Harnessing complex
data for future needs
Planning liveable
cities across Australia
Trusted by Decision Makers Across Australia

Navy square - Infrastructure
Navy square - NSW Health
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Navy square - City of Port Phillip
Navy square - Mornington
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Navy square - City of Great Dand.
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Liveability at your Fingertips



Easy to Understand Liveability

The Australian Urban Observatory is a new digital planning tool that transforms our award-winning research into easily understood spatial maps to help decision makers plan liveable communities where people can live, work, play, grow and age.


Backed by RMIT’s Centre for Urban Research

Since 2006, the team from RMIT University has been researching connections between the lived environment & public health. We are passionate about reducing inequities through evidence-informed policy, planning, monitoring, evaluation and community engagement.


Indicators Supporting Health and Wellbeing

With 42 indicators across 9 domains of liveability, including our overall Liveability Index, as well as Walkability, Social Infrastructure, Transport, Food, Alcohol, Public Open Space, Employment, and Housing.


Mapping Liveability Across 21 Cities

We map spatially, for LGAs, Suburbs and Neighbourhoods, and across time, with data for 2018 and now 2021. Our policy-relevant urban indicators prioritise actions that improve liveability for people and communities across Australia.

Your Window into Liveable Cities

The Australian Urban Observatory is a ground-breaking digital platform that transforms complex data into easily understood indicators presented as maps of liveability across Australia’s largest cities. Register now to login and view the liveability of your local area.

Leverage our Research for Real World Impact

For Planners and Policymakers

Are you a Planner or Policy Maker trying to find ways to improve the health and liveability of your city?

The Australian Urban Observatory enables you to understand walkability, access to schools, public transport and public open spaces in each of your neighbourhoods, to help decide which areas and people need resources the most.

You can also look at other neighbourhoods and suburbs across the country to find out what is working in comparable geographic or demographic areas.

For Developers and Consultants

Maybe you’re a Developer or Design Consultant looking for the next place to invest or how your project can improve liveability for the surrounding community?

The AUO connects your project with meaningful Corporate Social Responsibility targets. You can start by looking at indicators of housing, local employment, access to shops or community services at the suburb level and then narrow right down to the small local neighbourhood level.

For Teachers, Students and Journalists

Perhaps you are a Teacher or Student exploring liveability in Australia? Or a Journalist trying to understand the impacts of liveabilty for people and communities.

The AUO provides a unique resource measuring the major influences of liveability and shows how liveability changes across different locations and cities, leveraging years of evidence based research from RMIT University.

AUO Impact and Blog

Achieving ‘Active’ 30 Minute Cities: How Feasible Is It to Reach Work within 30 Minutes Using Active Transport Modes?

Both, A.; Gunn, L.; Higgs, C.; Davern, M.; Jafari, A.; Boulange, C.; Giles-Corti, B. Achieving ‘Active’ 30 Minute Cities: How […]

New courses on making cities healthier, more attractive and sustainable

A suite of new free online courses is set to equip urban professionals with the skills needed to tackle the […]

Excellence in Planning Research Award Winners from the Planning Institute of Australia

We are proud to announce that the Australia Urban Observatory’s Director, Associate Professor Melanie Davern, was a part of the […]

National Research Excellence Award Winners from the Planning Institute of Australia

The Australian Urban Observatory and our Director Associate Professor Melanie Davern are so pleased to be part of the research […]

Using citizen science to bring people back into planning walkable and healthy places

Public participation in planning and urban design has a long history that can be traced back over the past century to seminal […]

What Our Partners are Saying

“The AUO liveability indicators provided key data for the Moreland Health Profile that we not had access to previously, particularly at a local/suburb level and which were able to provide us sub municipal distinction and understanding of our community and the places they live in. It has provided the Moreland Community Plan an excellent understanding of Moreland’s community and some of this issues they have.“

Victoria Kapke
Unit Manager | Strategy and Research
Moreland City Council
“The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) has drawn on the AUO and RMIT team to support the development of an outcomes monitoring framework for Plan Melbourne 2017-2050, as well as potential indicators to assist in measuring the success of 20-minute neighbourhoods across Melbourne. This work will assist Government in evaluating the long-term benefits of Plan Melbourne, while the AUO 2018 and 2021 comparative data can begin to show changes in the city over time in the short term, supporting policy development, monitoring and reporting.”

Madison Robb | Senior Planner – Coordinator Plan Melbourne
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
“Advocacy is just another word for nagging but with an evidence base. That is what the Australian Urban Observatory helps you to do, build the evidence base for what may seem obvious, but to government you cannot sell anything based on intuition. It has helped Mitchell Shire create a starting point for each key town and growth area that is specific it, assisting in developing specific support or interventions that are not generic across the Shire. The indicators have also helped with the Seymour Revitalisation project providing the evidence that was utilised to develop a business case.”

Mary Agostino | Acting Chief Executive Officer
Mitchell Shire Council

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