Action planning for healthy cities: the role of multi-criteria analysis, developed in Italy and France, for assessing health performances in land-use plans and urban development projects.

In the last decades a growing attention has been paid to the relationship between urban planning and public health. The introduction of the social model of health has stressed the importance of the determinants of health such as socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental conditions, in addition to living and working conditions. Starting from the assumption that urban planning plays a crucial role for enhancing healthy lifestyles and environments, the paper describes two different approaches to include health issues into land use plans and urban development projects. Two different evaluation tools, defined according to the Italian and French legal framework, have been compared in order to find out whether they could be considered as an innovative answer to the instance of creating a more effective cross field of work and training among urban planners and public health professionals.

A multi-methodological evaluation approach for assessing the impact of neighbourhood quality on public health.

Starting from a growing interest for urban neighbourhood health effects, the purpose of this paper is to suggest a multi-methodological approach for providing a comprehensive evaluation of the quality of open spaces under the urban design perspective. Despite the growing body of research and empirical evidence about the relationship among quality of built environment and public health, there is still a lack of studies on urban quality assessment. This paper brings forward a multi-methodological approach for assessing the quality of open spaces by the assignment of a composite score. The study combines Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Multi-Attribute Value Theory (MAVT) with the aim of proposing urban quality maps. Open spaces, including green and walkable areas, streets and squares are evaluated with respect to the following attributes: accessibility, liveability, vitality, and identity. The urban quality maps provide a robust basis to run different kind of analysis and to support cross-sectorial policies towards the improvement of public health.

Addressing decisions about new hospitals' siting: a multidimensional evaluation approach.

BACKGROUND: Site selection for urban facilities is a crucial topic in planning decision processes for the several side effects they produce and the multiple criteria involved, especially for healthcare facilities. Nevertheless, the location problem has been ignored by most of the existing evaluation systems. METHODS: Starting from a deep literature review and the analysis of hospitals in 10 European cities, the paper proposes an evaluation system divided into four macro-areas (Functional quality, Location quality, Environmental quality, Economical aspects), each in turn composed by criteria and sub-criteria. RESULTS: The evaluation system has been applied for the site selection of "La Città della Salute" in Milan, Italy. Furthermore, the ShOS (Selection hospitals' Site) Evaluation Tool has been defined, with the aim of assessing the land suitability for new healthcare structures. CONCLUSION: The ShOS evaluation tool improves the transparency and robustness of the decision-making process and it could be broadly applied.

[Sustainability and hygiene of building: future perspectives]. / La sostenibilità dell'ambiente costruito: attualità e prospettive.

OBJECTIVES: Multiple factors influence individuals' health status. Their impact is difficult to quantify as it is their interaction. Aim of the current work is to develop guidelines to support designers to promote health in the residential environment and to apply them through an evaluation system to certify the level of health performance. DESIGN: Politecnico di Milano, in collaboration with the Local Health Authorities of Milan and Empoli through analysis of needs performance and numerous multidisciplinary meetings, has produced a design guide (Healthy Design Guide - HeDe) and an evaluation system to certify the level of health performance. This system was tested on the Milan metropolitan area. SETTING: The experiment was carried out on a sample of 30 private residences, with an overall floor area ranging between 90 and 150 square meters, new or recently renovated. RESULTS: The tool works but at the same time it also shows that too often design choices are made for aesthetic or economic reasons rather than a real need for health and wellness. CONCLUSIONS: It is becoming increasingly important to strengthen synergies and multidisciplinary collaborations to achieve shared performance indications and to make a systematic review of the regulatory tools to protect public health.