Abstract
Environmental healthcare is an essential factor in urban planning. As a practice, healthy urban planning is a continuous process requiring coordination efforts from policymakers, planners, healthcare professionals, and the government. The background of this review introduces the concept of healthy urban planning, naming the elemental foundation of this concept. The methodology details the literature and findings of two studies on the subject, which helps build the discussion and conclusion sections. Overall, this systematic review of existing research on the history and current developments in healthy urban planning reveals existing challenges, mitigation strategies, and potential solutions to enhance the integration of the two concepts.
Background
Urban planning, when utilized as a means of environmental control, impacts healthcare significantly. There is a direct relationship between urban planning and environmental health, where negligence in the former leads to a negative impact on the healthcare of city environs. Heath-oriented urban planning is dependent on the following key elements: active engagement of citizens and public and private stakeholders; strong political backing; inter-organizational collaboration; formalized tools for urban planning; integration of health with the social, political, and economic factors affecting urban planning (Barton, Mitcham, & Tsourou, 2003). This study review explores the integration of urban and territorial planning, highlighting the emerging issues and trends displayed by existing literature on the concept.
Research Question
As a concept and practice, how is urban planning associated with healthcare in urban areas?
Specific Objectives
- To source, analyze, and compile results from various studies on health-oriented urban planning
- To discuss the results, form the chosen studies, and provide a conclusion on healthy urban planning based on the result findings.
Methods
The criteria used for the inclusion or exclusion of any study into the systematic review was context-based, i.e., each paper had to discuss the concept of urban planning based on existing research or from analysis of empirical data collected on the topic. Additional requirements were that the documents must be paper-reviewed and published by a scientific journal database. Searches on Google Scholar provided content-relevant articles from journal publishers such as Research Gate, Science Direct, the National Library of Medicine, London Healthy Urban Development Unit, and BMC Public Health. The keywords used during the search were public health, urban planning, strategic planning, urban health, and healthy cities. Additionally, each search contained at least two keywords, which helped narrow the number of articles specific to healthy urban planning.
Results
| Source | Method | Findings/Recommendations |
| World Health Organization. (1999) | This resource entails details of phase three of the Health Cities project.
The core agenda of the seminar was to formalize ways of promoting healthy urban living locally and discuss the tools and guidelines applicable to healthy urban planning and strategic development and implementation of beneficial urban planning policies. Select participants were given chances to present their views on each agenda, and then discussions about the challenges and possible mitigation strategies were conducted openly. |
Several recommendations emerged from the seminar, with the most notable ones being:
· Implementing the guidelines outlined in the Healthy Urban Planning Manual and providing feedback to WHO is necessary. · There is a call for a support mechanism for realizing modern city planning strategies, like the healthy cities approach. · There is a need for a joint effort by professional institutes to develop and promote the concept of healthy urban planning across the board. · Awareness of the need for the formalization of legal urban planning framework to act as a guide for urban planners nationwide. |
| Verbeek, (2014) | The author analyzes existing evidence on health and urban planning frameworks in the 20th century to change the approach and narrative around environmental health. The author provides an analysis of the different approaches to health-oriented urban planning, e.g., the complex systems approach and the multilayered ecosystem approach, together with two case studies. Lastly, the study presents the findings of interviews conducted on healthy urban planning, giving the opinions of different stakeholders in the industry, i.e., environmental health professionals and government administrators. | This study acknowledges an overall growth in interest in the environmental impacts of urban planning approaches on health. As a result, there has been increased research on the adverse effects of urbanization as a concept and practice on the well-being of city dwellers. This awareness has also fueled significant reactions from various stakeholders, as witnessed by the rise in civic initiatives on city environmental health issues. However, regardless of improvements in knowledge, there needs to be more laxity in the legislation and review of policies on public health. This study recommends a paradigm shift of the urban planning policy framework to integrate health solutions and urban planning. |
Discussion
Based on the study results, there are many approaches to healthy urban planning. The evidence reviewed in these studies indicates an evidence-based conceptual framework on the ideal solutions for existing gaps in putting up environmentally health-friendly urban centers. However, there needs to be more coordination between urban planning policymakers and stakeholders from the healthcare sector. The increased laxity has pushed various interested parties to take civic action towards reforms in the urban planning framework.
Conclusion
As a concept, healthy urban planning has experienced growth and downfall amid changes in approach to urban planning. The choice of design for a given city or urban center directly impacts the health of its habitats. History suggests that a lack of integration of health with urban planning leads to adverse effects on environmental health, e.g., noise and air pollution. Notably, there is a need for an update in the policy framework for urban planning to incorporate health features promoting the well-being of urban dwellers. As a practice, healthy urban planning depends on the integration level between urban planners, healthcare stakeholders, the government, and policymakers.
References
Barton, H., Mitcham, C., & Tsourou, C. (2003). Healthy urban planning in practice: experience of European cities: report of the WHO City Action Group on Healthy Urban Planning. World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe.
Verbeek, T. (2014). Reconnecting urban planning and public health: exploring a more adaptive approach. In Annual Congress: from control to co-evolution, Proceedings [Internet].
World Health Organization. (1999). Healthy urban planning: report on a WHO seminar, Milan, Italy 17-18 October 1999 (No. EUR/ICP/CHDV 03 03 03). Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe.
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