In 1998, the Western Australian Government introduced the Liveable Neighbourhoods Design Code; a policy aimed at using design principles  to increase the walking, cycling, public transport use and sense of  community of residents of new housing developments.

The RESIDential Environments Project (known as RESIDE) commenced in 2003 to evaluate the impact of the Liveable Neighbourhoods (LN)  Policy on people living in LN designed communities. The study focused on five elements with most relevance to health, based on the 2nd edition  of LN and subsequent additions: movement network, urban structure,  residential diversity, public open space and schools.

The RESIDE project shows that government policies and planning initiatives play a vital role in creating cities, towns and neighbourhoods that can positively impact community health and wellbeing. RESIDE provides strong evidence that new communities built in accordance with LN principles will likely promote the health and  wellbeing of residents.