Designing healthy environments

Abstract

The origins of urban planning were developed in the late nineteenth century mainly due to health concerns. Nowadays, human health and urban design are separate academic fields and their relationship is often disregarded. The main challenge for urban planning is dealing with the pressure on the available space affected by urbanization and climate change. The role of health is changed in our society due to two major reasons. The first reason is the evolvement in health, diseases and the impact of them which are changing over time, for example due to improved health care. The second reason is the changed common perspective towards health; the current emphasis is on participation in daily life instead of the absence of illnesses. Large health differences are identified between different kind of neighbourhoods.

This research focusses on the relation of human health and the design of urban environments. The goal of this research is to design urban environments which contribute to the health of the residents. For this reason, the emphasis is on the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. For this research three determinants of health related to space are identified: the physical environmental, the social environmental and the behavioural determinants of health. Six design principles, derived from these determinants of health, are composed to guide the design process. A set eighteen of design elements are chosen as instruments which have a relation with health. These design elements can be used to transform urban environments towards more human and sustainable living environments.

The design approach is tested on two test cases in The Hague: Rustenburg Oost and Morgenstond Zuid. Both these neighbourhoods have health related problems, however they have a totally different urban form. After analysing these areas, two kinds of design locations are identified for both. On one hand, the space around infrastructural bodies are mentioned. For these test cases, waterlines are the large scaled elements. On the other hand, public spaces which are typical for the neighbourhood are indicated. The elaboration of the test cases show the effectiveness of the healthy design approach. The various designs demonstrate that the application of the healthy design approach is applicable to different urban fabrics.