Interactions of Population, Health, and Place in a Spatially Explicit Heat Vulnerability Assessment

Interactions of Population, Health, and Place in a Spatially Explicit Heat Vulnerability Assessment

Survey of feeding practices on dairy farms in Ontario and western Canada

To establish a baseline understanding of feeding practices on Canadian dairies, a survey was distributed online to dairy producers. Responses were split into three categories as follows: western provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan; n = 84), Ontario freestall farms (n = 75), and Ontario tiestall farms (n = 71). Regional differences were observed for many feed ingredients; for example, corn and soybean meal were more commonly used in Ontario, while barley, wheat products, and grass hays were more commonly used in the western provinces (P ≤ 0.01), consistent with local production of those crops. Producers ranked the most important factors in balancing rations in the following order: production (lactating cattle or heifers) or health (dry cows), cost, simplicity, and nutrient management; however, nutrient management was more important in the west for all types of diets (P < 0.01). Most farms frequently tested for ration dry matter and nutrient composition, although Ontario tiestall farms tested less often than other groups (P = 0.09). Overall, feeds aligned with common crops grown within region. Canadian farmers have a stated interest for improving production and health and place less emphasis on other factors such as cost, simplicity, and nutrient management.

16.D. Workshop: The Place Standard Tool around the world – experience on impact, equity aspects and transferability

The relationships that exist between the fundamental drivers of our physical, social and economic environments and the immediate or eventual impacts these environments or “places” have on population health and inequalities are well documented. Successfully empowering communities to positively influence and help shape the decisions that impact on current and future living environments is a fundamental driver of health and well-being. The Place Standard Tool is a flexible product that translates complex public health and place making theory into a simple tool that supports communities, organisations and businesses to work together and identify both the assets of a place and areas deemed priority for improvement albeit within places that are well-established, undergoing change, or still being planned. The tool consists of 14 easy to understand questions or dimensions which cover both the physical and social elements of a place. On completion the tool is designed to provide both a quantitative (a score of 1-7 for each theme) and qualitative response through free text. The quantitative scores are displayed on a compass diagram and allow at a glance an immediate understanding of what dimensions of place work well (a score of 7 is the highest) and what areas require improving (a score of 1 is the lowest). Critical to establishing this full picture is ensuring that all ages and populations successfully contribute to the process. International developments continue to proceed at pace. The European Network for WHO Healthy Cities takes interest in spreading the tool to its members, and adaptations of the tool are already available in 14 European countries. These countries include the Netherlands, Denmark, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Greece, Germany and Spain. This workshop aims to bring together current international experience and developments with the tool, and to reflect on transferability, replicability, possible health impacts and equity aspects in terms of participation and data analysis. Another aim is promote availability of the tool more widely and to allow increased awareness and application to assist with the creation of healthy places. The objectives of the workshop are: To outline the connection between place, health and health inequalitiesTo introduce and explain how, where and when to use the Place Standard Tool to support the design of healthy and equitable placesTo enable participants through a variety of case studies explore whether the Place Standard is a suitable tool to use in their particular context which might be at a national, city and or neighbourhood delivery level. This will be achieved through an introduction to the tool and case studies from the Netherlands, Spain and Germany. Time will be provided at the end for discussion. Key messages Knowledge and awareness of a free and practical product to engage with partners, communities and politicians in taking forward an evidence based, and inclusive approach to healthy place design. An opportunity to contribute to and learn from a growing community of experience and expertise in healthy place making.

Creating healthy places with the Place Standard Tool – An introduction

This presentation will give an overview of the evidence around 'place' - the social AND physical environment - and how it impacts on lifelong health and wellbeing and health inequalities. It will provide a comprehensive introduction to the innovative Place Standard tool (PST) developed in partnership in Scotland - and how it translates complex health and place-making relationships into a simple set of questions. The resulting tool allows participants to identify strengths and weaknesses and begin to develop a shared understanding of place from which to take collaborative action to improve places and the lives of the people that use them. It will give a practical guide to how, when and where the PST can be deployed to support the delivery of healthy and equitable places, illustrated by real-life examples of use in a range of scales and contexts by the public sector and by communities across Scotland (and beyond) since its launch in 2015. It will also draw out the lessons learned during the first phase deployment and showcase the resultant versions that have been developed by the Scottish team to address identified gaps in a changing climate. These new versions, which will be launched in 2020, are: improvements to the main PST intended amongst other things to better enable place-based conversations to address health impacts of climate change; versions for children to support children's rights and participation; and a Design version aimed at architects and planners to support the design process to deliver healthier places. Key messages The Place Standard tool is adaptable, easy-to-use and distils complex health evidence into simple questions relevant to a range of scales and types of real-life 'place'. As a practical, accessible framework for place-based conversations to support communities and agencies to together identify priorities for action to deliver high quality, sustainable places, it has proved highly transferable to a variety of contexts and countries.