria, Australia. Yet, until recently, limited systematic research has examined (i) the influence of ‘liveability’ on health and wellbeing; or (ii) how best to measure ‘liveability’ within a policy context. Popular ‘global’ liveability indicators also mask within-city differences. In 2011, the University of Melbourne and Victorian Department of Health and Human Services established the 'Place, Health, and Liveability' research partnership to conceptualise, define, measure spatially, and validate urban liveability, and its associations with health and wellbeing in a policy-relevant context. Seven domains of urban liveability have been identified: (i) employment; (ii) food environment; (iii) housing; (iv) public open space; (v) social infrastructure; (vi) transport; (vii) walkability. A series of conceptual models have been developed to map how each liveability domain is associated with health and we...

With the recognition that professional education has not kept pace with the challenges facing the health and human service system, there has been a move to transformative education and learning professional development designed to expand the number of enlightened and empowered change agents with the competence to implement changes at an individual, organisation and systems level. Since 2010, the Department of Health and Human Services in Victoria, Australia, in collaboration with The University of Melbourne's School of Population and Global Health, has delivered seven population health short courses aimed to catalyse participants' transformation into population health change agents. This paper presents key learnings from a combination of evaluation data from six population health short courses using a transformative learning framework from a 2010 independent international commission for health professionals that was designed to support the goals of transformative and interde...

Background: Creating 'liveable' cities has become a priority for various sectors, including those tasked with improving population health and reducing inequities. Two-thirds of the world's population will live in cities by 2050, with the most rapid urbanisation in low-and middle-income countries (LMIC). However, there is limited guidance about what constitutes a liveable city from a LMIC perspective, with most of the evidence relating to high-income countries, such as Australia. Existing liveability frameworks include features such as public transport, affordable housing, and public open space; however, these frameworks may not capture all of the liveability considerations for cities in LMIC contexts. Objectives: This case study formed a multi-sectoral partnership between academics, policymakers (Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, Victorian (Australia) Department of Health and Human Services), and a nongovernment organisation (UN Global Compact -Cities Programme). This study aimed to: 1) conceptualise and prioritise components of urban liveability within the Bangkok, Thailand context; 2) identify alignment to or divergence from other existing liveability tools; and 3) identify potential indicators and data sources for use within a Pilot Bangkok Liveability Framework. Methods: The Urban Liveability Workshop involving technical leaders from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and a rapid review of liveability literature informed the conceptualisation of liveability for Bangkok. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Working Group and key informants in Bangkok provided input into the liveability framework. Indicators identified for Bangkok were mapped onto existing liveability tools, including the UN Global Compact CityScan. Results: Findings revealed commonalities with the Australian liveability definition, as well as new potential indicators for Bangkok. The resulting Pilot Bangkok Liveability Framework provides a structure for measuring liveability in Bangkok that can be implemented by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration immediately, pending appropriate data acquisition and licensing. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Working Group and key informants identified core issues for implementation, including limited spatial data available at the district-level or lower.

Globally there is increasing interest in making cities more liveable for all, a concept which aligns strongly with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. However, existing tools for tracking progress towards more liveable, equitable cities have been developed primarily for cities in high-income country contexts, while there is little guidance for cities in low-or middle-income country contexts. This partnership project is a capacity-building collaboration between RMIT University (Australia), the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (Thailand), the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (Australia), the UN Global Compact-Cities Programme, and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services (Australia). The project's aim is to develop a city-wide liveability indicators system for Bangkok for informing urban planning policy. Thus far, over 60 liveability indicators have been generated for Bangkok. Moreover, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has identified three Bangkok districts for deeper interrogation. This project is developing scalable tools for monitoring liveability and strategically informing urban planning policy in a low-to-middle income city context, with relevance to other cities. It has established an international liveability network and deeper understanding of shared challenges and created ongoing opportunities for capacity building and reciprocal learning.

Cities are widely recognised as important settings for promoting health. Nonetheless, making cities more liveable and supportive of health and wellbeing remains a challenge. Decision-makers’ capacity to use urban health evidence to create more liveable cities is fundamental to achieving these goals. This paper describes an international partnership designed to build capacity in using liveability indicators aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and social determinants of health, in Bangkok, Thailand. The aim of this paper is to reflect on this partnership and outline factors critical to its success. Partners included the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the UN Global Compact—Cities Programme, the Victorian Government Department of Health and Human Services, the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, and urban scholars based at an Australian university. Numerous critical success factors were identified, including having a bilingual liaison and champion, establis...

Local governments in Victoria are mandated to prepare municipal public health plans (MPHP) to improve health status. This article reports on a project initiated by the Victorian Department of Human Services (DHS) to develop a new municipal public health planning framework, in partnership with local governments and other stakeholders. Based on extensive research and consultation conducted in 2000-2001, the new systems approach to MPHPs embraces consideration of factors impacting on health and wellbeing that originate in the built, social, economic, and natural environments. The new municipal public health planning framework draws on the strengths of a number of approaches to public health planning, including strategic local area planning, a social model of health, health promotion, health outcomes, and participation and partnership.

Researchers are working to identify and promote environment and policy initiatives to encourage more active and healthy communities. Measuring environmental attributes through objective means can verify which physical environment factors are most important. We describe how Geographic Information Systems (GIS) may be used to measure objectively, the features of the built environment that may influence walking. We show how four key attributes currently believed to be of most relevance to walking for transport may be used to create a ‘walkability’ index. These are dwelling density (higher-density neighbourhoods support greater retail and service variety, resulting in shorter, walkable distances between facilities; driving and parking are more difficult); street connectivity (higher intersection density provides people with a greater choice of potential routes, easier access to major roads where public transport is available and shorter times to get to destinations); land use mix (the m...

Acculturating to Australian drinking patterns 10 Going out at night 10 Pre-drinking 10 Private parties 11 Venue choice 11 How venues promote heavy alcohol consumption 12 Alcohol-related harms across urban settings 13 Excitement in the Melbourne local government area (LGA) entertainment precinct 13 Patronage of large commercial venues 13 Beliefs about fighting 14 Late-night transport and trouble getting home 15 Local government policy responses in innerand outer-urban settings 17 Recommendations 17 Responding to heavy episodic alcohol consumption 17 Licensing and planning 17 Pricing and taxation 17 Enforcement of liquor license provisions 18 Information provision 18 Transport 19 References The purpose of this report is to provide information to support urban local government alcohol policy development. Current legislative frameworks offer Victorian local governments limited powers to act on alcohol (Streker 2012). Where suggested actions fall outside the legislated role of local governments, we recommend that these agencies advocate for policy change at state and federal levels.

This paper presents preliminary findings of a project investigating the integration and application of ecological public health principles in Melboume 2030 , the Victorian Government's urban planning blueprint for Melboume for the next 30 years. The study examines the political, organisational, social, and inter-personal factors that impact on the integration and application of broad health considerations into urban planning policy in Victoria. We are testing the premise that achieving integrated planning requires a systematic integration of government activity across sectors. Using discourse analysis and key informant interviews, we examined relevant government policy and legislation and its implementation against world's best practice. Preliminary findings show that the degree of leadership in relation to deploying the mission, and implementation processes sustain or impede integrated planning at a whole-of-government and intersectoral level. These findings may inform a mu...