‘Building Community’ Physical and social infrastructure in the Master Planned Community Preliminary findings from the Work, Home and Community Project Centre for Work + Life Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies University of South Australia Dr Pip Williams State of Australian Cities Adelaide2007

Outline of presentation Community and social capital: What do we mean? The Work Home and Community Project: phase 1 Findings: Building community and enabling social capital across the life span in two Master Planned Communities (MPCs) Conclusions and discussion

social capital Community Neighbourhood watch

The Work Home and Community Project: Phase one  Aim Gain a preliminary understanding of issues faced by women and men in relation to building community and developing social capital – keeping life stage and work in focus Gain a preliminary understanding of issues faced by women and men in relation to building community and developing social capital – keeping life stage and work in focus  Participants 68 Residents and workers of two MPCs; 33 women, 35 men aged yrs  Data collection 14 focus groups  Analysis Initial analysis - Descriptive coding; thematic coding; analytical coding. Review of literature on community and social capital Focused analysis of data

Study locations Mindy Lakes is an energetic mix of education, recreation, retail, residential and commercial facilities; resulting in a welcoming, self-contained community that displays a real sense of purpose, direction and belonging. Catherine Springs offers a quality of life, which is second to none… a place where you and your family can live, learn, work and play.

Findings Physical and social infrastructures that bring people together

Physical infrastructure

Social Infrastructure

Social capital across different stages of life

New mothers

New mothers Mum Mothers group ECH Centre Antenatal service Mum Fig 1. Avenues to social networks for new mothers

I’m into the community five days a week. I have something planned every day. It’s the walking group, it’s the mother’s group, its mother’s network, its playgroup. (CS5, p.369)

Mum ECH Centre Mum Fig 2. Inadequate physical and social infrastructure for new mothers

I had a woman stop me out in the street one day. She was in such a state, she’s got a baby in the pram and had walked the streets until she bumped into somebody else with a pram because she needed advice from another mother. She was having trouble breastfeeding and her baby was constipated and she had such a bad experience with the health nurse…I mean that’s when people do stupid things, when they get desperate…That’s exactly why the mother’s network was set up, someone had actually done something stupid. They drowned their baby. (CS 5. p409)

New mothers returning to work

I’m not involved in the community here as much as I’d like to be...my kids go to crèche and just about all the parents there work full time so they don’t get involved in a lot of the community things either. So I feel like I’m missing a little bit in that way. I’d like to get involved but it’s having the time. (CS5 p. 361)

Young family: two parents working full time

Mother Child Mother Father Fig 3. Developing social ties through children

When I moved here I knew nobody… my son was still at [his old school] so I didn’t get to meet anybody for three years. (CS5, p.154)

Child Mother Father Mother Fig 4. Impoverished social ties due to lack of connection with other children in local area

Dual income families and work

[ My job] was starting to impact on the kids. Can I ask how you noticed the effect on the kids? What did you see? Stress in the kids like sleeping problems and homework. Not coping with school, not being able to be involved with sports activities, like not having a lot of friends in the community. (CS7, p.88)

Career advancement and things are important to me you can’t really find that on this side of the city to be honest, Career advancement and things are important to me you can’t really find that on this side of the city to be honest, (CS7, p.152)

A lot of the guys that work where I work, they live around this area too. We can see each other and sometimes give lifts to each other. We [also] have a great relationship because of the school. We get friendships through it. I think friendships that you made out of your kids are lasting relationships (CS6, p.982).

We look after each other’s kids. So if we see one of the kids doing something wrong [we do something about it]. (CS6, p.313)

Teenagers commentisfree.guardian.co.uk

Teen Adult Teen AdultVideo games Sport facilities Skate park Cinema Fig 5. Opportunities for intergenerational social interaction through shared use of infrastructure

That’s the end result I think, if you don’t give them something to do they’ll just get into trouble. (CS 5 p.282)

Teen Adult Teen Adult Markets in another suburb Local Sport facilities Skate park in another suburb Cinema in another suburb Fig 6: Lack of opportunities for intergenerational social interaction resulting from few shared facilities and events in local area (broken arrows indicate poor access due to lack of transport options)

Older people: retirees and the frail elderly

I’ve made a huge effort to get involved with the community because I felt really dislocated …then last year I tripped over my cat and broke my ankle. But, it was a fantastic story… some of my lovely neighbours brought my bed downstairs next to my office and the church organised food for three weeks - Just startling. I invite neighbours to dinner and they invite me to dinner and so we have that lovely networking thing happening (FG1, p221)

Oldie OtherOldie Library Walking group Church Other Oldie Fig 7. Avenues to social networks for older people (broken arrows indicate poor access)

Conclusions

Thank You

Acknowledgements Many thanks go to Kelvin Trimper, Rebecca Dunow and Anne Jolic For their assistance with the project so far We are very grateful to the men and women from Mindy lakes and Catherine Springs who participated in focus groups for this phase of the project This research is jointly funded by the Australian Research Council, Lend Lease Communities and the Land Management Corporation