scholarly journals Health and the Built Environment: Exploring Foundations for a New Interdisciplinary Profession

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Kent ◽  
Susan Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
Supportive Role ◽  
Practice Models ◽  
Ongoing Development

The supportive role of the built environment for human health is a growing area of interdisciplinary research, evidence-based policy development, and related practice. Nevertheless, despite closely linked origins, the contemporary professions of public health and urban planning largely operate within the neoliberal framework of academic, political, and policy silos. A reinvigorated relationship between the two is fundamental to building and sustaining an effective “healthy built environment profession.” A recent comprehensive review of the burgeoning literature on healthy built environments identified an emergent theme which we have termed “Professional Development.” This literature relates to the development of relationships between health and built environment professionals. It covers case studies illustrating good practice models for policy change, as well as ways professionals can work to translate research into policy. Intertwined with this empirical research is a dialogue on theoretical tensions emerging as health and built environment practitioners and researchers seek to establish mutual understanding and respect. The nature of evidence required to justify policy change, for example, has surfaced as an area of asynchrony between accepted disciplinary protocols. Our paper discusses this important body of research with a view to initiating and supporting the ongoing development of an interdisciplinary profession of healthy planning.

Enriching social work research through architectural multisensory methods: Strategies for connecting the built environment and human experience

2020 ◽  
pp. 147332502092445
Author(s):  
Alison L Grittner ◽  
Victoria F Burns
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Spatial Justice ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
The Relationship

Scholars have called for greater emphasis on the physical environment to expand social work research, policy, and practice; however, there has been little focus on the role of the built environment. Redressing this gap in the literature, this methodological paper explicates how four multisensory research methods commonly used in architecture—sketch walks, photography, spatial visualization, and mapping—can be used in social work research to create a greater understanding of the complex, interconnected, and multidimensional nature of built environments in relationship to human experience. The methods explored in this paper provide social work researchers with a methodological conduit to explore the relationship between the built environment and vulnerable populations, understand and advocate for spatial justice, and participate knowledgeably in interdisciplinary policy realms involving the built environment and marginalized populations.

scholarly journals The Opportunities and Challenges of the First Three Years of Open Up, an Online Text-Based Counselling Service for Youth and Young Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (24) ◽  
pp. 13194
Author(s):  
Paul Siu Fai Yip ◽  
Wai-Leung Chan ◽  
Christian S. Chan ◽  
Lihong He ◽  
Yucan Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Analytics ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Big Data Analytics ◽  
Optimal Number ◽  
Counselling Service ◽  
Mental Health Needs ◽  
Practice Models ◽  
Youth And Young Adults

We present the opportunities and challenges of Open Up, a free, 24/7 online text-based counselling service to support youth in Hong Kong. The number of youths served more than doubled within the first three years since its inception in 2018 in response to increasing youth suicidality and mental health needs. Good practice models are being developed in order to sustain and further scale up the service. We discuss the structure of the operation, usage pattern and its effectiveness, the use of AI to improve users experience, and the role of volunteer in the operation. We also present the challenges in further enhancing the operation, calling for more research, especially on the identification of the optimal number of users that can be concurrently served by a counsellor, the effective approach to respond to a small percentage of repeated users who has taken up a disproportional volume of service, and the way to optimize the use of big data analytics and AI technology to enhance the service. These advancements will benefit not only Open Up but also similar services across the globe.

scholarly journals Neighbourhood built environments as correlates of hospital burden and premature mortality in Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah M Mah ◽  
Claudia Sanmartin ◽  
Mylène Riva ◽  
Kaberi Dasgupta ◽  
Nancy Ross
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Chronic Disease ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Premature Mortality ◽  
Elevated Risk ◽  
Neighborhood Environment ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
Diabetes Status ◽  
Population Based Algorithm

IntroductionThe built environment can shape modifiable risk factors such as obesity, poor diet, and physical inactivity, and could be a policy lever for the reduction of chronic disease. In Canada, the health care costs related to chronic disease continue to rise and there have been few policy options offered. Objectives and ApproachWe examine the role of the built environment in hospital burden and premature mortality, with an emphasis on one of the highest burden diseases, Type 2 Diabetes (T2D). Neighbourhood built environment measures for active living were derived using geographic information systems for respondents of the Canadian Community Health Survey, for whom we have linked hospitalization and mortality records. A combination of ICD codes, self-reported diabetes status, as well as a population-based algorithm identifying those at higher risk of developing diabetes were used to identify cases. Differences in hospitalization frequency, cumulative length of stay, and mortality are investigated. ResultsOver half a million hospitalization records were identified in our cohort of roughly 450,000 survey respondents. Key factors such as age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status are accounted for in modelling the association between neighborhood environment and hospitalization. Hospital burden and mortality in T2D patients are much higher than that of patients who do not report having the condition, and those at elevated risk of T2D display intermediate levels of hospitalization. Two-part hurdle models show evidence of an association between more walkable neighborhoods and lower hospitalization risk in non-T2D patients as well as those at elevated risk of developing T2D. The relationship between neighborhoods and the volume of chronic-disease related episodes as well as mortality is unclear, and under further investigation. Conclusion/ImplicationsElucidating the role of neighbourhood built environments on hospital burden and premature mortality for individuals with diabetes will provide insight as to the full range of clinical and non-clinical interventions that could feasibly address the needs of some the highest health care system users.

scholarly journals Activity-Friendly Built Environments in a Super-Aged Society, Japan: Current Challenges and toward a Research Agenda

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (9) ◽  
pp. 2054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Koohsari ◽  
Tomoki Nakaya ◽  
Koichiro Oka
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
Healthy Life ◽  
Research Issues ◽  
International Context ◽  
Active Lifestyles ◽  
Aged Society

There is a growing recognition of the role of built environment attributes, such as streets, shops, greenways, parks, and public transportation stations, in supporting people’s active behaviors. In particular, surrounding built environments may have an important role in supporting healthy active aging. Nevertheless, little is known about how built environments may influence active lifestyles in “super-aged societies”. More robust evidence-based research is needed to identify how where people live influences their active behaviors, and how to build beneficial space in the context of super-aged societies. This evidence will also be informative for the broader international context, where having an aging society will be the inevitable future. This commentary sought to move this research agenda forward by identifying key research issues and challenges in examining the role of built environment attributes on active behaviors in Japan, which is experiencing the longest healthy life expectancy, but rapid “super-aging”, with the highest proportion of old adults among its population in the world.

Recovery and adaptation after wildfire on the Colorado Front Range (2010–12)

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 1144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranda H. Mockrin ◽  
Susan I. Stewart ◽  
Volker C. Radeloff ◽  
Roger B. Hammer
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Land Use Planning ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Colorado Front Range ◽  
Front Range ◽  
Land Use Regulations

Following the loss of homes to wildfire, when risk has been made apparent, homeowners must decide whether to rebuild, and choose materials and vegetation, while local governments guide recovery and rebuilding. As wildfires are smaller and more localised than other disasters, it is unclear if recovery after wildfire results in policy change and adaptation, decreasing assets at risk, or if recovery encourages reinvestment in hazard-prone areas. We studied three wildfires on the Colorado Front Range from 2010 to 2012 that each destroyed over 150 homes, describing policy response and characterising the built environment after wildfire. In each location, we found some adaptation, through better-mitigated homes and stronger building and vegetation mitigation standards, but also extensive reinvestment in hazard-prone environments, with governmental support. Despite suggestions that disaster can lead to substantial policy change and elevate the role of land-use planning, we saw only modest reforms: local governments did not revise land-use regulations; a statewide task force considered but did not require standards for building and vegetation mitigation; and only one jurisdiction strengthened its building and vegetation mitigation standards. Experiences in Colorado suggest that time after wildfire either does not provide extensive opportunities for adaptation in the built environment, or that these opportunities are easily missed.

Policy Making Is Decision Making: A Response to Hattam

2004 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-80
Author(s):  
John D. Skrentny
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
The Political ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
History Of ◽  
Policy Decision Making

How should we explain politics and policymaking in one of the most tumultuous and active periods in the history of the American state? Victoria Hattam and I approach the same topic from different starting points and with different goals. While she argues for attention to grass roots mobilization, I look to the policymaking process. I believe the study of policy change should begin at the center of power, where policy decision-making takes place, and should assume nothing about the relevance or role of the political grass roots. Policymakers themselves are always part of the story of policymaking. Grass roots groups are sometimes key actors, yet their impact on policymaking must be demonstrated, not assumed. Assessing this impact and understanding policy development also requires examining cases of failure along with cases of success, and I believe Hattam's neglect of the comparative framework in my book leads her analysis astray.

Illustrated Media, the Built Environment and Identity Politics in Fin-de-siècle Catalonia: Printing Images, Making the Nation

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-135
Author(s):  
Lucila Mallart
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
Constitutive Relationship ◽  
Fin De Siecle ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Fin De Siècle ◽  
Late Nineteenth

This article explores the role of visuality in the identity politics of fin-de-siècle Catalonia. It engages with the recent reevaluation of the visual, both as a source for the history of modern nation-building, and as a constitutive element in the emergence of civic identities in the liberal urban environment. In doing so, it offers a reading of the mutually constitutive relationship of the built environment and the print media in late-nineteenth century Catalonia, and explores the role of this relation as the mechanism by which the so-called ‘imagined communities’ come to exist. Engaging with debates on urban planning and educational policies, it challenges established views on the interplay between tradition and modernity in modern nation-building, and reveals long-term connections between late-nineteenth-century imaginaries and early-twentieth-century beliefs and practices.

POLICY CHANGE – THE ROLE OF IDEAS AND POLICY ENTREPRENEURS

2018 ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Arwanto Arwanto ◽  
Wike Anggraini
Keyword(s):  
Policy Change ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurs ◽  
Multiple Streams ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Problem Framing ◽  
Exogenous Factors ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACT Understanding policy process involves many distinctive approaches. The most common are institutional, groups or networks, exogenous factors, rational actors, and idea-based approach. This paper discussed the idea-based approach to explain policy process, in this case policy change. It aims to analyse how ideas could assist people to understand policy change. What role do they play and why are they considered as fundamental element? It considers that ideas are belong to every policy actor, whether it is individual or institution. In order to answer these questions, this paper adopts Kingdon’s multi streams approach to analyse academic literatures. Through this approach, the relationship between ideas and policy change can be seen clearer. Ideas only can affect in policy change if it is agreed and accepted by policy makers. Therefore the receptivity of ideas plays significant role and it emerges policy entrepreneurs. They promote ideas (through problem framing, timing, and narrative construction) and manipulate in order to ensure the receptivity of ideas. Although policy entrepreneurs play significant role, political aspects remains the most important element in the policy process. Keywords: policy change, ideas, idea-based approach, Kingdon’s multiple streams, policy entrepreneurs.

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