There is growing national and international interest on the link between the built environment and health, including a concern that western societies have constructed urban environments fundamentally unhealthy for their inhabitants. It is necessary to mark out the housing part of this built environment area by undertaking robust research that investigates the link between housing and health. However, this is such a large area of research it is considered essential that a scoping study be undertaken to identify the current level of knowledge and major research gaps, prioritize these, and design a small number of research projects to explore the highest priority research gaps. This study will use an Investigative Panel comprising leading researchers, public health and housing policy officials from across Australasia and New Zealand to do this.

• Paul Pholeros (Healthabitat): Housing for Health: 25 years of Improving Housing Design, Construction & Maintenance
• Mike (Alfred) Dockery (University of Western Australia): Housing and Children’s Development and Wellbeing: A Scoping Study
• Philippa Howden-Chapman (Otago University): Improving Impact of Housing Research on Policy
• Stephen Corbett (Sydney West Area Health Service): Housing and Health: A Health Policy Perspective
• Susan Thompson and Tony Capon (HBEP): Housing and Health – The Neighbourhood Location
• Melanie Anderson (Sax Institute): Wiser Decisions for a Healthier Australia

The final report for this project has now been published by AHURI. Click here for the full report .