Why Where You Live Matters for Young Children
Ahead of the International Day of Families on 15th May, Dr Karen Villanueva and colleagues from the Social Equity Research Centre at RMIT University, along with researchers from the University of South Australia, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and the University of Montreal, explore why neighbourhoods matter for young children.
Source: Pexels
What is the problem?
Healthy environments help children develop well physically, emotionally, and socially. Young children spend a lot of time close to home, which means the resources and opportunities offered by their local neighbourhood help shape their daily experiences. But not all neighbourhoods have the same resources or opportunities.
Much of Australia’s population growth is happening in growth area suburbs located on the urban fringe. Many young families are moving to outer and growth area suburbs because of relative housing affordability and more space (e.g., larger houses and backyards).(1) In Victoria, over 25 % of the population living in growth areas are couples with young children.(2) But these areas often have fewer essential services and infrastructure than inner-city areas,(3) raising concerns about how health-promoting these areas are for families with young children.
What did we do?
Our project, the Early Data to Decisions project, funded by VicHealth, set out to understand what makes a supportive neighbourhood-built environment for families with young children. We looked at eight key neighbourhood features:
traffic exposure,
walkability,
public transport,
housing,
public open space,
early childhood education and care,
family-friendly destinations, and
food outlets.
We wanted to know how these features influence early childhood development outcomes. We looked at whether there were any differences by level of neighbourhood disadvantage and urbanicity – living in inner city, middle ring, outer ring, or growth area of Melbourne. To do this, we used data from around 47,000 children aged approximately five years old captured in the Australian Early Development Census (www.aedc.gov.au). We also asked parents living in one growth area of Melbourne, Australia, about what they perceive as important neighbourhood built environment features for raising young children and why.
What did we find?
Outer ring and growth area suburbs have fewer amenities and infrastructure compared with inner city suburbs. Living in the poorest neighbourhoods was strongly related to being developmentally vulnerable on one or more of the Australian Early Development Census domains (herein ‘developmental vulnerability’), regardless of whether it was located in Melbourne’s inner city, middle ring, outer ring, or growth area.
Housing, public open space, and access to early childhood education and care were consistently related to developmental vulnerability. For example, lower odds of developmental vulnerability were associated with more public open space, an increased variety of public open spaces, of different sizes, located within 800m of a child's home, and more high-quality childcare centres and preschools within 3km of a child’s home. These associations may differ depending on the level of neighbourhood disadvantage and urbanicity combined. This can even occur in geographically close areas, like within the same local government area.
Families with young children generally found their neighbourhoods positive for raising children. Parents emphasised the importance of having high-quality local amenities, like libraries, parent groups, and playgroups. These support early childhood development but also help families to connect and build strong local relationships. While parks within walking distance were used regularly, using a car was crucial for reaching other destinations within a 15-30-minute drive, highlighting the perceived importance of physical ‘accessibility’ via car, rather than ‘walkability’ in a growth area suburb. This may reflect family preferences to travel by car and a neighbourhood that suits their lifestyle.
What are our key messages?
The delivery of built environment infrastructure in outer and growth area suburbs needs to keep up with the number of families moving to growth areas (i.e., there are inequities in distribution across place).
More investment is needed in the most disadvantaged areas across cities, with policy interventions and place-based initiatives prioritising high-quality housing, public open space, and access to early childhood education and care.
More social and community infrastructure is needed (e.g., libraries, parent groups, and playgroups) to benefit young children and encourage families to build supportive local relationships.
Understanding community context is crucial so that approaches can be tailored to different urban settings. Planning for better child development outcomes should be place-specific.
Reducing car dependency may be challenging for those living in growth areas, given that fewer public transportation options can make it difficult to choose more sustainable modes of transport, and decisions to travel by car may reflect family preferences and neighbourhood self-selection.
Where can I find out more?
Villanueva, K., Turrell, G. Alderton, A., Davern, M., Brinkman, S., Gauvin, L., Goldfeld, S., Badland, H., (2025) The built environment and children’s development in different urban contexts of Melbourne: VicHealth Early Data to Decisions project report. RMIT University: Melbourne, Australia. Read it here.
References:
1. Willing R, Pojani D. Is the suburban dream still alive in Australia? Evidence from Brisbane. Australian planner. 2017;54(2):67-79.
2. National Growth Areas Alliance. Growth LGAs in Victoria: Households with children 2021. Available from: https://profile.id.com.au/ngaa/households-with-children?WebID=420.
3. Lowe M, Arundel J, Hooper P, Rozek J, Higgs C, Roberts R, et al. Liveability aspirations and realities: Implementation of urban policies designed to create healthy cities in Australia. Social science & medicine. 2020;245:112713.
Moderator: Dr Elroy Dearn, Research Fellow, RMIT University