Rethinking urban planning and health

The research starts from the observation that the disciplines of urban planning and public health are disconnected, partly due to an ongoing institutionalization of health criteria in formal laws and regulations. As such urban planning has difficulties to deal with the growing awareness of environmental impacts and the empowerment and engagement of citizens in health related issues. The research aims to move beyond this lock-in and explores a more context-dependent and adaptive urban planning perspective regarding environmental health. It builds on a matrix of planning management approaches, reflecting recent ideas of co-evolutionary and adaptive planning in a complex network society. To verify whether these academic and theoretical insights are useful in analyzing and solving urban environmental health conflicts, the matrix will be tested in several case studies in the city of Ghent. These are selected by means of an environmental justice approach, using a GIS analysis to compare the distribution of environmental impacts (air pollution and noise) with vulnerability (socio-economic characteristics) and responsibility (e.g. car ownership) indicators, allowing the detection of spatial inequalities. In the cases more detailed information about the context will be assembled, including bottom-up, subjective aspects, and the processes behind the inequalities. Consequently the justice of the situation can be assessed, and if deemed necessary, a redevelopment track can be devised making use of a combination of the four planning management approaches. Based on the case study results the research will formulate some recommendations how the use of the matrix could practically support a change in paradigm

The Technological Mediation of Morality - A Post-Phenomenological Approach to Moral Subjectivity and Moral Objectivity

This paper analyzes the moral relevance of technological artifacts and its possible role in ethical theory, by taking the postphenomenological approach that has developed around the work of Don Ihde into the domain of ethics. By elaborating a postphenomenological analysis of the mediating role of ultrasound in moral decisions about abortion, the article argues that technologies embody morality, and help to constitute moral subjectivity. This technological mediation of the moral subject is subsequently addressed in terms of Michel Foucault’s ethical position, in which ethics is about actively co–shaping one’s moral subjectivity. Integrating Foucauldian ethics and postphenomenology, the article argues that the technologicalmediation ofmoral subjectivity should be at the heart of an ethical approach that takes the moral dimensions of technology seriously

The World Bank's Unified Survey projections : how accurate are they? an ex-post evaluation of US91-US97

Since 1984, the Unified Survey has been the World Bank's principle mechanism for gathering quantitative macroeconomic information from country teams on Bank member countries. After gathering annual data those teams also do most-likely-scenario projections. The author examines the numerical projections of macroeconomic indicators carried out by World Bank country teams for Unified Surveys for fiscal years 1991-97. He studies the accuracy of short-term projects (for the current year, first year, and three years ahead) for 23 countries in the different World Bank regions. He also compares the Unified Survey projections with the International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) projections for its fall World Economic Outlook (WEO). He finds that: 1) The Unified Survey projections are inaccurate when evaluated over the whole period investigated (1990-96). However, their accuracy has improved over time. 2) Improvements are notable in projections for investment, GDP inflation, and government deficit. Projections of external indicators - such as import and export growth - are still substantially inaccurate and should be greatly improved. 3) The Unified Survey projections are as accurate as - or more accurate than - the WEO projections. 4) One cannot characterize the United Survey projections as optimistic. This is the first systematic attempt to evaluate the accuracy of country team macroeconomic projections over time and the first to compare these with the IMF's WEO projections.Poverty Impact Evaluation,Economic Theory&Research,Scientific Research&Science Parks,Public Health Promotion,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Scientific Research&Science Parks,Science Education,Poverty Impact Evaluation,Governance Indicators

On the estimation of a fixed effects model with selective non-response

Economics;Statistical Methods;econometrics

Closing the loop, adding value

This article describes an innovation which uses waste blood from meat processing to create a valuable bio-based plasti

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