The recurrence of health in urban planning: towards an integration of environmental health aspects

While urban planning and health were initially interlinked, in the twentieth century planning practice slowly moved away from its public health origins. In recent years however there is a growing interest in the health effects of our spatial organization. Although the direct impact of the physical environment on health has decreased – due to better standards of living, sanitary developments, improved housing – environmental quality still deserves our attention. First, the focus has shifted from life expectancy to health expectancy and quality of life. Public health impact no longer predominantly involves clear mortality risks, but rather comprises aspects of human well-being in a broad sense. Several direct impacts, like noise or air pollution, do not immediately kill people, but cause physical or mental disorders on the long term or severely reduce the quality of life of people. Second, the physical environment has many indirect effects on lifestyle and health, for example a reduced physical activity caused by a lack of walkable neighborhoods. A final important reason to justify this research is the aspect of environmental justice. The spatial characteristics responsible for direct and indirect health effects are spatially heterogeneously distributed, causing important differences in health status and healthy life expectancy between various residential neighborhoods. Today a lot of research exists on different health impacts caused by aspects of the physical environment. Most of this research focuses on one single impact (e.g. noise) or one spatial aspect (e.g. a road). An integrated approach, in which all the impacts and aspects are combined, seems to be lacking. However, there is a giant need for a better understanding of this issue, to inform community leaders and spatial planners about which community design and land-use choices are most effective in improving the physical, mental and social well-being of people. In this paper an attempt is made to give an overview of the main environmental characteristics with an effect on people’s health and well-being. The aim is to evaluate the evidence of the existing research output and to explore the relevance for spatial planning. Finally the results are discussed and recommendations for urban planning policy are formulated. Here the aspect of environmental justice comes into view, the right on a healthy living environment for every citizen regardless of social and economic status

The countryside in urbanized Flanders: towards a flexible definition for a dynamic policy

The countryside, the rural area, the open space, … many definitions are used for rural Flanders. Everyone makes its own interpretation of the countryside, considering it as a place for living, working or recreating. The countryside is more than just a geographical area: it is an aggregate of physical, social, economic and cultural functions, strongly interrelated with each other. According to international and European definitions of rural areas there would be almost no rural area in Flanders. These international definitions are all developed to be used for analysis and policy within their specific context. They are not really applicable to Flanders because of the historical specificity of its spatial structure. Flanders is characterized by a giant urbanization pressure on its countryside while internationally rural depopulation is a point of interest. To date, for every single rural policy initiative – like the implementation of the European Rural Development Policy – Flanders used a specifically adapted definition, based on existing data or previously made delineations. To overcome this oversupply of definitions and delineations, the Flemish government funded a research project to obtain a clear and flexible definition of the Flemish countryside and a dynamic method to support Flemish rural policy aims. First, an analysis of the currently used definitions of the countryside in Flanders was made. It is clear that, depending on the perspective or the policy context, another definition of the countryside comes into view. The comparative study showed that, according to the used criteria, the area percentage of Flanders that is rural, varies between 9 and 93 per cent. Second, dynamic sets of criteria were developed, facilitating a flexible definition of the countryside, according to the policy aims concerned. This research part was focused on 6 policy themes, like ‘construction, maintenance and management of local (transport) infrastructures’ and ‘provision of (minimum) services (education, culture, health care, …)’. For each theme a dynamic set of criteria or indicators was constructed. These indicators make it possible to show where a policy theme manifests itself and/or where policy interventions are possible or needed. In this way every set of criteria makes up a new definition of rural Flanders. This method is dynamic; new data or insights can easily be incorporated and new criteria sets can be developed if other policy aims come into view. The developed method can contribute to a more region-oriented and theme-specific rural policy and funding mechanism

Urban dynamics in the Flemish countryside: a comparative study on morphological patterns and local economy dynamics

The article examines two aspects of urbanisation in the rural areas of Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. On the one hand, the evolution of the built environment is studied in terms of built-up density and the corresponding morphological sprawl pattern, from the beginning of the 19th century up until now. On the other hand, the economy dynamics in the rural areas are investigated. This shift in economic activities can be seen as part of a broader urbanisation process, with aspects such as tertiarisation and broadening of agriculture. The main driving factors behind these transformations are discussed based on literature study. It becomes clear that urbanisation of the countryside is the combined result of economic, physical, cultural and political evolutions. The comparative study in eight case municipalities with different spatial characteristics maps the evolution of the built environment and continuity of the economic activities. Temporal and regional differences are analysed and related to more location-specific driving factors. The sprawl pattern seems to have a historical ground, whereas the difference in density is related to the evolution path. Regarding the local economy dynamics, no clear regional differences can be found. The professions and other business services category has the highest density. The amount of tertiary activities proves the importance of tertiarisation on the countryside. Both studied evolutions tend to change the open space profoundly. Therefore, insights are crucial in order to develop location specific policies

The role of phase interface energy in martensitic transformations: a lattice Monte-Carlo simulation

To study martensitic phase transformation we use a micromechanical model based on statistical mechanics. Employing lattice Monte-Carlo simulations and realistic material properties for shape-memory alloys (SMA), we investigate the combined influence of the external stress, temperature, and interface energy between the austenitic and martensitic phase on the transformation kinetics and the effective material compliance. The one-dimensional model predicts well many features of the martensitic transformation that are observed experimentally. Particularly, we study the influence of the interface energy on the transformation width and the effective compliance. In perspective, the obtained results might be helpful for the design of new SMAs for more sensitive smart structures and more efficient damping systems.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 22 reference

Public and private use of open space in a densely urbanized context

The boundary between the Flemish urban and rural areas has faded in recent years and a fragmented spatial structure has emerged. The ‘open space’ is evolving from an agricultural production area to a semi-urbanized consumption area. On the one hand the public use of open space seems to be growing, particularly because of the success of recreational networks. On the other hand the open space also seems to be increasingly used in a private way, as a consequence of residential development, setting up gardens and hobby farming. An empirical case study showed that these evolutions are actual phenomena and that some determining conditions can be defined. Both evolutions tend to change the open space profoundly. Planning policy should be aiming to guide these evolutions in the best way possible, considering the limited carrying-capacity of open space. Maybe the control of accessibility of the countryside is part of the solution