This study explored the potential for car-free living in low-density, sprawling urban environments through a 20-day intervention. Twenty car-dependent participants from Brisbane, Australia, and Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, were asked to live without a car during this period. The study had two main goals: (1) understand the process of change by examining participants’ motivations, challenges, coping strategies, and the factors that supported their success; and (2) assess whether the provided financial incentives were enough to encourage long-term behaviour change. Data were collected through interviews and travel diaries, guided by the TransTheoretical Model (TTM). The results showed that while giving up cars entirely is unrealistic in these cities due to limited accessibility and transport alternatives, study participants were likely to slightly reduce their reliance on cars. This suggests that experiencing car-free living, even briefly, can help people break away from automobility.

INTRODUCTION:Environmental determinants of health influence the experience of ageing, yet the contribution of informal public spaces, known as third places, remains underexplored, preventing adequate policy and planning action. Third places, such as cafes, libraries and parks, provide opportunities for older adults to build social connections and engage in physical activity, both of which are crucial for maintaining health and wellbeing. This study explored how third places influence the health of older people living in Springfield, a rapidly growing, master-planned community in South-East Queensland, Australia. METHODS:A qualitative, cross-sectional design was applied, using semi-structured interviews with 15 older residents (aged 60 years and over). Interviews explored the experiences of using third places, including the perceived benefits and challenges for physical activity and social connections. Social connections were considered through the lens of four types of social ties: stranger, absent, weak, and strong ties. Data were thematically analysed to identify key environmental and social determinants relevant to healthy ageing. RESULTS:Third places were perceived as essential for forming social connections, particularly through the accumulation of weak, absent and stranger ties, which provided a sense of belonging and safety. However, access was limited by transport, walkability and the design of spaces that did not always encourage prolonged interaction. Physical activity opportunities were valued but were secondary to the perceived social benefits of third places. CONCLUSIONS:Findings highlight the importance of third places as accessible, socially inclusive environments for older adults that play a key role in forming and strengthening four types of social ties, from encounters with strangers to enduring friendships. SO WHAT?: The importance of stranger ties-alongside absent, weak, and strong ties-and the dynamic role that third places play in fostering these connections, especially for older people, has not been fully recognised. Insights from this research can inform urban planning and health policy to strengthen community design that supports healthy ageing.

In China, over 80% of the urban population resides in gated communities. In 2016, the Chinese government issued a directive aimed at restricting the creation of new gated communities and gradually opening existing ones. This directive faced strong public resistance, prompting the government to discreetly set it aside. To elucidate the persuasiveness of public discourse in this instance, we conducted an analysis of media articles published in China around the time of the "ungating" proposal. Our study, based on 118 articles in English and Chinese, identifies the key stakeholders expressing concerns about ungating and presents a summary of their perspectives. (sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic) 80% (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).2016 (sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)"(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic) 118 (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic),(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic).

Globally, urbanisation and population growth trends are fundamentally reshaping cities. More compact vertical urban forms are emerging in a greater diversity of locations. However, research since the 1960s has consistently raised questions about the health and wellbeing consequences of living the “high life”. The Covid-19 pandemic also brought into sharp focus potential vulnerabilities. A quantitative systematic literature review process has identified the current state of research on high-rise (HR) precincts with respect to four key environmental quality objectives that have implications for health and wellbeing - thermal comfort, daylighting, visual privacy, and outlook. The review selected 72 studies and identified widely accepted and proven concepts, methods, and variables; correlations; and gaps in the current literature. Broad ranging evidence to support the setting of planning and urban design parameters in HR precincts with respect to urban heat, ventilation, and daylighting was identified, but there is limited evidence to support measures aimed at supporting visual privacy, and outlook. Research has confirmed associations between the objectives and a limited number of urban geometry variables including building height. Increasingly, green surface cover is of interest but the relative benefits of green strategies over urban form strategies is yet to be proven in a range of climate contexts. A person-environment fit research framework is presented to support multi-objective optimisation and cross-cutting research connecting urban planning, urban physics, and urban health related research. The integration of post-occupancy evaluations to ensure that lived experience, satisfaction, and preferences are considered in the weighting of objectives is advocated.

The Covid-19 pandemic added an additional layer of pressure onto an already stressed housing system in Southeast Queensland (SEQ). Housing is a complex system and we argue that thinking about the separate components of housing in isolation, we are unable to consider the resiliency of housing as a whole system. The purpose of this paper is to inform and help structure resilient housing policy and strategy development in SEQ. Using qualitative methodologies, data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with 18 participants associated with the housing sector in SEQ, during the pandemic period. Participants were invited from five groups: community, government, consultants, developers and peak housing bodies. We found that rather than relying on reactive mechanisms, there needs to be a commitment from governments to work with other sectors to strategically plan for proactive and resilient-led approaches and policies to prepare for shocks. There is an opportunity at local, state and federal level governments to learn from this study to better understand what makes a housing system more resilient.

Urbanisation, housing affordability and an ageing population are key focus areas in major cities in Australia and worldwide. A lack of affordable housing is affecting a greater number of people, and particularly, a growing number of older populations. This paper draws inspiration from Power and Mee (Housing Studies, 35(3), 496, 2020) and asks: 'is this a housing system that cares?' The paper explores opportunities for care that emerge from practices of house-sharing and in particular house-sitting. Findings from semi-structured interviews with older house-sitters (aged 50 years and over) suggested house-sitting provides an affordable shelter for older people experiencing financial insecurity, thus has the potential to increase their capacity for care-related expenditure. Housing mobility, insecure tenure and a lack of a caring governance to manage the relationship between owners and sitters can however put older house-sitters in a vulnerable position, leading to negative impacts on their wellbeing. The research findings inform housing policy-makers and researchers about the growing practices of house-sitting among older people, and help grow and sustain a housing system that cares.

Cities across the world are challenged by acute and chronic problems. Liveability policies and plans have generally disregarded the impacts of unexpected shocks and disturbances on cities and the quality of life of communities. This paper argues that the resiliency of a city is a necessary condition for its liveability. Applying qualitative methodologies, the paper builds on in-depth semi-structured interviews to explore the interface between the concepts of liveability and resiliency. Findings suggested that urban planning and policy needs to address the institutionalised inequities built into our cities through 'local living'. Planning sustained liveable cities was also perceived to be 'people centred'. 'Integrated long-term planning', 'responsiveness and adaptability', 'future-proofing' and 'sustainable development' were also underlined as key principles of developing cities that are both liveable and resilient. These principles are, however, challenging to implement. Future studies need to investigate the mechanisms through which these can be translated into practice.

This paper provides a systematic review of the evidence linking housing and health. This involved a review of 59 peer-reviewed journal papers, that included case studies on the health impacts of housing and were published in English, in the past decade (2010-2020). Our systematic review of the literature suggested most of the research on the health impacts of housing employed quantitative methodology, were conducted in the Global North and were published in Medical and Health Sciences journals. Research findings demonstrated four key areas through which housing impacts health: neighbourhood or context, physical building, housing market and housing policy. This paper provides valuable information to researchers for future research directions on the associations between housing and health and to decision-makers and planners for planning healthy cities.

This chapter summarizes transport and land-use issues around the world. While the chapter covers Europe and the Anglosphere, it also emphasizes regions in the Global South - Latin America, Asia, and Africa - that are less represented in the literature. For the most part, the chapter derives its information from books, literature reviews, and comparative studies rather than individual case studies. To tackle a complex topic within a limited space, some broad generalizations have been made.

Master Planned Community (MPC) Developments are a dominant form of urban growth and housing development. This paper provides a systematic review of the literature on the associations between MPCs and community health. Our review of 39 peer-reviewed journal papers suggested that the MPC physical features (public spaces/facilities, built form, spatial segregation, and location), social dimension (age structure and community development) and governance (private governance and housing tenure) are key players in the health of residents, particularly, their social health. This paper provides valuable information for future research on healthy housing and informs planning and decision-making in housing policy and development.

With more than half of the world's population living in cities, a growing body of research is showing the role of urban environments in promoting the wellbeing of communities. This paper conducted a systematic review of 28 planning policy documents from 6 different countries. It explored how 'community wellbeing' is defined by local governments across the world and identified thirteen domains. Findings indicated that the scope of understanding of community wellbeing varies across different local governments, particularly in relation to the type of council (metropolitan and non-metropolitan). The position of policy within the broader local government strategic direction and the context-specific opportunities and challenges of local communities were also important to the definition of community wellbeing. Only about half of the policies we reviewed employed community wellbeing indicators, which play an important role in the research-practice transition and developing evidence-informed policies.

This article recounts a study of media predictions on the future of cities, post-pandemic. From a theoretical perspective, we consider discourse and storytelling (written, oral, or visual) as crucial public policy and planning tools. The study is based on a qualitative analysis of more than 110 media articles from more than 60 sources, which appeared online and/or in print between March and May 2020. We find that the media has played the role of both Kassandra and Pollyanna. Some prophecies have spelled doom and gloom whereas others have envisioned a brighter urban future. The value of the study is in establishing a baseline of "urban prophecies" formulated by the media. These can be revisited in the future to find out whether they were realistic.

The growing housing unaffordability is forcing people to take on unconventional pathways and experiment with alternate means of 'home'-making. This research explores opportunities for making 'home' that emerge from practices of house-sitting among older people, particularly those with no permanent housing. Findings from semi-structured interviews suggest that house-sitting is an affordable shelter that provides rent-free accommodation for older people experiencing financial insecurity and increases their capacity for care-related expenditure. However, it is not a viable option in the long term, due to the unstable and insecure nature of house-sitting and the increasing health issues of people as they age. Our findings stress that the meaning of home is multifaceted and complex. While 'home' can still be perceived as a source of ontological security by many, it is observed as a 'nomadic' and 'fluid' concept that could change over time/space, mainly by people that have chosen or were forced to house-sit on a full-time basis. The findings of this research can shed light on house-sitting, as a growing house-sharing model that is largely under-researched and informs housing policy-makers and researchers.

This article reviews the available literature on children's active school travel (walking and cycling) around the world. Rates of active travel to school vary substantially by setting but, cycling is much less popular than walking nearly everywhere. Active school travel is more consistently associated with (1) socio-economic and demographic variables including lower socio-economic background of child; male gender of child; older age of child; conducive caretakers' schedules; and fewer or no cars in the household; (2) environmental variables including short home-school distances; urban character of residential and school neighborhood; and supportive built environment features (e.g., availability of sidewalks, parks, direct routes); and (3) psychological variables including lower parental safety and/or security concerns; supportive parental attitudes; and less auto-dependency in the family. These findings are subject to the caveat that the available studies differ considerably in their methodology. This article concludes with a list of the most popular programs which have been adopted around the world to enable and encourage more children and youth to walk and/or cycle to school.

Applying a qualitative methodology, this research suggested that Master Planned Community (MPC) developments play a core role, as a place, in creating opportunities to establish social ties for older people, whereas social life in conventional suburbs is interest-based. The research found that safety and community in MPCs were initially delivered as prefabricated commodities, as a result of the exclusive infrastructure embedded within the developments. Commodification of social life, in particular, inscribed degrees of feelings of separation in the physical and social landscapes of the study areas, which was a key research finding that informs future master planning policies and practices.