Glossary

Accessibility - The degree to which individuals have access to a location, facility, program, open space, and walking, wheeling and bike riding networks.

Accessible - Capable of being reached/entered by all potential users.

Active frontage - Building frontage which contains uses that promote activity on the street.

Active living - A way of life that integrates physical activity into daily routines.

Active travel/active transport - Defined as travel in which the sustained physical exertion of the traveller directly contributes to their motion. This includes modes of travel such as walking, wheeling or riding using a traditional bike or e-bike, skateboarding and kick scootering. Active travel also includes the use of e-mobility devices such as e-bikes even though their use typically requires less physical effort. In this paper we also include wheeling and other micro-mobility devices as these modes often move through pedestrianised environments. Active travel is primarily used as a verb (action word); and active transport as a noun. 

Activity generators - Features and land uses that attract people, activity and surveillance opportunities, such as picnic areas, cafes, recreation facilities and public seating areas.

Advocacy (advocating) - Public support for a cause to drive change.

Age-friendly communities - Places where older people can live safely, enjoy good health and stay active, with opportunities to participate.

Ageing in place - The option to choose where one lives as they age; to live in one’s own home - own community, independently and comfortably.

Barrier - A circumstance or obstacle that makes it difficult or impossible for something to happen or be achieved.

Best practice - A method or technique that has been shown by research and experience to be superior to any alternatives.

Blue Zones - A term that classifies regions of the world were life expectancy is higher than average. Blue Zone areas include:

• Sardinia, Italy
• Okinawa, Japan
• Loma Linda, California (a group of Seventh-day Adventists) 
• Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica
• Icaria, Greece.

Bottom-up approach - Participation from the local community in decision making processes; an approach that empowers community ownership and commitment.

Brownfield - Land that has previously been developed but is abandoned or underused, usually considered as a potential site for redevelopment. It may or may not be environmentally contaminated but invariably will require remediation work to be undertaken to bring it back into use.

Built environment - The human-made structures and places in which we live, work and play, including land uses, transportation systems and design features.

Car dependency: A situation in which urban design, infrastructure, and cultural norms prioritise car use, making alternative modes of travel such as walking, wheeling, bike riding, or public transport less viable or attractive.

Cardiovascular disease - Diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels. The most common and serious cardiovascular diseases in Australia are coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure. They disproportionately affect males, the elderly, First Nations people and people living in remote or socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. 

Case study - A best practice example of a project or an initiative.

Ciclovia: Also known as open streets, these are where streets are temporarily closed to vehicular traffic and opened to other forms of movement and social activity including walking, wheeling and bike riding. The first Ciclovia was held in Bogota, Colombia in 1974 and continues to the present day.

Civic participation - Formal and informal activities provide opportunities to participate in community e.g. employment, volunteering or participating in group activities

Co-design - A collaborative approach to decision making and design that allows a range of people and users to engage, communicate, create, share and test; also referred to as participatory, co-creation and open design processes.

Co-location - Placement of several destinations or land uses in a single location or area. 

Community infrastructure - Structures and facilities that help communities and neighbourhoods to function effectively, including sporting and recreational facilities, community centres, childcare and after school centres, libraries and cultural facilities.

Community purpose site - A land parcel (normally less than 2000 square metres) set aside for local community uses such as community centres, meeting halls, libraries and kindergartens, which may form part of the public open space contribution for a neighbourhood. 

Community-based approaches - When communities have an active role and participate in highlighting and addressing the issues that matter to them.

Community Walkability Checklist - The Heart Foundation's walkability audit tool.

Complete streets: A street or roadway that is designed, planned and delivered to provide for, and accommodate, all modes of transport and users including people walking, wheeling, bike riding, using public transport and driving private vehicles.

Connectivity - The degree to which networks such as streets, railways, walking and cycling routes, services and infrastructure interconnect. A highly connected place will have many public spaces or routes linked to it.

Crime Prevention Through Design (CPTED) - An approach to personal safety in public spaces that uses features of the built environment, including urban and architectural design, to minimise crime. This can include design that encourages ‘eyes on the street’ or ‘passive surveillance’, clear lines of sight, lighting and more.

Cultural barriers - Challenges in understanding different cultures and/or cultural traits, resulting in inconveniences and difficulties.

Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) - People who are from other cultures/countries and do not speak English as a first language.

Cycling: Travel using a bike, including traditional, recumbent and e-bike as well as any form of trike (a three wheeled bike). Although e-bikes require less physical effort to operate, they are typically considered as a form of physical active travel. The term ‘cycling’ can be used interchangeably with bike riding. 

Density: Density measures the number of units within an area of land. Two key measures of density used by planners are population density and dwelling/residential density. Neighbourhoods are often described as being low-, medium- or high-density. 

Design features - Key aspects of healthy and active built environments, these include Public Open Space, Community Facilities, Buildings, Movement Networks, Destinations, Housing Diversity, Sense of Place and Healthy Food.

Design guidelines - A set of planning provisions intended to inform development.

Development contributions - Monetary contributions made by a developer/subdivider for items of infrastructure that are required to support the orderly development of an area.

Dwelling - A building or portion of a building being used, adapted, designed or intended to be used for the purpose of human habitation on a permanent basis.

Epidemic - An outbreak of disease that spreads quickly and affects many individuals at the same time within a community population or region.

Ethnically diverse - The variation between people in terms of how they identify on a range of attributes including ancestry, ethnicity, ethno-religiosity, language, national origin, race, and/or religion.

Farmers markets - Regular markets that involve farmers selling fresh produce in key community locations, directly to customers. Farmers markets can operate at community facilities such as school grounds or public ovals.

Food freight - Food distribution, with key influencers including transport systems, regulation and taxation.

Functional capacity - Ability to perform tasks and activities that people find necessary or desirable in their lives

Green infrastructure - A network of green spaces, street trees and other urban vegetation including wetlands, rain gardens, green walls and roofs. It can include a combination of public spaces and private spaces (e.g. golf courses and residential gardens).

Greenfield development - Development on land that has not been previously developed for urban development. 

Grouped dwelling - One of a group of two or more dwellings on the same lot such that no dwelling is placed wholly or partly vertically above another, except where special conditions of landscape or topography dictate otherwise and includes a dwelling on a survey strata with common property.

Health - A state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (World Health Organisation (WHO), 1946). 

Health promotion - The process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health.

Healthy Active Ageing - Encompasses all aspects of health with importance placed on a whole of life span approach (into old age); together with the broader social, cultural, environmental and contextual issues of quality of life and wellbeing.

Heart Maps - An online tool developed by the Heart Foundation that reveals heart disease trends across Australia. Importantly, highlighted is associations between socioeconomic disadvantage and remoteness, and heart health outcomes.

Healthy communities - Communities where people come together to make their environment better for everyone through collaboration, community ownership, inclusive approaches and long-term, positive commitment. A healthy community will provide affordable, appropriate, accessible housing, adjust the physical environment for inclusiveness and accessibility, ensure access to key health and supportive services, ensure accessible, affordable, reliable and safe transport, provide work, volunteer and education opportunities, and encourage participation in civic, cultural, social and recreational activities. 

Healthy Food - Food contained within the five food groups promoted by the Australian Dietary Guidelines. These include grain (cereal) foods; vegetables of various types and colours, as well as legumes and beans; fruit; lean meats, poultry and fish, nuts and tofu; and reduced fat dairy foods including milk, yoghurt, cheese and their alternatives. 

Incidental (or stealth) activity - Unstructured activity such as walking for transport, housework and activities of daily living.

Inclusive - Does not leave any part or group out.

Intergenerational - Involving persons of different generations or age categories.

Land use - The purpose of land based on its zoning. This includes residential, retail, commercial, civic, open space, or mixed-use within a Town Planning Scheme. 

Legibility - Where the design of the urban form (including local street and public open space networks) provides a sense of direction and connection, giving clear signals regarding the spatial layout and geography of an area.

Life-course - The entirety of individual’s life from birth to death and the typical set of circumstances an individual experiences in a given society as they age.

Life expectancy - A statistical average that places an estimate on the number of years a person is expected to live. Life expectancy varies across geographical area and in some instances culture and race.

Liveability: Liveability refers to the qualities and characteristics of a place that make it attractive, pleasant and amenable.

Local structure plan - A statutory document prepared by local government, a landowner or a landowner representative and approved under the provisions of a local planning scheme. Local structure plans coordinate the provision and planning for land use development, infrastructure and facilities on the neighbourhood scale (generally two suburbs or less, three neighbourhoods or less, one primary school catchment) and provide a statutory planning framework to facilitate future subdivision and development.

Local vernacular - A building style using local materials and traditional methods of construction and ornament, especially as distinguished from academic or historical architectural styles not from the region.

Loneliness - An unpleasant emotional response to perceived and/or genuine isolation.

Low stress bike riding: Describes a bike riding network that provides routes between an origin and destination that do not require bike riders to exceed their personal tolerance for traffic stress, or an undue level of detour to avoid traffic stress

Master plan -

• A document that sets out how a particular area can (as opposed to will) develop and redevelop into the future
• A high-level plan intended to set out objectives and strategies to manage development and change over time
• A process that defines what is important about a place and how its character and quality can be conserved, improved and enhanced 
• It isn’t a detailed design.

Micro-mobility: Lightweight, personal travel devices that operate at low speeds (usually <25 km/hr). These can be non-motorised (eg. traditional bicycles, rollerblades or skateboard), electric-assisted (eg. e-bike) or motorised (eg. mobility scooter, electric wheelchair or e-scooter).

Minority - A group that coexists with but is subordinate to a more dominant group.

Mixed-use - A variety of different land uses (or destinations) within a project area, precinct, locality or site.

Mixed-use development - Buildings that contain commercial and other non-residential uses in conjunction with residential dwellings in a multiple dwelling configuration.

Mobility - The ability to move or be moved freely and easily.

Modal filters: A street design strategy that limits cars while allowing other modes, such as people walking, wheeling or riding bikes, to pass through. Modal filters create an accessible network of low traffic streets for walking, wheeling and bike riding.⁵ They can also be known as filtered permeability. Approaches typically employ physical structures such as bollards, planting or street furniture, but can also include signage and CCTV enforced modal filters. 

Moderate-intensity exercise - Exercise that increases heart rate and breathing rate.

Multi modal streets: Streets that provide for, and integrate, a range of different types of transport. 

Nature spaces - A setting where people can enjoy nearby nature and protect local biodiversity and natural area values. Nature spaces provide opportunity for low-impact recreational activities, such as walking, cycling, picnicking, playing, watching or exploring natural features. Nature spaces may include bushland, coastal areas, wetlands and riparian habitats, and geological and natural features. Sites are managed to enable recreational access while protecting local ecological and biodiversity values.

Neighbourhood - A local area where people live, work, play, socialise and recreate.

Neighbourhood aesthetics - Relates to the general appeal and presentation of the neighbourhood and whether it provides a pleasant pedestrian-orientated environment. Design features that contribute towards the physical qualities and aesthetics of the street environment and that are relevant to walking include: the surface type and condition of footpaths; curb heights; the provision of street furniture, lighting and trees; vegetation; building setbacks; as well as the attractiveness of the area, and its maintenance.

Neighbourhood permeability - Building street block lengths of no more than 240 metres, and predominately around 15-180 metres in length. Street blocks should generally be shorter closer to the town and neighbourhood centres. The choice of movement should be maximised, with streets and footpaths designed to assist in safe movements. 

Non-communicable diseases - Non-infectious chronic health conditions, usually developing over a significant period of time, that can cause death, dysfunction or impaired quality of life e.g. heart disease.

Older age - Older age in a chronological sense often refers to persons aged 65 years and over. Or, for those who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, 55 years is a more appropriate and widely acknowledged definition. However, ageing is not a homogenous process and can also be characterised by the onset of multifaceted health conditions that tend to occur only later in life and are not classified within discrete disease categories.

Pandemic - An epidemic outbreak of disease that spreads quickly and affects many regions, countries or continents.

Pedestrianised environments: An area within a built environment which focuses on people and often restricts accessibility and movement by cars and other motorised forms of transport including buses.

Ped-sheds (also known as walkable catchments) - Maps showing a walkable area in a five, ten, 15 or 20-minute walking distance. The walkable catchment is a technique for comparative evaluation of how easy it is to move through an urban area, in order to get to and from these centres or facilities. These maps are the best estimates of walkability, and as such are an indication of energy efficiency.

People-first approach: An approach to traffic engineering, transport planning and road design that prioritises community health and wellbeing. This is achieved through the creation of safe, convenient and connected transport options for all people, including those who are walking, wheeling, bike riding, using public transport and driving cars.

Peri-urban - Areas between urban and regional centres, and rural zones.

Physical activity - Any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure, including activities such as walking, wheeling, bike riding and recreational exercise. Physical activity can be categorised into different domains: transport, leisure, occupational and household.

Place manager - Coordinates activity and acts as a point of responsibility and accountability for the outcomes in a centre and/or destination.

Prevention - Deliberate steps to stop or delay something happening.

Public health - Organised efforts that extend life, promote good health and prevent disease.

Public open space hierarchy - A notional framework for the provision of public open space parkland that is dependent upon the scale, function and location, and varies in size, ratio of active versus passive components and potential number of dwelling within its service catchment.

Public realm - Areas of common public use, in local authority or State Crown ownership, such as parks, playgrounds and streets.

Public transport: Shared transport services for the general public including buses, trains, trams, light rail and ferries. 

Quality of life - Ability to enjoy normal life activities.

Quietway: Low volume streets where people riding bikes and driving cars are equal road users in a mixed traffic on-road environment. These are typically local streets with low traffic speeds, visual cues and design elements that encourage slower driving and discourage overtaking. Also known as Safe Active Streets in Western Australia. 

Recreation - An activity of leisure carried out in free time for enjoyment, and can be considered healthy, fun and social. 

Recreation spaces - A setting for informal play and physical activity, relaxation and social interaction. Recreation spaces include open parklands, community gardens, corridor links, amenity spaces, community use facilities and civic commons or squares.

Regional - Locations located outside of major cities.

Remote - An area that is disconnected and distanced.

Retail food outlets - Places where consumers purchase food to be consumed off-premise.

Retirement living - Community or village where people aged 55 years or older reside.

Riding/bike riding: Includes the use of e-bikes. While less effort is required, e-bikes do require some level of physical effort. 

Risk factor - Something that can increase an individual’s likelihood of developing a disease.

Road space allocation: The process of determining how road space is distributed among different users and modes of transport, including people walking, wheeling, bike riding, using public transport and driving.

Rural - Less populated, non-urban areas.

Sedentary behaviour: Activities conducted during waking hours while seated, reclining or lying down that require low levels of energy expenditure. Distinct from sleep. Prolonged sitting in a car (e.g., driving) is a common form of sedentary behaviour.

Senior - A term used to classify an older person by age.

Sense of belonging - The degree to which people in a community feel connected and committed to and part of a community.

Sense of community - A feeling that members have of belonging and being important to each other, and a shared faith that members’ needs will be met by the commitment to be together.

Single bedroom dwelling - A dwelling that contains a living room and no more than one other habitable room that is capable of use as a bedroom.

Single house - A dwelling standing wholly on its own green title or survey title lot, together with any easement over adjoining land for support of a wall or for access or services. It excludes dwellings on titles with areas held in common property.

Site responsive - A design for a building that takes the location, natural landscape and climate into consideration when designing.

Social capital - The social networks and interactions that inspire trust and reciprocity among citizens.

Social inclusion: Social inclusion ensures that all people in a community have access to public life and the opportunities and activities that arise.

Socio-economic status - A combined measure of education, income and occupation that equates to a person's social standing or status.

Street connectivity: The degree to which street networks interconnect based on their arrangement in an area. Typically measured by the density of street intersections. Street connectivity generally enables more direct route choices.

Streetscape: This is the term given to the overall character of a road or street, considering all aspects of its appearance – buildings, roadways, greenery, landscaping, footpaths and other amenity.

Strength / resistance training - Any physical activity or exercise that uses the force of a muscle against some form of resistance to build muscle strength, endurance, and size.

Structure plan - A plan for the coordination of future subdivision, development and zoning of an area of land. It may be prepared if the area is all or part of a zone identified in this scheme as an area suitable for urban or industrial development; and identified in this scheme as an area requiring a structure plan to be prepared before any future subdivision or development is undertaken; or a state planning policy requires a structure plan to be prepared for the area; or when the responsible authority considers that a structure plan for the area is required for the purposes of orderly and proper planning.

Suburban - Outskirt suburbs of cities and large town centres, typically refers to mixed use residential areas.

Surveillance: Surveillance can also include ‘passive surveillance’. Greater visibility and observation across both public and private spaces. This can be achieved through the presence of people, window placement in architectural design, active street fronts and clear lines of sight, all of which enhance safety and discourage antisocial behaviour. 

Sustainable transport hierarchy: This is a framework that adopts a people-first approach when prioritising transport policy, infrastructure and investments. It considers the environmental sustainability of different transport modes and places walking and wheeling at the top of the hierarchy, followed by bike riding, use of public transport, freight and delivery transport and, lastly, personal motorised forms of transport such as private car.

Sustainability - Meeting the needs of the now with minimal impact on the future.

Tactical urbanism: Low cost, minimal intervention approaches for public realm improvements. They are generally temporary changes that are quick and easy to install, often colourful and ‘fun’, and often involve local community participation.

Traffic calming: The combination of predominantly physical measures to limit negative impacts from cars, change driver behavior, and improve conditions for other users of streets, such as people walking or riding bikes.⁹ Objectives include slowing speeds, improving safety (including perceptions of safety for those on foot or bike), enhancing the street environment and increasing access for a range of transport modes. 

Transit Orientated Development - Locating development, particularly residential development, in close proximity to public transport hubs. This can reduce car-dependency and encourage greater use of active and public modes of transport.

Trip-chaining: A term used to describe the combining of multiple trips or errands as part of a single journey. This can include any or all of the following combinations, and more: commuting to a place of work or education, shopping, appointments, taking children to or from school and other errands and tasks. Trip chaining can be done using any mode of transport including when walking, wheeling, bike riding, using public transport or private motorised vehicle.

Town centre - Community focal points that encompass commercial, retail, higher density housing, entertainment, tourism, civic/community, higher education, and medical services. Town centres vary in size and diversity and should be designed to be well-serviced by public transport.

Universal design - Buildings, products or environments that are designed to be accessible to all people, regardless of age, disability etc.

Urban - A built-up, densely populated area.

Urban agriculture - The practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around (peri-urban) a village, town, or city.

Urban design - A design-based approach to shaping urban environments and optimising the performance and efficiency of neighbourhoods, towns and cities. It pays particular attention to the way urban spaces work, interface between public and private realms and natural environment, cultural values, integrated movement systems and built form.

Urban heat islands: Phenomenon where urban areas are warmer than surrounding areas due to greater trapping and absorption of heat from the presence of roads, pathways, buildings and dark roofs, as opposed to green and blue surfaces such as parks and rivers

Vertical alignments: This term refers to the road slope, and the way in which a road rises and falls along its length.

Vigorous-intensity exercise - Exercise that substantially increases heart rate and breathing, and is likely to cause sweating.

Visibility - The ability of users of a space to see and be seen, ensuring surveillance by the maximum number of people.

Walkability - Concept that refers to how well an area supports and encourages walking (as well as wheeling and bike riding). It typically consists of three urban design factors: residential density, street connectivity and land use mix which combine to create an environment that makes walking (as well as wheeling and bike riding) between destinations easier and more convenient. 

Walkability Audit - An assessment to audit/rate walkability.

Walking: Moving by foot. Can include use of walking frames, support animals and other aids.

Wheeling: The action of moving as a pedestrian or walking pace, using manual or self-assisted modes of transport including the use of wheelchairs, mobility aids, scooters and others.

WHO 8 Age Friendly Domains - Built Environment, Transport, Housing, Social Participation, Respect and Social Inclusion, Civic Participation and Employment, Communication, and Community Support and Health Services.

15-minute neighbourhood - A city of short distances / hyper-proximities; a self-sufficient or complete neighbourhood where most of a person’s day-to-day needs are located within a 15-minute ride or walk from their home.

20-minute neighbourhood - The 20-minute neighbourhood concept is all about ‘living locally’—giving people the ability to meet most of their daily needs within a 20-minute walk from home, with access to safe cycling and local transport options.