Diputació de Barcelona
Entorn urbà i salut
 
Tools to incorporate the health perspective in municipal actions
 

Building Healthy Places Toolkit

Phillips, P.L., et al.
2015

Link to the resource: http://uli.org/wp-content/uploads/ULI-Documents/Building-Healthy-Places-Toolkit.pdf

Format:
Guide
Target population:
Local administrations and citizen associations
Objetive:

This guide serves as a resource and reference for applying health criteria to the design of urban environments, including buildings and public spaces.

Methodology:

It presents 10 principles for creating healthy urban environments and 21 recommendations for health-sensitive urban design.

It includes 4 major sections:

  • physical activity,
  • healthy food and quality water,
  • healthy environments and environments for the promotion of social welfare,
  • certification programmes.

All of them include examples of real cases.

Opportunities and limitations:

With a holistic approach, it can be a useful resource for the design of urban transformations.

However, the focus on the US context and cases may mean that its applicability to the European setting is not immediate.

Indicators:
Level of air pollution.
Noise level.
Level of dependence on the motor vehicle.
Proximity of the population to green space.
Type and level of social participation in the community.
Number of actors/local administrations involved.
Percentage of of people who feel they can influence their environment.
Thematic:
Housing and neighbourhood communities Public space Green infrastructure Equipment and services
Link to health:
Physical Mental Social
Scale of the field of study:
Housing / street / building / bounded public space Block - set of buildings or spaces Neighbourhood (or higher)
Implementation phase:
Diagnosis / pre-project Implementation
Methodological approach:
Observation Qualitative / Participatory Questionnaire