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City Know-hows
Target audience
City planners, transportation experts, residents, educators, environmentalists, real estate owners and developers and politicians.
The problem
In a city associated with tension, violence and religion, for those living in proximity to Jerusalem Railway Park, a ‘Rails to Trails’ initiative, can feel like a safe and peaceful bubble. One where users can walk, run, cycle, feel removed from motor traffic, and even imagine that they live in a rural environment. User communities include Arabs and Jews, religious and secular, upper, middle and lower class families, elderly, middle-aged and young.
Yet in this area, physical activity levels meeting the WHO guidelines are especially in low in low to middle socio-economic status communities for adults aged 60 and above
What we did and why
In this study, we sought to understand the perceptions of those 55 and above-aged regarding an environmental change in their neighbourhood. How it frames their lifestyle choices.
We used a mixed-methods approach to understand how residents of seven diverse nearby neighbourhoods were affected by a renewal this long-abandoned. For this work we created an eight-branched conceptual model capturing the main perceptions raised.
Our study’s contribution
Our study of Jerusalem Railway Park contributes to the understanding of bottom-up community engagement in creating new dialogue between public and municipal authorities for changing urban environment for community health. We also found that:
Impacts for city policy and practice
In terms of practice, our study showed how citizen ownership and creation of feelings of familiarity among the elderly, and respecting history of the place for all local cultures might, can be used as basis for future physical activity interventions; especially among non-active populations or lower-middle income communities. This is also a case study about bridging diverse communities using the common goal of working towards healthy and safe cities for all.
Further information
Full research article:
‘Greening our backyard’- health behavior impacts of the built environment within the overall ecology of active living by Greenshtein, Osnat Keidar, Chariklia Tziraki & David Chinitz. Editor: Marcus Grant.
Related posts
Opportunities exist to influence the growth of secondary cities, home to most of the world’s urban population, in ways that maximise residents’ wellbeing as well as achieve sustainability goals. More research is required to understand how this can be achieved, in particular in relation to city governance.
To improve health and wellbeing in cities, municipality employees, urban planners, architects, politicians, citizens, NGOs and funders can benefit by using the collective impact model for working effectively together.
Our findings revealed that despite the limited play destinations compared to the local child population, children’s outdoor play experiences are predominantly positive. This positive outlook is attributed to their sense of safety within familiar spaces and strong social ties with neighbours beyond their immediate families. Key contributing factors include the proximity of schools and play areas to residential locations, the strategic placement of playgrounds along home-to-school routes, and the hierarchical relationship among neighbourhood open spaces.
