A Case Study of a Natural Experiment Bridging the ‘Research into Policy’ and ‘Evidence-Based Policy’ Gap for Active-Living Science

Paula Hooper, Sarah Foster and Billie Giles-Corti
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Paula Hooper: Australian Urban Design Research Centre, School of Design, The University of Western Australia, Perth 6009, Australia
Sarah Foster: Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia
Billie Giles-Corti: Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 14, 1-14

Abstract: The translation of research into tangible health benefits via changes to urban planning policy and practice is a key intended outcome of academic active-living research endeavours. Conversely, policy-makers and planners identify the need for policy-specific evidence to ensure policy decisions and practices are informed and validated by rigorously established evidence. In practice, however, these two aspirations rarely meet and a research-translation gap remains. The RESIDE project is a unique longitudinal natural experiment designed to evaluate the health impacts of the ‘Liveable Neighbourhoods’ planning policy, which was introduced by the Western Australian Government to create more walkable suburbs. This commentary provides an overview and discussion of the policy-specific study methodologies undertaken to quantitatively assess the implementation of the policy and assess its active living and health impacts. It outlines the key research-translation successes and impact of the findings on the Liveable Neighbourhoods policy and discusses lessons learnt from the RESIDE project to inform future natural experiments of policy evaluation.

Keywords: natural experiment; built environment; urban design; policy evaluation; active living; liveability; Australia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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