The concept of liveable has been discussed since 1990’s, yet there is no definite definition for liveable as the concept relies on what the community wants in their neighbourhood areas. The concept is challenging in terms of content-wise and in many ways being viewed in cross-disciplinary with multi-dimensional research domains. In this review, bibliometric analysis has been applied to the field of liveable in order to identify fundamental aspects and to obtain a structured overview on the characteristics and its developments in the research domain. The Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus search engines were used to explore online databases for frameworks or concepts related to the idea of liveability normally used in neighbourhood studies. These databases were chosen because they contain a wide range of social science topics, which makes them ideal for this area of study. Advanced bibliometric tools were used by using VOSviewer and ScientoPY software. n total, 229 publications published between 1990 to 2024 relevant to liveable were identified in Web and Science (WoS) and Scopus. The review discusses influential material according to (1) the trends in liveable context between the years, (2) countries origin contributed to liveability, (3) authors who have published extensively on liveability in the field, and (4) most cited publication. The results indicate what has been captured on the aspect for a contextual consideration in Malaysia. This includes perspectives of aspects that might not be considered due to the uniqueness of the country.
Badland, H. and Pearce, J. (2019). Liveable for whom? Prospects of urban liveability to address health inequities. Social science & medicine, 232, 94–105. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.05.001
Badland, H. M., Rachele, J.N., Roberts, R. (2017). Creating and applying public transport indicators to test pathways of behaviours and health through an urban transport framework. J. Transp. Health.
Badland, H. (2017a). Examining associations between area-level spatial measures of housing with selected health and wellbeing behaviours and outcomes in an urban context. Health Place 43, 17–24.
Bassett, E. M., & Howerton, H. (2014). Designing the Healthy Neighborhood: Deriving Principles Fro. Hart Howerton, Ltd. and University of Virginia.
Cleary, A.; Roiko, A.; Burton, N.W.; Fielding, K.S.; Murray, Z.; Turrell, G. Changes in Perceptions of Urban Green Space Are Related to Changes in Psychological Well-Being: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Study of Mid-Aged Urban Residents. Health Place 2019, 59, 102201.
Du Toit, L., Cerin, E., Leslie, E., Owen, N. (2007). Does walking in the neighbourhood enhance local sociability? Urban Stud. 44 (9), 1677–1695. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 00420980701426665.
Falconer, R., Newman, P., & Giles-Corti, B. (2010). Is practice aligned with the principles? Implementing new urbanism in Perth, Western Australia. Transport Policy, 17(5), 287–294.
Foster, S., Hooper, P., Knuiman, M., Christian, H., Bull, F., Giles-Corti, B. (2016). Safe RESIDential Environments? A longitudinal analysis of the influence of crime-related safety on walking. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity 13:1-9.
Foster, S., Hooper, P., Knuiman, M., Bull, F., Giles-Corti, B. (2016). Are liveable neighbourhoods safer neighbourhoods? Testing the rhetoric on new urbanism and safety from crime in Perth, Western Australia. Soc. Sci. Med. 164, 150–157. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.04.013.
Foster, S., Knuiman, M., Hooper, P., Christian, H., Giles-Corti, B. (2014). Do changes in resi- dents’ fear of crime impact their walking? Longitudinal results from RESIDE. Prev Med. 2014;62:161–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.02.011.
Foster, S., Hooper, P., Knuiman, M., Giles-Corti, B., 2016. Does heightened fear of crime lead to poorer mental health in new suburbs, or vice versa? Social Sci. Med. (1982), 168(NA), 30-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.09.004.
Giles-Corti, B., Badland, H., Mavoa, S., Turrell, G., Bull, F., Boruff, B., Pettit, C., Bauman, A., Hooper, P., Villanueva, K., Astell- Burt, T., Feng, X., Learnihan, V., Davey, R., Grenfell, R., & Thackway, S. (2014). Reconnecting urban planning with health: a protocol for the development and validation of national liveability indicators associated with noncommunicable disease risk behaviours and health outcomes. Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive), 25(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.17061/phrp2511405
Ghani, F., Rachele, J. N., Loh, V. H. Y., Washington, S., & Turrell, G. (2018). Do differences in built environments explain age differences in transport walking across neighborhoods? Journal of Transport & Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jth.2018.03.010.
Giles-Corti, B., Knuiman, M., Timperio, A., van Niel, K., Pikora, T. J., Bull, F. C. L., Shilton, T., Bulsara, M. (2008). Evaluation of the implementation of a state government community design policy aimed at increasing local walking: design issues and baseline results from RESIDE, Perth Western Australia. Prev. Med. 46 (1), 46–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2007.08.002.
Heesch, K. C., Giles-Corti, B., & Turrell, G. (2014). Cycling for transport and recreation: Associations with socio-economic position, environmen- tal perceptions, and psychological disposition. Preventive Medicine, 63, 29–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.03.003.
Hooper, P., Foster, S., Bull, F., Knuiman, M., Christian, H., Timperio, A., Wood, L., Trapp, G., Boruff, B., Francis, J., Strange, C., Badland, H., Gunn, L., Falconer, R., Learnihan, V., McCormack, G., Sugiyama, T., Giles-Corti, B. (2020). Living liveable? RESIDE's evaluation of the "Liveable Neighborhoods" planning policy on the health supportive behaviors and wellbeing of residents in Perth, Western Australia. SSM Popul Health. 2020 Feb 4;10:100538. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100538. PMID: 32072006; PMCID: PMC7016024.
Hooper, P., Boruff, B., Beesley, B., Badland, H., Giles-Corti, B. (2018) Test- ing spatial measures of public open space planning standards with walking and physical activity health outcomes: findings from the Australian national liveability study. Landsc Urban Plan 171:57– 67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.12.001
Jeffrey, D., Boulange?, C., Giles-Corti, B., Washington, S., and Gunn, L. (2019). Using walkability measures to identify train stations with the potential to become transit oriented developments located in walkable neighbourhoods. J. Transp. Geogr. 76, 221–231. doi: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2019.03.009
Jomehpour, M. (2015). “Assessing the Livability of the New and Old Parts of Tehran, Municipality Districts 22 and 10 of Tehran.” OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development 8 (9): 87–96.
Lowe, M., Arundel, J., Hooper, P., Rozer, J., Higgs, C., Roberts, R., Giles-Corti, B. (2020). Liveability aspirations aspirations and realities: implementation of urban policies designed to create healthy cities in Australia. Soc. Sci. Med. 245. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112713.
Paul, A. (2020). “A Critical Review of Liveability Approaches and Their Dimensions.” Geoforum 117: 90–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.09.008.
Rachele, J. N., Sugiyama, T., Davies, S., Loh, V. H. Y., Turrell, G., Carver, A., Cerin, E. (2019). Neighbourhood built environment and physical function among mid-to-older aged adults: a systematic review. Health Place 58, 102137. ARTN10213710.1016/j. healthplace.2019.05.015.
Rachele, J. N., Kavanagh, A. M., Badland, H., Giles? Corti, B., Washington, S., & Turrell, G. (2015). Asso? ciations between individual socioeconomic position, neighbourhood disadvantage and transport mode: Baseline results from the HABITAT multilevel study. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 69(12), 1217–1223.
Rachele, J. N., Giles-Corti, B., Turrell, G. (2015). Neighbourhood disadvantage and self-reported type 2 diabetes, heart disease and comorbidity: a cross-sectional multilevel study. Ann Epidemiol. 2016 Feb;26(2):146-150. doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2015.11.008. Epub 2015 Dec 12. PMID: 26762963.
Rachele, J. N., Learnihan, V., Badland, H. M., Mavoa, S., Turrell, G., Giles-Corti, B. (2018). Neighbourhood socioeconomic and transport disadvantage: the potential to reduce social inequities in health through transport. Journal of Transport & Health 2017; 7 (Pt B):256-63.
Van Eck, N. J., and Waltman, L. (2010). Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics, 2010, 84, 523–538.
Van Eck, N. J., and Waltman, L. (2014) Visualizing bibliometric networks. In Springer International Publishing, Measuring Scholarly Impact, 2014, pp. 285–320.
Villanueva, K., Badland, H., Hooper, P., Koohsari, M.J., Mavoa, S., Davern, M., Roberts, R., Goldfeld, S., Giles-Corti, B. (2015). Developing indicators of public open space to promote health and wellbeing in communities. Appl. Geogr. 57 (Suppl. C), 112–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2014.12.003.
Zapata-Diomedi, B., Boulangé, C., Giles-Corti, B. (2019) Physical activity-related health and economic benefits of building walkable neighbourhoods: a modelled comparison between brownfield and greenfield developments. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 16, 11 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-019-0775-8
Zapata-Diomedi, B., Herrera, A. M. M., Veerman, J. L. (2016). The effects of built environment attributes on physical activity-related health and health care costs outcomes in Australia. Heal. Place 2016, 42, 19–29
Khusairy, N. M., Misnan, S. H., & Rameli, A. (2025). Bibliometric Analysis on Liveable Concept from the Perspective of Neighbourhood. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 15(4), 24–43.
Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
