New study reveals four critical barriers to building healthier Canadian cities
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Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Mental health, United, Research, Sanitation, Saskatchewan Health Authority, Building material, City, Transport, Ambiguity, Government, Confusion, Safety, Health, World Health Organization, Disagreement, United Nations, Walking, Happiness, Population health, Policy, UN, Health equity, Movement, WHO, Pedestrian, Infection
The 15-minute city is all about accessibility, time efficiency and expanding options for everyone, not just the most well-off.
Key Points:
- The 15-minute city is all about accessibility, time efficiency and expanding options for everyone, not just the most well-off.
- Achieving this goal, and designing healthier spaces, begins with a comprehensive understanding of how urban environments impact our health and well-being — along with a realistic look at the current barriers to healthier urban design.
Designing better spaces
- Neighbourhoods with accessible public and community spaces and social events have been shown to improve mental health, increase happiness, and offer a sense of belonging and community.
- At the same time, readily accessible grocery stores, community gardens and farmers’ markets have been shown to enhance mental, social and physical health.
- This is where urban planning comes in as municipal policy-makers develop and implement policies, which can alter the structure, use and regulations of public spaces in cities.
Day-to-day challenges
- While the importance of physical and mental health was widely acknowledged, a glaring gap exists in the recognition of the social dimension of health.
- Administrative roadblocks, such as a lack of co-ordination between, and within, provincial and municipal governments, can prevent access to crucial data needed for policy making.
- Meanwhile, technical barriers — including the use of jargon and overly-technical language by the academic community — can interfere with the accessibility of academic literature.
- This lack of co-ordination among different branches and divisions within a municipality can result in missed opportunities for collaboration.
- Differences in the use of terminology can exacerbate the problem, causing confusion and impeding cross-sectoral work.
- Conflicts between the objectives of various divisions, such as those between active transportation planners and traffic engineers, underscore the challenges posed by siloed governance.
- 4 – Political ideologies get in the way Beyond bureaucratic challenges, differing political ideologies present a formidable barrier.
Overcoming these barriers
- The journey towards creating healthier and more equitable cities is riddled with challenges.
- From a lack of shared understanding, to inaccessible evidence, fragmented governance and legal limitations of municipalities and differing political ideologies, the barriers are multifaceted.
- Akram Mahani holds funding from SHRF (Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation) and CIHR (Canadian Institutes of Health Research).
- Nazeem Muhajarine receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.