Thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Alzheimer's Australia Dementia Research Foundation (AADRF), the University of Wollongong project will be extended to map dementia-friendly "places and spaces" throughout the Illawarra.

Lead researcher Dr Lyn Phillipson said researchers were combining digital mapping technologies with face-to-face interviews to find out what people with dementia wanted.

"It's been interesting because while we tended to think that we needed to keep things calm and serene for people with dementia, what we are finding instead is that it's the lively places that are important to them," she said.

"It's the cafes, the clubs, the public parks and gardens, the live music festivals that they want to frequent - even if they're just there as observers.

"Because of the social isolation and reduced networks people with dementia often experience, they value these kinds of places where they can go to have easy and comfortable interactions with people of different ages and interests."

The Kiama pilot, which is an Australian first, is also showing up the places which people with dementia are avoiding, or finding challenging, due to poor access, signage or design.

"Kiama's ageing population makes it perfect for a pilot, but now we want to use the lessons we're learning there to start mapping dementia-friendly locations throughout the Illawarra," Dr Phillipson said.

"Kiama has a very strong sense of community, which is helpful to people with dementia, so it will be interesting to see what we find when we go into more urban, metropolitan environments," she said.

"We want to know how people with dementia are maintaining their quality of life and sense of identity in those places."

The University of Wollongong also received a $150,000 AADRF grant to trial an innovative respite plan for carers of people with dementia.