Sustainable lives in sustainable communities Living and working in suburban Australia Philippa Williams, Barbara Pocock, Ken Bridge

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Sustainable lives in sustainable
communitiesLiving and working in suburban
AustraliaPhilippa Williams, Barbara Pocock,
Ken Bridge Jane EdwardsCentre for Work
LifeUniversity of South AustraliaFunding
partners includeAustralia Research Council, Lend
Lease Communities, The Innovation and Economic
Opportunities Group and University of South
Australia
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Project at a glance
Method 10 traditional planned communities
across 4 states. Multiple methods, including
household survey, focus groups and interviews
with men, women teenagers
Aim To explore how work, home and community
interact in the lives of men, women and teenagers
living in suburban Australia
Theoretical perspective (2) Voydanoffs demands
resources perspective encouraged an examination
of how demands and resources across different
contexts interact to affect work-life integration.
Theoretical perspective (1) Bronfenbrenners
ecological systems theory encourages an holistic
examination of work home and community
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You cannot plan for housing without planning for
activities of daily living such as work, care,
education, recreation, social interaction and
consumption.
These activities need to be integrated into
housing development. Attention to the SPACE and
TIME characteristics of different activities at
different STAGES OF LIFE is essential.
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Many stories
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Working mothers
Key issue the spatial and temporal organisation
of work, in relation to care and community
Insert picture from poster woman working at
home with baby

• My wife works part-time, and she works right
  next to where the kids sport is. So if theres
  anything happening with the kids shes got a bit
  more flexibility than I do. (male worker with
  children)

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Available parents can maximise local social
networks
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Local social networks are diminished if work
keeps residents away from their community
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Workers and small business
Key issue Problematic flexibility and access to
services

• We have a work environment where I can just run
  out the door, go home, see the electrician, come
  back to worklast year I had a son wanted to do
  baseball so I had to pick him up from the bus
  stop, drop him at baseball and come back to work
  for another hour (Employed female with children)

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Teenagers
Key issue Poor access to opportunities for social
interaction, recreation, extra-curricular
activity, work experience, and independent agency

Sometimes we cant do anything because no parents
are home ... because we live so far out, we
cant walk anywhere. (14 year old girl)
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Local social networks are diminished if children
attend school outside their community
When I moved here I knew nobody my son was still
at his old school so I didnt get to meet
anybody for three years, then when he finally did
move here, he made friends with the older boys,
not the younger boys So it took ages and ages
sort of for us to assimilate in. (employed female
with children)
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Sustaining and sustainable communitiesAn
holistic approach

• Understanding how housing interacts with work and
  other activities is essential for good urban
  policy and planning.
• Planning needs to considering LIFE STAGE, SPACE
  and TIME in relation to each other in order to
  understand how work, home and community interact
  for different groups of people.

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Key questions raised by this analysis

1. Should the responsibility (and the costs) of
   socially connected communities be borne primarily
   by women?
2. How do we design communities and workplaces to
   increase opportunities for workers (men and
   women) to participate in the social life of their
   communities?
3. How do we maximise the benefits of flexibility
   (at work and in the community) while at the same
   time reducing the demands often created by
   flexibility (especially for women)?
4. How do we design communities and workplaces with
   the needs of teenagers in mind?

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Thank youunisa.edu.au/hawkeinstitute/cwl