Designing against isolation: urban planning, public space, and social connection at Elizabeth Quay, Perth, Australia

Abstract This paper examines how urban design can function as social infrastructure by creating opportunities for co-presence, participation, shared experiences, incidental encounters, repeated public-space use, and activity across different periods of the day. Using Elizabeth Quay in Perth, Australia as a case study, it explores how waterfront redevelopment can move beyond aesthetics to address the growing global challenge of social isolation. Drawing on quantitative observational and spatial analysis based on 10 site visits and 7 observation points, the study examines how key design and planning features such as cross-sector partnerships, mixed-use development, walkability, cultural programming, public art, green and blue infrastructure, and intergenerational activities, shape opportunities for social interaction and the social value of the built environment. The analysis suggests that these elements may contribute to social cohesion, a sense of safety, and more inclusive forms of public life, while also highlighting the importance of built environment. The findings indicate that successful public spaces are defined not only by visual quality, but by their capacity to support physical design and create opportunities for movement, play, physical activity, and informal social interaction. The paper explores how human-centered urban design and placemaking can create conditions that may strengthen civic identity, public health, and community wellbeing while also supporting economic and cultural vitality. The study highlights the potential of the built the environment as preventative social infrastructure, while distinguishing observed spatial and behavioral patterns from broader social outcomes that remain theoretically inferred rather than empirically measured.