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Our healthy urban planning programme aims to integrate health considerations into planning processes, programmes and projects and to gain the necessary capacity and political and institutional commitment to achieve this goal.
Healthy urban planning objectives
The three objectives as defined by WHO are to:
- raise awareness and create a common understanding of the concept of healthy urban planning and all that it implies as key to changing practice within the city
- gain local practical experience from the application of healthy urban planning principles and approaches
- work towards mainstreaming healthy urban planning in the city and to propose institutional solutions for making healthy urban practices mainstreamed in the city.
Within the area of healthy urban planning, WHO have prioritised four areas: Transport; Ageing; Obesity and Physical Activity and Neighbourhoods.
What is Healthy Urban Planning?
Healthy urban planning means planning that promotes health and well being and has much in common with the principles of sustainable development. It means putting people back ‘at the heart’ of planning. The idea that planning and health are linked is not new. In many cities town planning originated early in the twentieth century as a result of concerns about the health and housing of citizens.
The physical environment, which is shaped by planning decisions, can facilitate or deter a healthy lifestyle – people’s ability to walk; cycle or play in the open air is affected by the emphasis on quality and safety of the environment for pedestrians. Planning can act to enhance or destroy social networks and urban regeneration can cultivate opportunities for a rich community life. The sustaining of local facilitates and networks depends in part on the long term strategies for transport, housing and economic development.
Healthy urban planning also implies a need to place values such as equity and collaboration – including intersectoral cooperation and community participation – in planning decisions. All of these are key themes in the World Health Organisation’s policy Health for All, which the Healthy Cities movement is based on.
 Raising awareness & understanding
Through our healthy urban planning programme we have played a major role in helping develop with planners and health professionals a greater understanding of how urban planning impacts on health.
We have helped to play a strategic role, by ensuring that attention has remained focused on health issues and as a result has supported policy makers in such areas. Through the work of the WHO Healthy Cities Action group in Phase III (1998-2002), where Belfast was represented by BMAP (Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan) we helped promote a greater understanding of the concept of healthy urban planning. This work also provided information to planners and health professionals on the interconnections between health and planning.
The Regional Development Strategy for Northern Ireland recognises the key relationship between the environment and health and contains a strategic planning guideline to create healthier living environments and to support healthy lifestyles and the promotion of a healthy environment was also highlighted in the BMAP.
Through our City Health Development Plan process, we brought together a number of professional from different backgrounds in working groups to assist in the development of a more integrated planning approach. As part of our programme to increase understanding on healthy urban planning, we produced a Quality of Life Matrix, a tool to support planners to assess quality of life issues within Area Plans. In 2007, the Polytechnic of Milan translated the Matrix to Italian and adapted it for local use. Our Healthy Urban Planning Programme
 The role of HIA in Healthy Urban Planning
Our approach to the healthy urban planning programme in Phase IV is to explore health impact assessment as a tool to promote healthy urban planning. The key aim is to examine how health impact assessment might be integrated into existing impact assessments in spatial planning policies, which currently are not routinely assessed for their potential impact on health. The programme consists of several elements.
HIA Training
An initial two day training session was held in February 2006 to introduce HIA to planners as well as other public sector professionals. The course was facilitated by Erica Ison, specialist HIA practitioner, affiliated to the Public Health Resource Unit, Oxford.
Healthy Urban Planning seminar
A half day seminar was held in Autumn 2006 to explore how the city of Belfast can meet the WHO healthy urban planning objectives. Four workshops on the priority themes of transport; ageing; physical activity and neighbourhoods identified how each can be taken forward. The event attracted around 50 people including planners, local government representatives and health professionals.
A working group has been established to look at ways of taking forward actions identified at the seminar.
Queens University Undergraduate ‘Healthy Urban Planning’ module
A module on healthy urban planning is included in the undergraduate programmes for the School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering and the School of Medicine at Queen's University of Belfast from the academic year 2007-08, following a successful pilot in 2007. The module has been developed jointly by the Centre of Excellence in Interprofessional Education at QUB, Belfast Healthy Cities and the Eastern Health and Social Services Board.
The aim of the module is to raise awareness of the links between planning and health and make students familiar with health impact assessment. It has been designed to be interprofessional, to promote personal links between future planners and health professionals and improve intersectoral understanding of the issues involved.
In total 18 second year students from the School of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering and the School of Medicine took part in the pilot module on healthy urban planning at QUB in the spring term 2007. The module focused on investigating health impacts of the Westlink extension, in particular on air quality, transport and the local communities. The module culminated in May in a presentation to the Dr Paula Kilbane, Chief Executive of EHSSB and Dr David Stewart, Director of Public Health at EHSSB and Chair of Belfast Healthy Cities.
The module has also generated interest from other universities who are interested in replicating it.
WHO Healthy Urban Planning Sub network
 The lead city for the healthy urban planning sub network is the city of Milan in Italy, and Belfast is one of 15 member cities. We are represented in the Healthy Urban Planning Sub network by a senior planner form BMAP (Belfast Metropolitan Plan) team. We were also involved in the predecessor to the sub network, the City Action Group on healthy urban planning which initiated work on the concept in 2001-2003.
The action plan of this sub network focuses on training, introducing the concept of healthy urban planning to cities, developing tools and identifying areas on which principles can be applied. The Sub network has identified four areas for action: obesity and physical activity; transport; neighbourhoods and healthy ageing.
The Polytechnic of Milan and Hugh Barton from the WHO Collaborating Centre for the Built Environment/University of West England are the expert advisors to the group.
Healthy Urban Planning Resources
This section lists a number of resources relevant to healthy urban planning. Please note that the links lead to external websites and that Belfast Healthy Cities is not responsible for content on these sites.
WHO Centre for Urban Health
An overview of the healthy urban planning approach as promoted by WHO European Healthy Cities Network. The page provides links to a range of resources.
Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme (WHO and UN Economic Commission for Europe)
WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Cities and Urban Policy/University of the West of England
Brighton and Hove Healthy Cities
NHS London Healthy Urban Development Unit
London Health Commission
Quality of Life Matrix
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