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Sun Valley

Sun Valley. Image: Denver Housing Authority

Sun Valley is a neighbourhood being redeveloped by the Denver Housing Authority to ‘create a new model of community transformation with equity, environmental justice, and public health as its driving forces.’(1) The redevelopment aims to add 960 mixed income housing units (there were 333 existing public housing units on site); create 30,000 square feet of multi-use office space; redevelop 3.2 acres of industrial use buildings into a mixed-use area; and establish a new light rail station. The Sun Valley Eco-District was established to ensure that this DHA project built successfully on the strong credentials of the Mariposa redevelopment.

Considering health, equity and other social factors has been essential in project planning as the population living in Sun Valley face multiple barriers to healthy living. Over 80% of residents live below the poverty line, a quarter identify as first-generation immigrants, a fifth are refugees, and 94% live in subsidised housing.(1) Although the neighbourhood is centrally located, it is low density and primarily industrial. Denver’s Comprehensive Plan (2014) promotes the development of an equitable, safe, economically vibrant and healthy neighbourhood.

This project is featured as one of our healthy urban development case studies.

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Folkets Park

New playground at Folkets Park. Image: Kenneth A. Balfelt.

Nørrebro, one of the most densely populated, diverse, and disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Copenhagen, is home to Folkets Park (literally, “People’s Park”). It is a small urban park with a rich history as a place associated with local grassroots activism.

Residents created the park in 1971 on the site of a burned down building as a place for children to play. The adjacent Folkets Hus community centre was the site of local activism between the 1960s and 1980s, largely focused on disagreement over urban renewal. In the decades following there was not much municipal intervention in the park, but this shifted after a violent crime in 2012 that spurred the need for a re-design process focused on safety and inclusion.

The 2013 renovation of Folkets Park aimed to create a public space where all users could feel safe and comfortable. Perceived safety and the provision of public greenspace were the main determinants of health for this project. Another key aspect of this project was the aspiration to embed an inclusive and collaborative approach throughout the design process. As explained in guidance by the Gehl Institute, this exemplary project demonstrates how “when designing healthy places, inclusion can be a goal, a process, and a result”.(1)

This project is featured as one of our healthy urban development case studies and this case study was written by Elizabeth Cooper.

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Mariposa

Mariposa apartments. Image: Denver Housing Authority.

Mariposa is located on the site of a former public housing project in Denver, Colorado. The project is a master planned development of a transit-oriented mixed-income housing, senior housing, retail, and common outdoor areas (e.g. playgrounds and gardens) that was led by the Denver Housing Authority (DHA). The development was planned to maximise the amount of residential, commercial and recreation space that is within roughly 15-minutes walking distance from public transportation. The re-development aimed to create a connected and healthy place through improved access to physical, economic, and social amenities.  The goal of the master plan was to redevelop the area while preserving the positive qualities of the existing South Lincoln neighbourhood.

The DHA phased the redevelopment project over seven years to reduce the displacement of families, the elderly and disabled residents of the former public housing project. Before redevelopment, the 17.5-acre (7 hectares) Mariposa site was home to approximately 250 residents living in brick-clad apartments built in 1954. As of 2017, there were about 1,500 residents living in the same area. Of these 1,500 residents approximately 48 percent were returning residents, in comparison to the typical 10 to 15 percent for similar ‘raze and rebuild’ projects.(1)

This project is featured as one of our healthy urban development case studies and this case study was written by Elizabeth Cooper.

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Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Open space and surrounding residential blocks in East Village.

The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (QEOP) is large-scale, master planned urban regeneration project on the site of the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games. The vision of the project was to use the opportunity of the London 2012 Games to create a dynamic new metropolitan centre for London and an inspiring place where people want to – and can afford to – live, work and visit.

Totalling 560 acres (226 hectares), the QEOP includes plans for up to 6,800 new homes and 91,000 square metres of new commercial space around substantial green and blue infrastructure. The open space includes ‘35km of pathways and cycleways, 6.5km of waterways, over 100 hectares (ha) of land capable of designation as Metropolitan Open Land, 45ha of Biodiversity Action Plan Habitat, 4000 trees, playgrounds and a Park suitable for year-round events and sporting activities’ (1). There are five residential neighbourhoods led by different private sector partners, in addition to East Village (the former Athletes’ Village), including Chobham Manor, East Wick, Sweetwater, Marshgate Wharf and Pudding Mill.

QEOP borders four East London boroughs, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest, each with high levels of deprivation and comparatively poor health outcomes. Regeneration plans in each borough aimed to transform the site’s post-industrial landscape and create better living conditions for residents. The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) is the official planning authority of the Olympic Park and was established in 2012 as a mayoral development corporation under the power of the Localism Act 2011. All the planning applications submitted within the boundaries of the Growth Area are processed by the LLDC instead of the local boroughs. This mechanism ensures an integrated approach to the ongoing development in a way which aims to be responsive and accountable to local concerns while reflecting the area’s strategic significance for London.

This project is featured as one of our healthy urban development case studies.

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Strengthening planning & health in England

In England, the planning and public health systems are nationally structured to create the policy opportunities for healthy place-making in local government. Yet, there is a frequent failure to create healthy communities that supported by infrastructure and housing that supports equity, sustainability and inclusion. There are many reasons for this, including a narrow focus on housing delivery above issues of quality.

With collaborators working across English local and national government organisations, we wrote an analysis in the British Medical Journal outlining the opportunities to increase healthy urban planning in England.

Key recommendations from the analysis include:

  • ‘Built environments are designed and developed using guidance from quality assured sources such as Public Health England and the Town and Country Planning Association
  • Person centred design is favoured over an infrastructure led plan to ensure places support healthy, active communities
  • The approach to person centred design is strengthened by ensuring that local health needs are linked to the planning policy process, led by integrated care systems
  • A stronger focus is placed on prevention and promoting the conditions for good health within all built environment plans, designs, and developments.’
Read the full analysis in BMJ

This collaboration and the resulting paper was developed following a Salzburg Global Seminar in partnership with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A number of other papers and blogs were written by global practitioners and academics working in healthy and equitable urban planning.

Read Building Healthy Communities

References

McKinnon, G., Pineo, H., Chang, M., Taylor-Green, L., Strategy, A.J., Toms, R., 2020. Strengthening the links between planning and health in England. BMJ 369. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m795