Building ‘community’ for different stages of life: physical and social infrastructure in master planned communities

Australia’s labour market and its cities are changing, along with the nature of housing and community configurations. Major new master planned housing developments are being undertaken to meet demand as cities struggle to cope with increasing populations. Such urban developments are influencing workforce, household and community relations, which in turn drive health and well-being outcomes, and affect social capital and labour market participation. The Work, Home and Community Study aims to explore these outcomes through analysis of qualitative and quantitative data gathered in ten communities across four Australian states. This paper reports findings from the first phase of qualitative data collection. Fourteen focus groups were conducted with men and women who live and/or work at newly developed Master Planned Communities in South Australia and Victoria. Findings indicate that familiarity, availability, and the enabling of social bridges contribute to the development of community and social capital in these MPCs. For individuals at different stages of life these factors were facilitated or inhibited by specific physical and social infrastructures in the MPC and the workplace. At a time when concerns are being raised about the ability of people to combine work, home and community these findings shed some light on the physical and social infrastructures that can enable or constrain the building of healthy communities.