Creating healthier cities through placemaking

Creating healthier cities through placemaking:

We are currently living in what could arguably be the most health-conscious era in human history. And it’s hardly surprising, what with celebrity fad diets promising to turn us all into supermodels and Dr. Google being just a click away.

More than ideal body types and access to information, however, our hyper-awareness about health and wellness, may well stem from a deep-seated suspicion that – despite medical science being at its prime – we’re also living in an era that seems hell-bent on making us sick. Especially those of us who live and work in urban areas that are plagued by soaring pollution levels and pressing stress factors.

Where you live = how healthy you are

So, it’s hardly surprising that the premise of a person’s ZIP code being a much more reliable indicator of their mental and physical wellbeing than their DNA code, is becoming more widely accepted.

“Where we live – the air we breathe, the water we drink, the environments around us – has a huge impact on our health and even on our DNA,” write Annemarie Hirsch and Brian S. Schwartz in an op-ed piece for Newsweek. They point out that while genetics surely do shape our well-being, there’s no denying that social factors – such as crime rates and affluence – and the physical environment we live in – the air we breathe, the water we drink – are also major determinants in just how healthy we end up being.

In an effort to investigate this assertion in more depth, Project for Public Spaces (PPS) recently released a peer-reviewed research document called ‘The Case for Healthy Places‘ where they unpack different ways in which cities should be evolving into healthier places for their citizens to work, live and play, using ‘placemaking’ as a framework.

Reflecting the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) definition – “[a] healthy city is one that is continually creating and improving those physical and social environments and expanding those community resources which enable people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life and developing to their maximum potential” – they highlight the following five factors as being central to the establishment of a healthy city:

Freedom to walk and ride 

After decades of car-centric urban planning, the layout and design of most modern cities unwittingly seem to impede any attempts at ‘active transportation’ with a general lack of sufficient sidewalks/crosswalks/bikeways, connectivity of routes and public transportation.

“As issues such as sprawl and poorly planned growth have resulted in unwalkable communities, poor air quality due to traffic congestion, and streets that are unsafe for walking or bicycling, it has become increasingly clear that the way we design our built environment has a direct impact on our health well-being,’ the PPS report reads.

According to a recent review of how policies can encourage walking and cycling, Active Living Research points out that lack of physical activity is a major risk factor in over 5 million, or 9%, of premature deaths worldwide. They also highlight the fact that driving is one of the major causes of physical inactivity, finding itself closely associated with obesity. “In a review of 10 studies, 8 provided evidence suggesting that higher levels of driving (either as time or distance in a motor vehicle) are associated with a higher risk of increased weight.”

Using data from more than 177,000 people living in 703 metropolitan and micropolitan regions around the US, research conducted by the University of Virginia found that people who live in walkable cities were noticeably healthier than those who lived in areas that were considered unsuitable for active transportation.

Connection to community

It’s an age-old irony – despite population density and being surrounded by people for large portions of your day, city living can make for a pretty lonely existence.

In her book ‘The Lonely City‘, Olivia Laing explores her own experiences of solitude in New York and writes: “You can be lonely anywhere, but there is a particular flavour to the loneliness that comes from living in a city, surrounded by millions of people.”

While Laing managed to channel her experiences of isolation into creativity (this is what the book explores), the outcome isn’t always this positive for everyone. Over the past few decades, a variety of studies has found that city-dwellers are a lot more sensitive to stress than those living in small towns and that anxiety and depression rates are higher in urban settings than they are in rural areas. While there are obviously many factors to consider, loneliness certainly does play a major role, as it has been found that lonely people have a less effective immune response to health threats and more inflammation than non-lonely people.

The PPS report suggests that when people feel connected to their communities, they automatically start feeling less lonely, which in turn, boosts their overall health.

“While much socialisation occurs in private spaces, public gathering spaces – whether it’s a plaza, a park, a farmer’s market, or even a bench outside a shop – provide access to a broader array of people and opportunities, as well as the potential for unplanned encounters and new connections.”

This is particularly important for older citizens, who no longer have ‘automatic relationship generators’, such as full-time jobs or school-age children with an array of activities, and those living in disadvantaged communities, who may not have the luxury of safe and enjoyable spaces to gather.

Green space

Often, however, creating a pleasant public space requires little more than a bit of greening… and some willing hands from the community to make that happen.

The PPS report points out that there is significant and growing evidence of the physical and mental health benefits of green space, including lower levels of anxiety disorder and depression, reduced risk of diabetes, and higher levels of physical activity.

Apart from these micro health benefits, an abundance of green spaces can also have a huge impact on the overall health of a city – from helping to reduce the ‘urban heat island’ (which can see city temperatures being as much as 12 C higher than surrounding areas) to providing a natural screen against air pollution.

Creating some form of green space – it can even be lining a single sidewalk in a neighbourhood with trees – is also a particularly good way to get residents involved with a community project. As the report suggests: “While many neighbourhood residents may lack the resources and ability to single-handedly create infrastructure like a new sidewalk, anyone with a green thumb – or a willingness to learn from others – can grow or care for greenery. This is why some of the most common placemaking projects involve community gardens and the greening of vacant lots.”

Access to healthy food

Community gardening projects, of course, have the additional benefit of being a renewable source of nutritious food and often lead to further placemaking opportunities, such as the creation of farmer’s markets. Having access to fresh, healthy and affordable food is a key factor in preventing malnutrition and poor diets that can lead to obesity and related chronic diseases, such as heart problems, type 2 diabetes and a number of cancers.

Of course, the benefits of community gardening and farmer’s markets stretch well beyond healthy meals and time spent outdoors. They also encourage local entrepreneurship, socialisation and community building, as well as educational opportunities aplenty, all of which translate into personal empowerment and an improved sense of self.

More integration

Finally, and probably most difficult of all, truly healthy cities are only possible with maximum social integration.

All in all, placemaking efforts – whether it be closing off streets to encourage pedestrian traffic, transforming a vacant lot into a green park or providing seating along a sidewalk – should always move toward an inclusive model, instead of an exclusive one, allowing people of all different walks of life to rub shoulders with one another and maybe even learn something new.

Not only does this broaden our world view and even provide opportunities for connections that may never have happened otherwise, various recent studies have proven that even brief interactions with strangers (especially those who are not like us) can boost our outlook on life and our sense of wellbeing, as well as make us feel more connected to our surrounds.

Featured illustration: Quasiem Gamiet

: Cape Town Partnership Nadia Krige