The separation of residential areas from
potential workplaces forced many families
to make awkward choices - such as taking
lower-skill jobs nearby to spend more time
with the children, or have a long commute.
Image: iStockphoto
Understanding how households and work fit together is essential to good urban policy and planning, according to new research from the University of South Australia to be launched in Adelaide today.
The four-year Work, Home and Community Project, undertaken by UniSA’s Centre for Work + Life, shows the increasing reach of work into home life and makes specific recommendations for more sustainable lives and communities for the future.
Researchers surveyed more than 1000 residents – adults, teenagers, workers, business and community service providers – from 10 traditional and master-planned communities across four states, representing high and low socio-economic status.
Project Manager Dr Pip Williams said the key message to come out of the research was that housing policy should not be considered without looking at other activities people engage in on a daily basis, such as work, education, business, sport, community and social commitments.
“Planning decisions about work and housing cannot be expressed independently of each other,” Dr Williams said.
“The increasing reach of work into households and across the lifecycle, makes it more important to understand and respond to the tighter links between where and how we live, and where and how we work – in terms of personal, social and economic significance.”
Centre for Work + Life Director, Professor Barbara Pocock, said the separation of residential areas from areas of employment forced many residents to choose between a personal career and family care.
“The result for families is a clear division of labour,” Prof Pocock said.
“Many highly educated and skilled women are forced to abandon careers in the city and take lower skilled jobs close to home in order to be available to their children and many family-oriented men have to trade time with their children for long commutes and long working hours.
“The reconfiguration of work in terms of hours, intensity and responsibility means increased pressure on families, with increased need for child-care support and informal social linking.
“In newer planned suburbs, support from community services and extended family is scarcer, while the predominance of busy high-mortgaged dual-income families makes community interaction more elusive, especially for singles and retirees.
“In older traditional suburbs, work demands are less intrusive and the presence of long-standing residents leads to increased social stability and support.”
Dr Williams said the research, conducted through focus groups, interviews and surveys, found teenagers wanted access to jobs while still at school; young Australians sought access to study and employment opportunities; middle-aged Australians were putting together jobs and families and looking for good spatial links between work and family; and older Australians increasingly wanted and expected to have some access to employment as they gradually stepped into retirement.
“This means that understanding how work and households change and fit together is essential to good urban policy and planning,” she said.
“Urban and housing environments impact on work behaviours, most clearly in terms of physical proximity, use of time and the contours of social relationships. Essentially these intersecting domains comprise the resource pool that shapes the amount of choice and control people have over their social lives and the kinds of communities they can create.
“But it also runs the other way: the location, availability and terms of work also affect how well households function and the capacity for community relationships.”
The project report makes specific stakeholder recommendations to all levels of government, planners and developers, schools, business and individuals.
Recommendations include:
- Governments should consider the broad and multiple activities of residents in any community development. Housing development that ignores the employment, mobility and recreational activities of residents create demands for individuals and households that affect the functioning of the whole community.
- Good infrastructure planning including transport options (road and rail) and essential services (education facilities, child care options, post office, banking, medical, retail) should precede housing in new developments as much as possible.
- Co-location of work and home should be a priority of planning.
- Planners and developers need to incorporate physical and social infrastructure that reflects the diversity of residents (young children, teenagers, workers, non-workers, elderly).
- The provision of excellent public transport should be considered essential to the sustainability of suburban and urban communities.
- Forward planning of public transport infrastructure will ensure new developments are well connected and facilitate the development of sustainable travel habits early on.
- Planners should consider how residents are likely to engage in the labour market.
- Build communities near areas of appropriate work, e.g. do not build new communities for the middle-class a long distance from professional jobs.
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here. The full report is available here.
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