Emergencies can become transformative experiences for cities: an opportunity to rethink, replan and rebuild, and to push for changes that can make them more healthy, sustainable, equitable and resilient. We interviewed 12 cities on their practical experiences with local emergencies and disasters, identifying common challenges and lessons learned for the future.
This paper investigates how health-promoting planning strategies are leveraged in place-based urban transformation initiatives to develop public spaces within neighbourhoods to improve children’s and community wellbeing. Safe, healthy, and accessible neighbourhood public spaces transform children’s lives in cities.
Make the neighbourhoods of your city age friendlier by using tools that support more informed decision-making. Are you an urban planner or a policy maker interested in knowing how age-friendly the neighbourhoods of your city are? Would you like to know how to improve them?
Our study evaluates the reliability (consistency) of a local tool for measuring health determinants in public spaces, using a co-creation process with older adults living in care homes in Barcelona. It highlights the importance of inclusive urban planning and the varied perspectives of community members in enhancing urban health.
How can community consultations in planning be more effective, inclusive, and be ready for the post-pandemic era? Results from the project Community Consultation for Quality of Life find that participation in consultation can lead to increased wellbeing for individuals and communities.
Age-Friendly Communities improve the elderly’s well-being in Pune, through better healthcare, transport, & housing. It is vital to develop age-friendly communities in urban areas.
The study by collecting data from a sample in a developing and rapidly urbanizing country in South Asia highlighted the importance of green space interventions to promote urban dwellers’ contact with urban green spaces and physical activity levels. Moreover, it highlighted differences in urban green space usage behaviours based on differences in sociodemographic characteristics, suggesting the necessity to target certain sub-population groups more than others.
Urban design and planning, and associated policies, must enable and support a collective adaptation to climate change by responding to local needs. These needs can be identified through an urban comfort lens considering sociocultural preferences and needs which must inform urban design and planning practice.
Our urban environments are getting hotter, yet urban design and planning solutions which can mitigate heat are rarely used. There is a need for further education and strategic planning policy positions to support heat mitigation policy and practice in the built environment.
Urban health is a complex system that involves several indicators acting together, there is no single solution to the health-related issues in cities. We wanted to promote healthy ageing in urban living. Our strategy was to take people’s needs and demands into account, when evaluating, monitoring and proposing feasible changes in built, natural and social environments.