Our community-led research explores how built environments can support children's physical activity, energetic play, healthy development and equitable health outcomes.
The places where children live, learn and play have a powerful influence on their health, wellbeing and development. Neighbourhood design, access to parks and play spaces, walkability, traffic conditions and networks, safety, housing, and community infrastructure all shape opportunities for children to be active, social and healthy.
Working in partnership with families, youth, planners, developers, local, state and commonwealth/national governments, non-government organisations, and community, we generate evidence that informs policy, planning and practice. Our goal is to create child-friendly environments that support healthy beginnings and lifelong wellbeing – no matter where children and their families live.
Despite growing recognition that the built environment influences health, young children’s needs remain largely overlooked in planning, policy and investment opportunities. Yet, the first five years of life are a critical developmental period during which environments can establish lifelong patterns of movement, health, wellbeing and social participation.
This policy and practice brief summarises findings from the Built Environment and Child Health research program, led by Professor Hayley Christian and the team based at The Kids Research Institute Australia and The University of Western Australia. The program examines how built environments support or hinder healthy child development across the places where children live, learn and play.
The brief highlights clear opportunity for governments, planners, developers and public health agencies to create more child-friendly communities that support healthy development across early to later childhood and reduce inequalities between neighbourhoods.
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Discover the latest evidence on how planning, design and policy can create healthier environments for children and families from our recent international webinar. We brought together global experts and explored:
The PLAYCE (Play Spaces and Environments for Children's Physical Activity) Cohort Study is one of the world’s longest-running cohort studies across childhood to understand how movement behaviours evolve over time and how the built environment including homes, neighbourhoods, early childhood education and care settings, and schools influence health and development.
The study provides critical evidence about:
Learn more about the PLAYCE Cohort Study
Above image: Our Youth Advisory Council
BEACHES is an international collaboration investigating how built environments influence children's physical activity, eating behaviours and weight status. The project is generating evidence to inform planning policy and practice, with a particular focus on reducing chronic disease risk and supporting healthier communities for children. BEACHES brings together researchers from Australia and the United Kingdom to identify built environment features that can be modified to improve child health outcomes.
Key outcomes include:
Family-friendly communities make it easier for children and caregivers to thrive. This research examines the environmental, social and policy factors that influence how families use neighbourhood spaces and services, helping identify opportunities to create safer, healthier and more inclusive communities.
Learn more about Family Friendly Environments
This work is led by the Child Physical Activity, Health and Development team, which focuses on improving children's physical activity, health and development through research, policy and practice partnerships. The team works to identify the environments, programs and policies that best support active, healthy childhoods.
Our Child Physical Activity, Health and Development team focuses on improving children’s physical activity levels, health and development. We work to uncover the best environments, policies and programs to facilitate physically active lifestyles for lifelong health and wellbeing.
Team profile (Child Physical Activity, Health and Development)