Barriers and Enablers to Planning Initiatives for Active Living and Health

The response of local government (LG) to issues of rising rates of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) is an important one given their roles as place managers. This article explores the experiences of LG built environment and community health practitioners to identify barriers and enablers to the implementation of healthy planning and associated active living promotion efforts. The role of Australian LG in community health is presented, followed by findings from practitioner surveys and policy analysis undertaken, with subsequent discussion of the barriers and enablers. Six key enablers and barriers to successful project implementation were identified: (1) internal LG functioning, (2) the promotion of co-benefits, (3) partnerships, (4) the value of recognition and good news, (5) placing a mandate for action on LG and (6) funding and resourcin

Policies, politics, and paradigms: Healthy planning in Australian Local Government

Local government in Australia is critically positioned to provide built environment initiatives that respond to the increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCD), climate change, and various other human and ecological health considerations. However, action on the ground has not been as widespread as might be expected, particularly in improving community health. This research explores the barriers to and enablers of the implementation of healthy planning and active living initiatives through in-depth interviews with healthy planning and active living advocates. Advocates are seen to promote healthy planning in relatively weak policy settings, where politicised, largely reactive decisions by individual politicians or practitioners are the main determinants of project success. The most important factor affecting project uptake and implementation is how the 'problem' of healthy planning, or what might be considered a healthy planning paradigm, is presented. Such a paradigm includes a strong reliance on the co-benefits of projects; it is also subject to the way that healthy planning is communicated and framed. Potential problems around such a setting are subsequently examined, identifying the potential reasons for the slow delivery of healthy planning

A Review of International Low Carbon Precincts to Identify Pathways for Mainstreaming Sustainable Urbanism in Australia

Urban environments, once built, are slow to change, therefore the neighbourhoods we build today, will ideally be designed to meet our future needs. The combined challenges of climate change, population growth and finite resources demand we rapidly decarbonise our cities. Failing to provide the necessary infrastructure to decarbonise Australian cities today will place a social, environmental and economic burden upon future generations of Australian society. At a high strategic level this imperative is acknowledged but in practice government planning agencies have typically placed greater emphasis upon maintaining land supply and housing affordability over effectively fostering a culture of sustainable urbanism. The absence of a strong sustainability culture within the built environment sector, has seen barriers, such as the ‘sustainability cost premium’ and the political ‘short termism’ of a three year electoral cycle, impede more rapid transition to a widespread culture of sustainable urbanism practice. This paper describes six international ‘low carbon precinct’ case studies to show how they were able to overcome some of these barriers. The case studies employ a diverse range of strategies including demonstration project trials, integrated eco-services, and innovative funding models to deliver low carbon precincts. It shows how political, skill and market barriers can be overcome through the use of different delivery models, and how these models may provide useful lessons to help develop pathways to decarbonise urban development in Australian cities

Review of public health and productivity benefits from different urban transport and related land use options in Australia

The relationship between public health, urban forms and transportation options in Australia is examined through a review aimed at determining possible health indicators to be used in assessing future land use and transportation scenarios. The health benefits, and subsequent economic benefits of walkable, transit orientated urban forms are well established and are measurable. Important health indicators include vehicle miles travelled, access to public transport, access to green areas, transportation related air pollution levels, transportation related noise levels, density and mixed land use. A comparison between a high walkability urban environment and a low walkability urban environment identifies various infrastructure, transportation greenhouse gas emissions and health costs. From this it is determined that infrastructure and transport costs dominate, health costs are relatively small and that health-related productivity gains associated with highly walkable urban areas are substantial. This review provides heath and economic rationale for developing urban forms geared towards active travel

Participatory sustainability approach to value capture-based urban rail financing in India through deliberated stakeholder engagement

Increasingly cities around the world are seeking innovative financial mechanisms to build urban rail transit projects. Land value capture (VC) is a financing mechanism to fund urban rail transit. Often VC mechanisms are viewed only as a financing tool applied in relation to increased land values from the administration and legislation perspectives, without actively involving the community in the process. The lack of such participatory approaches has resulted in the under collection of the true value established. The transit beneficiary community and city tax payers are especially important stakeholders in this process as their willingness to participate is really critical to the overall VC success and transport outcome. This paper introduces a participatory sustainability approach identifying various stakeholder engagement interventions, and a set of appropriate deliberative democracy techniques across the VC life cycle. A four-step “Participatory Strategic Value Capture (PSVC)” framework is proposed offering step by step guidance toward facilitating a meaningful stakeholder dialogue, deliberation and collaboration around the stated engagement interests. The PSVC framework, applied to the proposed Bangalore suburban rail project in India, has demonstrated the importance of stakeholder engagement in order to enable sustainable development community goals and review VC strategies from a win-win perspective

Participatory Sustainability Approach to Value Capture-Based Urban Rail Financing in India through Deliberated Stakeholder Engagement

Increasingly, cities around the world are seeking innovative financial mechanisms to build rail transit projects. Land value capture (VC) is a financing mechanism to fund urban rail transit. Often VC mechanisms are viewed only as a financing tool applied in relation to increased land values from the administration and legislation perspectives, without actively involving the community in the process. The lack of such participation has resulted in the under collection of the true value established. The transit beneficiary community and city tax payers are especially important stakeholders in this process as their willingness to participate is really critical to the overall VC success and transport outcome. This paper introduces a participatory sustainability approach to enable a more deliberated stakeholder engagement intervention across the VC life cycle. A four-step “Participatory Strategic Value Capture (PSVC)” framework is proposed offering step-by-step guidance toward facilitating a meaningful stakeholder dialogue, deliberation, and collaboration around the stated engagement interests. The PSVC framework, applied to the proposed Bangalore sub-urban rail project in India, has demonstrated the importance of stakeholder engagement using deliberated participatory approaches from a win-win perspective

Methods to enable walkability

© Janette Hartz-Karp and Dora Marinova 2017. All rights reserved. The term walkability relates to people’s use of public spaces, such as streets, squares, green parks and plazas. This chapter discusses some of the empirical tools and methods applied by urban designers and planners to determine walkability, which is a fundamental aspect of sustainable cities. The focus is on empirical, substantive methods allowing to study how the city is deriving information from direct observation. Three groups of methods are discussed, namely: (1) predominantly observational methods which look at use of an area; (2) methods which ask people about how they use an area, such as interviews; and (3) methods which examine the existing built form and infrastructure provision of an area. As none of the described methods is holistic in and of themselves, the chapter encourages users to combine their application to enable a more complete picture of the walkability of an area

Jan Gehl

Key Thinkers on Cities provides an engaging introduction to the dynamic intellectual field of urban studies. It profiles the work of 40 innovative thinkers who represent the broad reach of contemporary urban scholarship and whose ideas have shaped the way cities around the world are understood, researched, debated and acted upon. Providing a synoptic overview that spans a wide range of academic and professional disciplines, theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches, the entry for each key thinker comprises: A succinct introduction and overview Intellectual biography and research focus An explication of key ideas Contributions to urban studies The book offers a fresh look at well-known thinkers who have been foundational to urban scholarship, including Jane Jacobs, Henri Lefebvre, Manuel Castells and David Harvey. It also incorporates those who have helped to bring a concern for cities to more widespread audiences, such as Jan Gehl, Mike Davis and Enrique Peñalosa. Notably, the book also includes a range of thinkers who have more recently begun to shape the study of cities through engagements with art, architecture, computer modelling, ethnography, public health, post-colonial theory and more. With an introduction that provides a mapping of the current transdisciplinary field, and individual entries by those currently involved in cutting edge urban research in the Global North and South, this book promises to be an essential text for anyone interested in the study of cities and urban life. It will be of use to those in the fields of anthropology, economics, geography, sociology and urban planning

Human mobility and human health

Motor vehicles have become the dominant form of transport, but this has had a number of negative human health outcomes. While public health originally drove the need to reduce densities, the latest research now favours the move to more compact cities where active transport can be improved as a transport option. The benefits for healthy transportation choices, economic value and social health are outlined