The Intersection of Urban Design and Public Health

Urban planners, landscape architects and design professionals have forever been overwhelmed with the challenge of aligning built environments with a design that fosters well-being. This fast-paced reality termed as ‘life’ that is speeding away, distancing people and confining them to their homes, thus impinging on their health state. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for 70% of all global deaths, which relates to heart strokes, lung diseases and cancers, mainly emanating from sedentary lifestyles. Planning urban spaces to promote physical and mental well-being of urban dwellers is a remedy for this pervasive issue.

Physical features of the built environment dictate the way of life for city residents, directly affecting mobility and social interactions. Unkempt urban surroundings adversely influence the health of people triggering alienation, vandalism, crime, social disorder, littering behavior, traffic violations and physical abuse.

The best way to fashion urban planning is to transform a neighborhood and then monitor its effects on the well-being of residents. The prevalent incorporation of rectangular grid pattern amps up efficiency and traffic flow, but unfavorable for collective public activities. Urban spaces devoid of mixed-use zones are not conducive to social interactions, fitness activities and social gatherings, since segregated land use induces a significant reliance on personal vehicles causing physical inactivity, depression and isolation.

Design for active living emphasizes street design to encourage cycling to work or walking to the nearest grocery store instead of driving. Even 30 minutes of daily exercise helps control weight, strengthens bones and muscles, boosts immunity and alleviates stress, anxiety and mild depression. Studies indicate that living near parks and recreation facilities is associated with lower rates of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases. This calls for urban planners to focus on prioritizing:

• Embellishing street design by modelling accessible, pedestrian-friendly streets with high connectivity, traffic-calming features, landscaping, lighting, sitting places and water fountains
• Fostering bicycling with continuous cycling track network, with safe indoor and outdoor bicycle parking
• Forging safer streets and highways by paving the way for multiuse trails, crosswalks, pedestrian-activated traffic signals, wide sidewalks and optimizing street lighting to encourage walking. Integrating aesthetic art like vibrant mosaic walls, waterfalls, canopies and verdant parks also motivate members to don their jogging shoes and bask in the ideal urban ambience
• Designing well-built, accessible and multi-modal transit networks enrich mobility; improves travel decisions and reduces pollution levels. In fact, people taking the public commute weigh less, are more physically active and experience fewer chronic diseases
• Vitalizing barrier-free and independent access via curb cuts, transit ticket machines and buses equipped with ramps for the disabled or wheelchair users
• Propelling shared economies to boost sustainable commute, curtail emissions and private vehicle congestion

A prerequisite of being an urban designer is to be cognizant of how small design decisions can affect health, which can be foretelling of the positive or negative health impacts on the occupants of the buildings and spaces. Prioritizing public health prior to designing a structure is paramount to incorporate, fully and effectively, wellness elements that aim to eliminate lifestyle diseases. Research in the field suggests that progressive design interventions extend strategies for weaving active, inter-connected, green, and equitable spaces, which will catalyze a positive and permanent change in lifestyle.

It is paramount to identify key stakeholders in a project for well-being design. Any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the organizations' objectives, key stakeholders are an important mystique governing planning and policymaking of innovative design. An open, transparent and participatory process must be in place to undergird urban design. Tools such as stakeholder mapping, workbench method and social network analysis proffer a purview of relevant stakeholders, their interrelationships, level of interest, roles and responsibilities.

Regulators, producers, and users partake in decision-making and optimizing strategies in sync with the adopted urban design blueprint. Analyzing the involvement of stakeholders is insightful for urban designers as most of the times they are unable to exercise power when it comes to timely and quality decision-making. Urban designers must effectively balance the needs and conflicts of different groups involved as opposed to merely identifying stakeholders. A more effective practice would be to draw a link among urban planning, design and policy framing. Failing to identify and glean information may backfire the motivation of stakeholders on urban design and construction projects due to the absence of critical resources. Project management garnished with communication and cooperation is the secret ingredient that can impinge on the success or failure of the project. Done rightly, it can give a complete makeover to your design, materializing it from blueprint to reality.