Natalia Krysiak is one of 112 people who have been awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship in order travel to Singapore, China, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom to investigate child-friendly, high density neighbourhoods from a design and social policy perspective.
The number of Australian families living in high-density neighbourhoods is rapidly increasing, particularly in major cities such as Sydney, where families with children are nearly 30 percent of high-rise occupancy.
“It will give me the opportunity to find out how children live in compact cities, and how we can improve their health and wellbeing – a topic that hasn’t been given much attention in Australia,” says Krysiak.
“Rarely do we link health and wellbeing of children back to the physical environment in which they live.”
“The ‘suburbs’ that children live in have shifted dramatically, and in Australia the research hasn’t caught up with those changes which also means largely we’re lagging behind international best practice,” she says.
“We need to make sure the way we design and build cities is good for younger citizens.
“I’m thrilled to be a 2018 Fellow, and to have the chance to look at best practice examples of designing new vertical communities for families from around the world, and applying them here at home,” says Krysiak.
