Menu
City Know-hows
This study sheds light on Indian planners’ perceptions of health integration in urban and regional planning, highlighting implementation obstacles as well as acknowledgement of the topic’s significance.
Share
Target audience
Urban planners, public health professionals, medical professionals in India and decision/policy makers
The problem
Planners recognize the impact of social, economic, and environmental factors on health and are seeking to include health-related initiatives into planning. However, there are major challenges to implementing measures for developing healthier built environments. While there is an acknowledgement that there is limited inclusion of health, there is a lack of studies that focus on finding the challenges faced by Indian spatial planners.
What we did and why
The present research investigates barriers to integrating health considerations into planning frameworks, this research aims to bridge this knowledge gap and provide practical insights for urban planners and public health specialists in India.100 planners working in India in the field of planning participated in the survey resulting in understanding planning professionals’ perspectives on adding health as a planning parameter and to identify hurdles to inclusion.
Our study’s contribution
The study draws attention to issues such a lack of interdisciplinary teamwork, poor health data, and limitations applying health objectives in planning.
Impacts for city policy and practice
The study reveals key themes for health integration in planning: local-level interventions, considering the impacts of planning, strengthening policy frameworks and stakeholder engagement, and governmental support.
Further information
Full research article:
Health and urban planning: status and barriers from planners’ perspectives by Pallavi Tiwari and Mayank Mathur.
Related posts
How will COVID19 change our relationship with public space and the future of city design? We outline the key ways in which city planning and the design of public space may change as a result of the COVID19 pandemic.
Our study introduces and reviews how the built environment and its relation to population health are assessed in the literature. We did this by identifying methodological shortcomings and research potentials that need to be addressed jointly. Our assessment aims to undertake multiple health issues in an integrated manner, and identify priorities within the city whereby health is a primary goal.
Overweight and obesity among mothers in the urban setting was twice compared to the rural. The percentage of households with an undernourished child and an overnourished mother was high in urban settings.
