The health benefits of walking are both common sense and well researched.  How local councils might encourage more of it is one focus of the report Creating Liveable Cities in Australia and this Project, undertaken by LGAT with the support of the Royal Melbourne Insitute of Technology (RMIT) and Brighton, Launceston and Clarence Councils.  This pilot Project assessed the "walkability" of three Local Government Areas with the aim of producing data that could be of practical use in policy and planning.  The Walkability for Transport Index was used to develop an evidence based understanding of factors that affect people's decision about walking.

The Powerpoint presentation and the reports provided here are valuable Tasmanian examples of how the index might be used and how the concepts of walkability can assist the work of councils in providing improved services and further contributing to the health and wellbeing of the community.

Powerpoint Overview of the Project: What is it? What did we do? What have we learned? Active Living Powerpoint(979 kb)

A Pilot study on accessing data to assist in walkability planning

This report describes the pilot study for Launceston City, Clarence City and Brighton.  It includes discussion of the potential and importance of Local Government's role and identifies relevant data sources.
Walkability Pilot Study(447 kb)

Maps of Walkability for Brighton, Clarence and Launceston demonstrate what can be done and illustrate the potential value of the data for a range of purposes.
LGAT Walkability maps(8233 kb

Walkability Factsheet Summary

This report provides information about the Healthy Liveable Cities Group and an overview of the liveability concept.  The partners for this projet are LGAT, RMIT, Department of Communities, Sport and Recreation Tasmania and the Councils of Brighton, Clarence and Launceston.LGAT Walkability Factsheet Summary(525 kb)