How Does Your Neighbourhood Support Quality Of Life?
What’s most important in the eyes of our residents, and how is our region tracking?
To find the answers to these questions, the Living on the Sunshine Coast Survey will run for its fifth year, with Sunshine Coast Council engaging demographers .id for a robust survey and data analysis process.
During the four-week survey from March 24 to April 17, about 2000 residents will share their perspectives on factors affecting the region and their quality of life.
The results help inform Council strategies and policies and allow Council to measure progress on quality of life for Sunshine Coast residents.
The annual survey includes 16 themes, such as access to the natural environment, affordable decent housing, road congestion, and sense of community.
For each theme, the community is asked how important each theme is to their liveability, and their experience with that theme.
Using this information, demographers can determine how liveable residents perceive their neighbourhood to be – in other words, how well their neighbourhood supports their quality of life.
Environment and Liveability Portfolio Councillor Maria Suarez said the survey would seek input from residents from across the Sunshine Coast to ensure the data was reflective of our entire community.
“This survey enables us to understand the values and priorities of a wide range of residents, including those who may be less likely to participate in other engagement opportunities,” Cr Suarez said.
“It’s a vital tool to help measure the current quality of life for people in our communities, while also identifying emerging issues.”
Fellow Environment and Liveability Portfolio Councillor Tim Burns said that this year, the survey would also include questions to explore our community’s understanding of the Sunshine Coast’s designation as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
“This will tell us whether our community is aware of our Biosphere Reserve status, what it means to them and the influence it may have as we all work towards a more sustainable region,” Cr Burns said.
For the second year, the survey will also include a question on climate change, exploring residents’ perceptions of how climate change is already impacting their liveability and how it may impact them in the future.
In 2024, 89 per cent of respondents indicated they believe the climate is changing.
In 2024, our community identified the top five themes of importance for liveability as:
In 2024, our community identified they had the best experience with:
Our community continued to rate their physical and mental health and social wellbeing higher than the Australian average.
Sunshine Coast Council engage independent Australian demographic and economic consultancy firm .id (informed decisions) for the robust survey and data analysis process.
The firm works with more than 300 local governments across Australia.
The survey is targeted to Sunshine Coast residents only and responses from outside the local government boundary are removed.
Survey responses continue to be collected until it is certain the results are representative of the entire Sunshine Coast community of communities.
Once survey responses are collected, de-identified data is provided to Council and published online with respondents remaining anonymous.
https://www.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/news/how-does-your-neighbourhood-support-quality-of-life