Healthy Design Principles

There are a few healthy design principles that have been developed to help work towards a healthy future for people. These include:

• Active Transport - "non-motorised forms of transport, including walking and cycling"

Example of Good Active Transport Practices (Source: Google Images, 2011)

Example of Bad Active Transport Practices (Source: Google Images, 2011)

• More Aesthetic Environments - bettering the quality of places to encourage walking and cycling

An Aesthetic Environment (Source: Healthy Places and Spaces AU, 2011)

• Connectivity - the "directness of travel between destinations"

Connected Environments (Source: Healthy Places and Spaces AU, 2011)

• Mixed Land Uses - locating varying land uses "together in a balanced mix"
• Increasing Safety and Surveillance
• Mixed Density Establishments - "providing a choice of housing types, maximise infrastructure and land and support the provision of public transport"

 Healthy Places and Spaces, 2011

This is only a short list of design principles used by urban planners today, however, these concepts are not new. This is because these principles have been embedded in design concepts well before the 21st century, like Peter Carlthorpe's Pedestrian Pocket theory, Ian Bentleys 'Responsive Environment' concepts and also Transport Oriented Development (TDM). The only difference between these 'modern' principles and the works of previous planning and design gurus, is that now these principles are being established to focus on health rather than creating pockets of economy or a better sense of place. 

To some extent, this aspect seems to show how health can overlap with other aims and issues.

References:

Healthy Places and Spaces AU (2011): "Design Principles" http://www.healthyplaces.org.au/site/design.php (Accessed: 22/05/11).

The Future of Health Concerns in Auckland...

When I started this blog I knew the implications of considering health in our modernised world, as there is often a focus on other issues that the country is facing.

This leads me to the question... where does the future lie for health concerns in Auckland?

If current documents were to be considered the establishment of the new Auckland Council does not provide a good indication of where 'health' is considered in the Auckland context. The Auckland Plan Discussion Document have a number of sections which include:

• People and Quality of Life
• People and Economy
• People and Environment
• People and Place
• People and Infrastructure

Source: Google Images, 2011

Well, the Auckland Council has got one thing right, which is that the spatial plan is focused around people (Council of Europe, 1983: 13). However, one of peoples biggest concern is not included, and this is health. To some extent, adding spatial dimension to the health issue in Auckland would have been an adequate start to get the idea into peoples minds and, more importantly, into the minds of planners. It can be safe to say that the health issue is going to get worse if no action is taken, making health an issue of the future that should have been focused on in the past.

This critique of the Auckland Plan Discussion Document is, however, subject to what actually appears in the official Auckland Plan, to be adopted later this year. Some have said that health will be included, but it will be interesting to see to what extent health issues, and a focus on addressing this issue, is emphasised on.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Source: Google Images, 2011

References:

Council of Europe (1983): "Torremolinos Charter" http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/heritage/cemat/versioncharte/Charte_bil.pdf (Accessed: 13/05/11).

A Possible Way Forward? The Australian 'Healthy' Approach

Not surprisingly (in my opinion anyway) Australia lead us in the field of health planning and evidence of this is the appointment of the 'Preventative Health Taskforce' by the Australian Government in April 2008 (Moroney, 2009: 12). This body has been created to help Australians with their health issues and one of their main targets to fix these issues is urban planning.

Urban planning and design does have a significant influence, and also an obligation, to create "healthy urban environments, which increase levels of physical activity and decrease sedentary behaviour" (Moroney, 2009: 12). This aspect has been adopted in Australia to encourage healthy living through the betterment of urban planning, "identified as a key driver of obesity" (Moroney, 2009: 12). In my opinion, this is definitely a step towards the right direction because for years the issue of health has been filed down to individual will-power.

To some extent this might be true, but why has this 'mindset' to not live healthy occurred? Why is it that people don't see exercise as part of their daily routine? In my opinion, there has been a lack of emphasis on health within the urban planning framework.

Australia has realised this and the 'Healthy Spaces and Places' project has indicated to planners and other design professionals that they are critical contributors to the health of Australians (Moroney, 2009: 13). One of the most crucial benefits of such programs is that it reduces financial costs associated with preventable diseases/illnesses.

Is this enough reasoning to adopt such approaches?

The real question would be why wouldn't you adopt such approaches, as has been done in Australia? Lets face it, the current approaches don't work and there is growing evidence, within multiple westernised societies, that creating attractive and well-designed public spaces has health benefits and does encourage people to do active things, like walking and cycling (Healthy Places and Spaces AU, 2011).




Source: Google Images, 2011


 Good idea? I think so. These types of spaces are ideal for our world. Just think, if these appraoches were adopted a few decades ago, would the world be in the environmental strife it is now? Governments around the world are encouraging clean/green systems, more use of public transport and even hybrid cars but just imagine the benefits on the environment if design approaches, like the one used in Australia, were utilised? The car-dependent environments that have been created need to be changed and a focus on health of citizens, in this regard, is possibly the best way to better the lives of people and also possibly contributing to environmental issues.

All in all, good one Ozzy's we going to have to give this point to you guys (Not come World Cup time though)

Heres a link to the 'Healthy Places and Spaces' organisation.

http://www.healthyplaces.org.au/site/index.php

References:

• Healthy Spaces AU (2011): "Healthy Places and Places" http://www.healthyplaces.org.au/site/index.php (Accessed 10/05/11).
• Moroney, A. (2009): "Healthy Spaces and Places" Australian Planner, 46(2)

Dreadmills.....

Ok, so the name is a bit of a bad joke, but watch this video of people who utilised treadmills to the best of their abilities?

Once again, use the equipment for what its meant to do and when your doing cardio? Start slow, don't follow these eager exercisers and jump straight into it

Enjoy..

Peculiar Approach? Malaysian Child Obesity

I stumbled upon an interesting article today about how Malaysia is aiming to make the issue of child obesity more aware to families. Interestingly enough, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai has backed up and enacted including a childs weight in their school report cards.... wierd i know, but an interesting tactic in all respects.

Schools across Malaysia are going to grade students based on their weight, in the form of Body Mass Index (BMI), which will allow parents to consider whether their children need a wake up call in terms of diet and exercise.

Child Obesity is an epidemic (Source: Wayne, 2009)

A very peculiar approach indeed, but the benefits of it seem quite obvious. Malaysia have banned sugary drinks and junk food from their school cafeterias and this solves the issue at school. This new appraoch, however, seems to give parents a wake up call and gives them the remote control to help fix child obesity in Malaysia. This, from a planning perspective, makes sense theoretically but in actual practice will they suceed? This is yet to be seen but past experiences have shown that these types of initiatives work to a very limited extent and only become relevant to some people. For example, parents whose children are extremely obese will get a much needed wake up call, however, those who may be classified as 'slightly overweight' or just 'overweight' may not see the importance behind the issue. Just a thought, but along with this move there needs to be more involvement and education behind child, and eventual adult, obesity so that the importance of these 'weight grades' can be realised.

Heres the link to the article

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10720398

Reference:

Photo: Wayne, M. (2009): "Obesity in Children" http://www.lowdensitylifestyle.com/media/uploads/2009/11/obesity_41.jpg (Accessed: 19/04/11).

Interesting Find....

A very positive discovery, in terms of initiatives to improve the health and well-being of people.

Established by the Auckland Regional Public Health Service, a nutritional programme called....

' Healthy Kai '

Healthy Kai Programme (Source: Auckland Regional Public Health Service ADHB, 2007)

This programme was aimed at vulnerable communities such as Otara, Glen Eden, Glen Innes and Mangere. It was aimed at reducing obesity through nutritional management and also aimed to lower occurrences of cardio-vascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. The programme aimed to get into the 'HEART' of these communities, the community town centres. The programme worked with programme partners (retailers) who promoted and increased "availability of healthy kai choices" (Auckland Regional Public Health Service ADHB, 2007).

What is more amazing to see is that the initiatives have been transferred into community ownership.

• Mangere Community Health Trust
• Otara Health Trust Inc.
• The Sanctuary, Glen Eden (Glen Innes)
• HealthWest PHO (Glen Eden)

http://www.arphs.govt.nz/nutrition%20and%20healthy%20eating/healthykai.asp

A Forgotten Strategy ?

I stubbled across something very interesting!! A 'New Zealand Health Strategy 2000.' Yes, it has been over 10 years since this document has been published and not many people have even heard of it.

This strategy focuses on all aspects of health including, lowering suicide rates, improving oral health and reducing the impact of cancer, among many others. Ok, fair enough, a good broad scope providing local authorities and wide-view into the problems associated with the ENTIRE health sector.

In this document, the Ministry of Health (MoH) support and stress on the fact that inequalities have a massive impact on the health and well-being of people (MoH, 2000: 4). This is also recognised in the document as a priority that should be reduced (MoH, 2000: 13).

Many of the high priority objectives include;

• reducing smoking
• improving nutrition
• reducing inequalities
• reducing obesity
• increasing the level of physical activity
• and many others

(MoH, 2000: 13)

In many cases, there are some aspects as a result of this strategy (which can be seen as a planning document) that have been focused on greatly since the year 2000. These include:

• Smoking Reduction Actions : we've all seen the advertisements on TV, media coverage of the issue, the sick images on smoking packages, national campaign supported by other media (phone service/support, websites/forums and subsidies)

Smoke Free TV campaign using famous faces and names to help people quit (Source: Capital and Coast DHB, 2008)

Pictures on Cigarette Packages (Source: News Medical, 2007)

• Improving Nutrition : only recently have I really seen the advertisements on TV into good food and nutrition but it is constantly covered as an issue in NZ communities. It is also related greatly to inequalities in society (refer to previous blog post).

• Reducing Obesity and Improving Physical Activity : once again, media advertisements and programmes being launched (SPARC 30 Minutes push play) to help both these aspects and it has been presented to a specific target audience (refer to previous blog post)

Most Recent 'Push Play Initiative' (Source: SPARC, 2011)

Many of the inequalities identified relate to Maori health, as they have been identified as the most affected by severe health issues in NZ (MoH, 2000: 18). Many of the solutions proposed by central Government at the time was aimed at educating Maori, and Pasifika, on health and well-being issues.

The document goes onto indicate that it is only an "overarching framework for action on health" and that  it "does not identify how specific priority objectives or services will be addressed" (MoH, 2000: 31). This seems to indicate that the document is basically a wordy document which reports on issues but has no real plan of action. This may, however, be suitable because it is a national strategy and the idea of 'local issues, local solutions' need to be applied to individual areas.

All in all, a really good indication by the Government, however, it is a planning document that doe snot seem to have much significance in NZ. A reason this has not been updated is maybe because there has been slow progress on the issue and many of the stats are still similar. Only an assumption but something to think about....