Towards healthier places and people: identifying the role of walking

Image: Toowoomba Regional Council 

Action 4.7, Action Plan for Walking 2019–2021

Status: Complete

The Healthy Places, Healthy People initiative has been developed across government to establish and measure Queensland specific healthy place indicators. An analysis of these indicators found that people who live in residential areas with infrastructure that supports active travel and greater access to essential services have increased levels of active living, including walking.

Achievements

In partnership with the Office of the Queensland Government Architect, Queensland Health's Preventive Health Branch is leading a whole of government initiative to integrate health outcome considerations in urban design and planning processes. 

Cross agency collaboration informed development of the Healthy Places, Healthy People framework that identifies 3 key principles:

1. Connected
2. Welcoming
3. Responsible.

It brings together 9 associated built and natural environment attributes proven to support healthy and active living.

The framework has resonated strongly with state and local government partners. It provides a robust mechanism to ensure considerations that improve conditions for walking are included in built and natural environment policy, planning and infrastructure investment decisions. 

The Healthy Places, Healthy People report was disseminated in June 2021 and includes analysis findings for 2 relevant Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) indicators aligned with the ‘connected’ attributes of the Healthy Places, Healthy People framework. These indicator analysis findings highlight that people who live in residential areas with infrastructure that supports active travel and greater access to essential services have increased levels of active living, including walking.

Next steps

Queensland Health will continue to work collaboratively with TMR to consider how other attributes of the Healthy Places, Healthy People framework can improve built and natural environment design conditions to support walking.  Preliminary discussions identify shared interests to increase the provision of shaded environments to support walking.