Dystopian frameworks portend the future. With climatic upheavals increasing, dystopia is now. Because of escalating urban heat and heat-related illness and death, this essay speculates a future that switches daily activities into the coolness of night: Noctopia.
Public health has historically been an important factor driving urban planning policy in England but is currently rarely a priority. We explore the factors behind this, try to explain them in the context of policy developments since COVID-19, and consider what needs to change at national policy level to support healthier placemaking in the future.
Violence and abuse by and among youth are critical public health issues. Building equitable cities requires centring the voices of marginalised young people, whose experiences provide vital insights into safer urban spaces. Supporting marginalised youth in shaping safer cities is a delicate balance, like the porcupine’s dilemma; —nurturing participation while ensuring protection. Together, we can create safer, more equitable spaces for all.
Loneliness impacts hugely on our lives and there is appetite for solutions. Spending time in a place, bumping into one another could be one of them. Can we reframe how we think about spending time in a place? And should we?
Death remains an ever-present threat to the unhoused community. Hostile architecture designs like benches with middle armrests or spikes along ledges likely contribute to the massive health disparities homeless individuals face. It’s time to design something new.
We took a significant step in identifying the existing gaps in knowledge translation for healthy cities and adopting a proactive approach to laying out opportunities for improvement. By developing a visual representation for a renewed conceptual framework, we provide a clear and insightful tool for planners, designers, and policymakers aiming to enhance knowledge translation processes. As a result, this study not only elevates knowledge translation as a field of study for urban professionals but also reinforces its importance in public health.
Access to greenspace impacts children’s physical, social, and mental health. While the factors affecting children are different from those affecting the general population, many accessibility measures use the same principles for children as they use for the general population. We present a comprehensive visual overview of factors affecting children’s access, how it can be measured across geographical contexts, and what measures remain to be developed.
City makers need to stop making cities for ‘normal’ circumstances. Cities are liveable only when they can respond and reflect on and learn from disruptions and consequently adapt and change.City makers, policy makers
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.
As the global urban population grows, food production and housing are currently ‘competing’ with each other for land on the edges of cities. Both essential urban components, this research supports town planning and urban design professionals to explore alternative peri-urban land use typologies, where food production and housing co-exist for greater urban health and resilience.