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

Tool for assessing determinants of health in public space

Diputació de Barcelona, Institut de Salut Global de Barcelona
2021

Link to the resource: https://www.diba.cat/web/salutpublica/-/eina-per-avaluar-els-determinants-de-la-salut-en-l-espai-p%C3%BAblic

Format:
Web application
Target population:
General population
Objetive:

Evaluate how healthy public spaces are and detect what should be avoided or encouraged to generate an urban environment that protects health.

Methodology:

This is a flexible tool for use by designers of public space.

The questionnaire is organised around seven themes (determinants): environmental exposure, uses, community, comfort and aesthetics, access and connectivity, safety, maintenance, and health.

Once the questionnaire has been completed, some tables of results and spider diagrams are generated for each of the determinants.

Finally, a spider diagram is generated on a last page with the result and weighting of all the determinants.

The tool allows direct comparison between an existing space and the improvement proposals that are made in the project phase, so that comparative diagrams can be obtained, and the best decisions made to improve the public space so that it is healthier for citizens.

Opportunities and limitations:

Applicability to different types of spaces, both pre- and post-intervention.

Possibility of evaluating an existing space or a project and comparing results.

This is a reflection tool; it does not provide quantitative results.

There are many differences between potential evaluable spaces, so the tool may not fit all those for which it is intended to be used.

The tool is not designed to compare spaces, but different states or possible scenarios in the same space.

Indicators:
Air pollution levels.
Infrastructure for active transport (walking and cycling).
Noise pollution levels.
Percentage of soil in shade in summer.
Ease and access to sports practice.
Percentage of soil with high albedo.
Thematic:
Cohesion and social capital Public space Green infrastructure Mobility and accessibility Equipment and services
Link to health:
Social Physical Mental
Scale of the field of study:
Housing / street / building / bounded public space Block - set of buildings or spaces
Implementation phase:
Diagnosis / pre-project Monitoring and evaluation
Methodological approach:
Questionnaire