Media Release
Educating Professionals • Creating and Applying Knowledge • Engaging our Communities
December 2 2009
Work, Home, Community essential to urban planning
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 by Deputy Prime
Minister Julia Gillard 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.”
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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.
Launch: 10am – 12 noon, Intercontinental Adelaide, North Terrace, Adelaide
Contact for interview:
Dr Pip Williams mobile 0423 298 685; Prof Barbara Pocock mobile 0414 244 606
Media contact:
Kelly Stone office (08) 8302 0963 mobile 0417 861 832 email Kelly.stone@unisa.edu.au
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