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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
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 Project at a glance Theoretical perspective (1) Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory encourages an holistic examination of work home and community Theoretical perspective (2) Voydanoff’sdemands & resources perspective encouraged an examination of how demands and resources across different contexts interact to affect work-life integration.
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.
Working mothers Key issue the spatial and temporal organisation of work, in relation to care and community “My wife works part-time, and she works right next to where the kids sport is. So if there’s anything happening with the kids she’s got a bit more flexibility than I do.” (male worker with children) Insert picture from poster – woman working at home with baby
Child Mother Father Child Father Child Mother Father Mother Available parents can maximise local social networks
Child Mother Father Child Father Child Mother Father Mother Local social networks are diminished if work keeps residents away from their community
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 work…last 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” (Employedfemale with children)
Teenagers Key issue Poor access to opportunities for social interaction, recreation, extra-curricular activity, work experience, and independent agency Sometimes we can’t do anything because no parents are home ... because we live so far out, we can’t walk anywhere. (14 year old girl)
Child Mother Father Child Father Child Mother Father Local social networks are diminished if children attend school outside their community Mother When I moved here I knew nobody… my son was still at [his old school] so I didn’t 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)
Sustaining and sustainable communities:An 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.
Key questions raised by this analysis • Should the responsibility (and the costs) of socially connected communities be borne primarily by women? • How do we design communities and workplaces to increase opportunities for workers (men and women) to participate in the social life of their communities? • 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)? • How do we design communities and workplaces with the needs of teenagers in mind?
