The Lived Experience of Residents in an Emerging Master-Planned Community

Laurie Buys, Cameron Newton and Nicole Walker
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Laurie Buys: Health and Behavioural Sciences Faculty, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
Cameron Newton: Faculty of Business and Law, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
Nicole Walker: Health and Behavioural Sciences Faculty, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-19

Abstract: Master-planned communities around the world are developed and purposefully planned to address housing sustainability and community connectivity; they often have a distinctive look, and appeal to a particular customer base desiring a strong, utopian-esque community. However, the lived experience of new residents joining master-planned communities has not been explored. This paper examines the lived experience of new residents within an emerging Australian master-planned estate, and reports on the first two stages of a longitudinal study focusing on the results of an online forum. This unique study presents real-life findings on a culturally diverse community. The findings reveal how the purposeful development of community identity in the early stages of the MPCommunity has not led to satisfactory levels of social infrastructure or social connectedness for the pioneering residents. The physical and social environment, as interpreted by residents against the developers’ imagined vision and marketing testimonies, has not been entirely satisfactory. Infrastructure issues—such as transport, and access to daily activities such as shopping, work, and school—were points of frustration and dissatisfaction. The findings provide insight into the challenges and opportunities for residents in a developing MPC, and further our understanding of the specific factors that inform us as to how social infrastructure can best encourage and support connection within existing and future MPC developments.

Keywords: master-planned estate; community; community identity; social connectedness; social infrastructure: physical infrastructure; housing developments; longitudinal study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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