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THRIVE - HEALTH AND WELLBEING IN THE CITY WE NEED A F o l i o o f A r t a n d Te x t

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The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. THRIVE Health and Wellbeing in The Kuching Urban Thinkers Campus the City We Need – A Folio of Art is a three day global event bringing THRIVE and Text addresses a broad range together stakeholders from local HEALTH AND WELLBEING IN THE CITY WE NEED of environmental determinants that government, civil society, industry and influence human health and wellbeing academia to build consensus around in cities across the globe - a sense of issues for health and wellbeing in urban physical and spiritual place, a sense environments as an input to HABITAT of community, air and water quality, III, Quito, Ecuador, October, 2016. fresh food, housing, quality acoustic and visual surroundings, employment, THRIVE, designed to stimulate thought mobility and transportation, access to and ideas through the power of visual health care services, natural heritage art (sourced mainly from SE Asia) and and green space, security and safety, associated text, has been produced and urban regeneration. for participants in the 2016 Kuching Urban Thinkers Campus. It will also be THRIVE is published by the International circulated through electronic networks Institute for Global Health, United and can be freely downloaded Nations University, Kuala Lumpur, from internet sites including

Malaysia, which in partnership with thriveurban.info>. A selection of artwork Rifle Range Flats, Penang, Malaysia. 2015 Think City, Penang, Malaysia, is the from this publication will be on host of the Urban Thinkers Campus, display at the Kuching Urban Thinkers Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, 24 - 27 Campus, Sarawak State Library, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. January, 2016. S C Shekar Digital photograph

A Folio of Art and Text / Urban Thinkers Campus / Kuching / Malaysia / 2016 THRIVE A former resident of the Rifle Range Flats, Penang, still visits frequently to THRIVE meet with friends who live in the Flats (see cover picture) and to participate in the lively HEALTH AND WELLBEING IN THE CITY WE NEED social activities that take place - including a rigorous work-out in an outdoor, aerobic dance class on Saturday mornings. 2015 UNU-IIGH Photographic Library

The Rifle Range Flats, Penang, were built in 1970 by Hochtief and Chee Seng. They consist of 3,699 units in nine blocks. Currently the monthly rental in two government owned blocks is ca USD $22 for a 1-bedroom unit, ca USD $26 for a 2-bedroom unit. In the other privately owned blocks the rent is ca USD $60 - $90 per month. The population of the Flats is about 10,000. The Rifle Range Flats together with Pekeliling Flats, Kuala Lumpur, were Malaysia’s first two affordable housing projects for the urban poor. Whereas the Pekeliling Flats, vacated in 2008, were raised to the ground amid great controversy in 2014, the Rifle Range Flats still stand with a thriving community in well maintained blocks.1

1 Workshop resource document, S. Kamachy, Think City ‘Urban Regeneration A Folio of Art and Text Workshop’, Penang, August 2015 Urban Thinkers Campus / Kuching / Malaysia / 2016 ii iii Acknowledgements

THRIVE: Health and Wellbeing in the City 2016 Urban Thinkers Campus on Health The International Institute for Global Health We Need - A Folio of Art and Text and Wellbeing in the City We Need and Think City would like to acknowledge the support and generosity of the following Editor Uta Dietrich Organisers organisations: • International Institute for Global Health, • The State of Sarawak for sponsorship of Writer Matthew Williams UNU-IIGH Building, UKM Medical Centre, venue, food and transport in Kuching Jalan Yaacob Latiff, Bandar Tun Razak, • Sarawak State Library partners for local Designer John Reid 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA organisation • Think City Sdn. Bhd., Bangunan UAB, • Sarawak Convention Bureau for advice Publisher Gat Lebuh China, 10300 George Town, and promotional materials International Institute of Global Health, Penang, MALAYSIA United Nations University, Kuala Lumpur, A special thank you to the following people Malaysia. 2015 Partners for their personal contribution to the 2016 • Eastern Regional Organisation for Urban Thinkers Campus: Health and ISBN 97892-808-8102-8 Planning and Human Settlements Wellbeing in the City We Need Art Strategy: (EAROPH) Izmir, Daniel Lee, Daniel Tan, Oga Chan, © 2015 Copyright resides with the • World Federation of Academic Institutions Hafiz Lian, SURVIVAL! exhibition artists, photographers, visual fine artists and writers for Global Health (WFAIGH) Hawwah Koay, Khing Chuah, Eeyan Chuah, • International Society for Urban Health Duncan Cave, SC Shekar, Kamatchy THRIVE is a product of the 2016 Urban (ISUH) Sappani, participants in Think City’s Urban Thinkers Campus on Health and Wellbeing • Alliance for Healthy Cities Regeneration Workshop, and Robin Tan in the City We Need Art Strategy • International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) For furher information THRIVE has been produced for the • ICSU-UNU-IAMP Urban Health and Email: [email protected] 2016 Urban Thinkers Campus on Health Wellbeing programme Web: http://www.thriveurban.info/ and Wellbeing in the City We Need • The New York Academy of Medicine Sarawak State Library (NYAM) Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia 24 - 27 January, 2016 A graceful tree of natural heritage and spiritual significance Situated in the centre of Kuala Lumpur, the tree imparts an aura of calm and psychological refuge from the frenetic pace of nearby main streets. 2015. Photographs: John Reid

iv v Contents

Art Text

A G Stokes S C Shekar Cover, 47, 66 Eva Struble 29 2 / 4 Introduction to the Folio / Thrive On-Line Veggies in the sky 2010 111.2 x 82.0 cm UNU-IIGH Photographic Library: Osman B Saaidin 34 6 The United Nations University Oil on canvas International Institute for Global Health i, 1-3, 7, 9, 25, 27, 30-1, 45, 53, 55, 58-9, 69 Rebecca Lanning 37 10 Think City Dislodged from their gardens on the John Reid v, 13-4, 16, 17, 35, 39, 41, 43 Timo Gill 38 urban fringe, vegetables fly over inner city 12 Health and Wellbeing in the City We Need suburbs where there is a burgeoning mood A G Stokes vi Marzena Wasikowska 50-1 Kuching, 2016 for growing things. Rae Hong 3 Preet and Hafiz Lian 54, 60, 64, 70 18 The Global Picture The Contested Landscapes of Western Ana Ooi 5 Liz Coats 56 22 Environmental Determinants of Urban Health Sydney Field Study, Digital Art Bank and Wellbeing Environment Studio, SoA, ANU Kai Wasikowski 8 Tony Capon 57 26 Sense of Physical and Spiritual Place Gayatri Nair 15 Caitlyn Miller-Knight 62 33 Mobility and Transportation Melissa Gryglewski 20 Tan Zheng Yuen 63 40 Sense of Community Rosario Lopez 21 Uta Dietrich 68 44 Fresh Food Yoshimi Hayashi 23 Kerry Shepherdson 71 49 Sunlight and the Visual Environment Junyi Mah 26 Pelita International School 73 54 Quality of Air and Water Chun Woei 28 60 Natural Heritage and Green Space 64 Access to Health Care Services 67 Security and Safety 69 Urban Regeneration 73 Postscript

vii Thrive Introduction to the Folio

THRIVE: Health and Wellbeing in the City Artworks have been selected from a We Need. A Folio of Art and Text is the pop-up exhibition, SURVIVAL! Health and outcome of the Kuching Urban Thinkers Wellbeing in the Urban Cave, in Penang, Campus (UTC) Art Strategy. The folio is August 2015 - an Art Strategy event that intended to stimulate thought and discussion brought together artists who orbit Penang’s amongst the participants of the 2016 Urban Hin Bus Depot Art Centre and who attend Thinkers Campus: Health and Wellbeing the Pelita International School, Penang. in the City We Need, Kuching, Sarawak, SE Asian photojournalist participants in Malaysia, January 2016. The folio brings a Think City Urban Regeneration Workshop imagery from more than 20 artists together in Penang, August 2015, were invited to with informative text by writer Matthew submit material from their personal folios. Williams about the thematic focus of Artists from Malaysia, Japan, Columbia the Kuching UTC – the environmental USA, Australia and India have kindly determinants of urban health and wellbeing. responded to requests to include their work. From an initial focus in Penang, the Photographs and artworks referencing the Art Strategy became progressively more Kuching UTC theme have also been chosen international in curatorial scope. By no for reproduction from the Photographic means geographically comprehensive, Library, United Nations University the artwork included in THRIVE has been International Institute of Global Health gathered from a number of sources. (UNU-IIGH), Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia, and from the Digital Art Bank, Environment Osman B Saaidin, a painter from Kedah, Malaysia, Studio, School of Art, Australian National works in a off-street studio in Penang on portraits University, Canberra, Australia. and city scenes. Saaidin’s painting of a sandal shop (wall display, lower centre) is reproduced on page 24. 2015. UNU-IIGH Photographic Library John Reid, Kuching UTC Art Strategy

1 2 Thrive Online / www.thriveurban.info

ThriveUrban is the phrase that represents the outcomes of healthy and sustainable urban development: a place, small or large, that is built and functions in a way that its residents can thrive. ‘ThriveUrban’ is used as the title for the website and the key hash tag of the Urban Thinkers Campus. ThriveUrban is a platform not just with information on the Urban Thinkers Campus on Health and Wellbeing in the City We Need, but also a site where everyone can contribute virtually about urban health and wellbeing with perceived knowledge gaps, discussing issues from different constituent perspectives, uploading images or access information on the eco-social approach to health and wellbeing. The website also features this folio and Above: a publication on 10 Principles for Healthy SURVIVAL! Health and Wellbeing in the Urban Cave, exhibition documentation Gallery 5, The Star Pitt St., George Town, Penang. 2015. Background left to right: Artworks by Ho Ru Pin, Chow Huo Wing and Sustainable Places, an analysis of and Chun Woei (see page 28). Foreground: Artwork (Detail) Preet / Hafiz Lian (see pages 54, 60, 64, 70). interviews with 25 leading global urban UNU-IIGH Photographic Library health thinkers from a range of disciplinary and geographical perspectives. Opposite page: SURVIVAL! exhibition opening event 2015. From left to right: Sofhie Salim, Jaden Cheong Khy-Jie, This platform is envisaged to last beyond Hafiz Lian, Darshini Preet, and Ana Ooi (see page 5). Background artwork: Pelita International School, the Urban Thinkers Campus in January 2016. Penang, Malaysia A Bug’s Life 2015 (see page 73). Photograph: Rae Hong

4 The United Nations University International Institute for Global Health

UNU-IIGH is the global health think tank 2 Governance for global health for the United Nations, building knowledge This programme focuses on strengthening and capacity for decision-making about policies, regulations and other governance global health issues. Based in Kuala arrangements to protect and promote health Lumpur, UNU–IIGH takes an eco-social in an increasingly globalized world. approach to health – addressing ecological, economic and social foundations of human 3 Urbanization and health health – and in so doing, mirroring the This programme seeks to improve the pillars of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable understanding of complex urban health Development. problems at the intersection of the built environment, political economy and UNU-IIGH focuses on three programme areas: sustainable development, using systems approaches. 1 Planetary change and health A key initiative is as sponsor of the Ana Ooi Notice 2015 This programme addresses relationships 10-year global interdisciplinary science 20.0 x 30.0 cm. Oil paint on canvas between changes in planetary systems (e.g. programme on Health and Wellbeing in ‘Enjoy the little things, for one day you climate change, biodiversity loss) and human the Changing Urban Environment using may look back and realize they were the health, and their implications for sustainable Systems Approaches, in partnership big things’. Robert Brault. It’s important to development policy and practice. with the International Council for make it a habit to often look up to the sky, or look closely and to just notice. Seeing the In partnership with Future Earth, this Science (ICSU) and the Inter Academy tiny and subtle details in our life will help to programme is fostering expertise in Medical Panel (IAMP). This programme appreciate it more. developing countries to advise and assist aims to build knowledge and capacity governments on strategies to address the for decision-making about cities and From the exhibition, ‘SURVIVAL! Health and Wellbeing in the Urban Cave’ health impacts of global environmental thereby protect and promote health in Penang, 2015 change. sustainable ways.

6 UNU-IIGH was established in 2007. It is generously supported by an endowment from the Government of Malaysia. The Institute is hosted by the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Faculty of Medicine in Bandar Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.

For more information visit: http://iigh.unu.edu/

Opposite page: Brilliant Morning Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2015 UNU-IIGH Photographic Library

Right: Kai Wasikowski Handscape # V 2014 33.0 x 33.0 cm Pure pigment on archival paper Think City

Think City is providing urban policy cities world class. Think City has played a thinking, implementing innovative urban key role in the rejuvenation of the George solutions and driving urban regeneration. Town World Heritage Site, and takes a It is a community-based urban rejuvenation holistic view that the city must embrace its organization that seeks to increase the past to thrive in the future. wellbeing of the communities by creating Partnering with the Urban Thinkers more sustainable and liveable cities. Campus on Health and Wellbeing in It was established in 2009 in Penang, the City We Need, gives Think City an Malaysia, to spearhead community-based opportunity to learn from people around the urban regeneration. Due to its impact world and share its experiences and discuss and success in Penang, it was given the in particular benefits that heritage, urban mandate to expand into Kuala Lumpur and regeneration and public spaces can have on Butterworth. health and wellbeing. To successful deliver long-term holistic solutions, Think City works closely For more information on Think City, visit: with government, local and international http://www.thinkcity.com.my/ agencies and the community; building effective partnerships and enhancing human capacity. As part of its urban solutions, Think City is approaching the regeneration of those cities in which it is based with innovation, seeking to implement best practices, creative solutions and fresh ideas from around the world to help make Malaysian

9 View from Universiti Sains Malaysia Campus Penang, Malaysia. 2015. UNU-IIGH Photographic Library 10 Thrive Health and Wellbeing in the City We Need, Kuching, 2016

The Urban Thinkers Campuses (UTCs) are III) in 2016, the UTCs aim to contribute to an initiative of UN-Habitat, conceived as an the New Urban Agenda, which will frame open space for critical exchange between urban development in the critical decades urban actors who believe that urbanization to come. A series of UTCs exploring a is an opportunity and can lead to positive range of themes related to urbanization and urban transformations. Organized under development are taking place in 2015 and the aegis of the World Urban Campaign 2016. (WUC) in the context of the 3rd United The purpose of the UTC in Kuching, Nations Conference on Housing and Malaysia in January 2016 is to re-imagine Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat urban development in the service of sustainable urban health and wellbeing. The UTC will seek, through its outcomes, An Urban Thinkers Campus Partner Meeting to imbue the New Urban Agenda with an Penang. 2015 integrated approach on health and wellbeing. From left, clockwise around the table: The UTC is also an avenue for the United Prof Tony Capon, Director, United Nations Nations University’s International Institute University - International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH) for Global Health (UNU-IIGH) to promote Dato’ (Dr) Anwar Fazal, Chairperson,Think City an eco-social approach to health (see later (CT) chapter), develop partnerships across Hamdan Abdul Majeed, Executive Director, TC disciplines and sectors, and explore research Daniel Lim, Programme Manager, TC Daniel Lee, Programme Executive, TC needs in this critical area. Such partnerships Dr Jose Siri, Research Fellow, UNU-IIGH are already being forged and strengthened Uta Dietrich Research Fellow, UNU-IIGH as we prepare (see photo). Liza Haslan Tan, Program Assistant, UNU-IIGH The UTC comprises a three-day event UNU-IIGH Photographic Library with participants from a range of sectoral

11 12 Thrive

Left: Street. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2015 Photographs: John Reid

and knowledge backgrounds. It is intended as a platform to build consensus between partners engaged in addressing urbanization and health challenges and proposing solutions for urban futures. Constituent groups include but are not limited to local authorities, civil society organizations, parliamentarians, professionals, trade unions, researchers and academics, foundations, businesses and industries, slum dwellers, women’s groups, children and youth and indigenous people. Each of these groups is a key player in the Habitat III process and must be supported in voicing challenges, raising issues and proposing solutions in order to articulate an effective, inclusive New Urban Agenda.

Opposite page: Office Foyer Penang, Malaysia. 2015 Photograph: John Reid

13 14 Themes include: a) Green and healthy urban environments b) Inclusion and urban health equity c) Culture, heritage and urban wellbeing d) Systems thinking and co-production e) Urban governance for health. In summary, UTC participants have the opportunity to promote healthy urbanization and decision-making, create new knowledge and partnerships, network with individuals and organizations representing a broad set of urban interests, disseminate their viewpoints and priorities, and influence the shape of the New Urban Agenda.

For more information, please visit: www.thriveurban.info

Left: Gayatri Nair Penang Folio 2015 #3 2015 Digital photograph

Opposite page: Communal Swimming Pools KLCC Park, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2015. Photographs: John Reid

16 Thrive The Global Picture

John Reid Walking the Solar System Far The Earth’s cities (mostly small and civilization and the state of the natural expectancy, child mortality, malnutrition, South Coast, New South Wales, Australia 2013. Digital photograph medium-size, and in low and middle- systems on which it depends”. In other and mortality rates from infectious disease . income countries) are absorbing one words, the way people live in cities affects have all improved, and poverty rates have On a beach at night and illuminated by a million people every week. As of 2008, their health via exposure to pollution, seen their greatest decline in human history. hand-held flashlight, visual artist John Reid assumes a walking posture at odds with and for the first time in human history, levels of physical activity, food choices, Simultaneously, ocean acidification is gravity as the moon rises relative to the Earth. more than 50% of the global population safety and social connection, etc., and killing marine species, flower populations Holding the pose for one contemplative live in cities, and urbanization, mostly also crucially affects the health of the are disappearing, and most worrisome of all, minute, Reid will travel approximately 1,800 in developing countries, continues with environment. Human habitats in cities the future health and social impact of climate kilometres relative to the Sun to reaffirm his Solurban citizenship before returning to inexorable momentum. Cities, large and diminish biodiversity, produce carbon change threatens all the above human health Earth (one always does from a Solar Walk). small, define us. So, what does this mean emissions (especially from cars), leading gains and human civilization itself. Inequity For Reid, the brief, meditative trek for human health? to climate change and pollution, and cause is another central feature of the picture. through the Solar System provokes insights about home. To better answer this question, we need a changes in ecosystems. Health is an input The tropical ecosystems in poorer countries “From a Universal perspective It’s clear new framework for understandings of health and an output of the system, and the health (low and middle-income), for example, that Earth’s premium location and real estate and human development. This eco-social of people and the health of the planet are have been exploited to maintain lifestyles value have been severely compromised by poor property management. Imagine having framework, in contrast to the traditional bio- interdependent. in high-income countries, which tend to tenants still mining coal in huge quantities medical view, positions human health within So, we have made strides in public health have temperate ecosystems. Consumption and burning it in a living room which has no a system which encompasses economic, improvements, and have fed and provided is what feeds these lifestyles. And does chimney”, he said. ecological and social dimensions. As such, for the energy needs of a burgeoning consumption really make us happier? See: ‘Walking The Solar System: John Reid’ on Facebook changes in one area of this complex system global population, but have traded off The burden of disease has shifted and we can have multiple consequences, positive or environmental health, especially the Earth’s now face an epidemic of chronic disease, How to Walk the Solar System • Walk to an inspirational location with a friend negative, in close proximity or far away. regulating and supportive processes. much of which is attributable to our food (ask your friend to take a photograph) This rich understanding of health sits Humanity’s impact on the biophysical systems. Diet-related non-communicable • aesthetically compose yourself in the within the concept of planetary health, conditions of the Earth has been so great diseases (NCDs) top the global list as a scene • adopt a walking posture at odds with gravity • take the strain • maintain defined by the Lancet Commission on that we now have a new term for the present cause of disability and death. Obesity, the pose for one minute and travel 1,800 Planetary Health as ‘the health of human geological epoch: the Anthropocene. Life diabetes, cardiovascular disease (all kms relative to the Sun • revel in the vast expanse of the Solar System • contemplate the significance of planet Earth • return as a good Solurban citizen. 18 Thrive

especially related to physical inactivity interventions, building more bicycle lanes Further Readings: 1 Mc Michael, A. J. (2014). Population Health in in cities) cancer, and depression are the in some cities, introducing bike-share the Anthropocene: gains, losses, and emerging new epidemics. But it is not just our food systems in Paris and Lyon and Mexico trends. The Anthropocene Review, 1:44-56. systems which are to blame. Disease is city with considerable success, and adding 2 Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, (2005). Ecosystems and human Well-being: Synthesis, written into the physical design of many green walls and urban vegetable gardens to Washington, DC: Island Press. Retrieved from cities, especially sprawling car-dependent feed and cool our cities. http://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/ cities, which discourage walking and There is hope, and there are paths to take. document.356.aspx.pdf. 3 Steffen, W., Broadgate, W., Deutsch L., cycling and the attendant health benefits, Coupling human and environmental health Gaffney O., & Ludwig C. (2015). The trajectory besides the social interaction possible in presents a critical road for comitigation of the of the Anthropocene: the great acceleration. The walkable, people-friendly neighbourhoods. impact of climate change and for improving Anthropocene Review; 2: 81-98. From an evolutionary perspective, we human health, whilst preserving the Earth’s now know that this chronic disease is a ecosystems. But change must start in local Opposite page: Melissa Gryglewski consequence of human maladaptation to communities, in households, neighbourhoods, Sk8rFinch 2014 contemporary patterns of urban living and civic groups and constituencies. Momentum 30.0 x 40.0 cm settlement, food systems, and lifestyles gathers speed, very often, from the bottom, Pencil, marker, and watercolour dependent on fossil fuel energy. Yet, the and follows an upward trajectory. Enlightened In my imagination the lines between human, plant built environment can also be the potential individuals can be the vector for change, and animal are very fuzzy. I find joy in discovering treatment for chronic disease, and a place especially as they progressively gain power the uniqueness but also the connectedness of all things. My work speaks directly to my imaginative for disease prevention, if urban planners, in groups and influence people, paradigms, process: each piece is a visual representation of designers, politicians, architects, health institutions, and authorities around them. a thought I had whilst I was journeying through a experts and transit specialists come To improve the health of people and the suburb contemplating the human / non-human relationships that I encountered. It is with delight together to reimagine and reconfigure our health of the planet, healthy cities are the that I share these observations, and as importantly, cities for optimal health outcomes with key, and very often these cities are uplifting the sentiment of endearment that is behind them. minimal environmental impact. Already, and beautiful places, capable of inspiring and Crace Field Study, Digital Art Bank, Environment we are making sustainable and scalable bringing out the best in us. Studio, SoA, ANU

19 Environmental Determinants of Urban Health and Wellbeing

Are our cities making us healthy and happy? Density, the distinguishing feature of cities, water and sanitation is a critical factor Urban health is affected by the physical is a mediating influence, when, for example, affecting health status. For example, in environment (e.g., water and sanitation, the it enhances the transmission of infectious urban areas of Africa, Asia and Latin social environment (e.g., social networks diseases. Most of today’s urbanization is America more than 50% of the population and one’s social capital), and the range of occurring in the developing world, and a are suffering from diarrhea and worm access to social and health services. It is significant amount is leading to growth in infections, spread by contaminated water. In often conceptualized at 3 levels: household informal settlements (slums). This is where order to sustain human life, cities consume (e.g., indoor air pollution), community (e.g., the most serious health problems exist in vast amounts of energy and resources, transport – traffic deaths and injuries), and developing cities. And often, these cities and thus need to dispose of great amounts societal (e.g., heatwaves). Transboundary are in tropical countries with their tropical of waste. In developing countries, this is events also have an impact, such as the disease burden. a contributor to disease as a lack of liquid haze over Kuala Lumpur and Singapore Inevitably, the distribution of disease is or solid waste management means many due to smoke from forest fires in Indonesia. unequal in urban areas, with concentrated people are exposed to disease vectors such areas of disadvantage, and some population as mosquitoes. Opposite page: groups more vulnerable than others. For At the household level, cooking, heating Rosario Lopez Insufflare, series 2007 example, women and girls are often more and boiling water in many developing cities 110.0 x 135.0 cm. Fine art inkjet pigment print Courtesy of the artist and Casas Riegner Gallery adversely affected when they are reluctant relies on the burning of solid fuels (wood, Bogota to use common latrines for reasons of agricultural residues and dung), which culture and modesty. This takes us back emits smoke. While everyone is impacted, The intention proposed by ‘Insufflare, series’ is that of understanding landscape as a container of to the same salient question: In a rapidly children suffer the most as indoor smoke natural forces that, placed in relation to a three- urbanizing world, how can we grasp this doubles the risk of child pneumonia and dimensional object such as an aluminum cloth, historical opportunity to ensure our cities other acute respiratory infections. creates a network of relations affecting its structure do not make some sectors of the population In 2013, 1,129 garment workers died and consequently its boundaries. This photographic series is a metaphor of how the human body reacts more ill than others? when their building collapsed in Dhaka, in this particular situation. In developing countries, access to clean Bangladesh. Unsafe workplaces pose

22 Thrive Environmental Determinates of Urban Health and Wellbeing

Yoshimi Hayashi Helms Alee 2005 - Present a range of health hazards, especially mental health in a number of ways: through There are feasible interventions, but we Omote Sando, Tokyo, Japan in deprived urban areas or cities such accidents and injury; the contribution must also remember that a redistribution Video installation and continuing time-based work as Dhaka. Besides the condition and of air pollution to cardiovascular and of resources (especially financial) from maintenance of the buildings themselves, respiratory diseases; physical inactivity affluent areas of the world to developing This project documents the flow of wind in toxic products, injury, ergonomic hazards related to obesity and diabetes; and, social areas is required if we wish to improve the urban and rural settings. The wind current and noise are other unhealthy elements of isolation and depression in car-dependent living environment and health of the poor in becomes a metaphor for my psyche. The more I clutter my mind, the more it is difficult poorly regulated workplaces. neighbourhoods. The truth, we now know, developing country cities. for my spirit to travel in a natural harmonious Food systems (discussed in detail in a is that we are less happy in neighbourhoods manner, thus creating dissonance. Navigating separate section) are vital to feed large where cars and their infrastructure prevent Further Readings: by means of my handheld sail in rural, open, urban populations, and while there are us from walking comfortably. There are also 1 Bailis, R., Ezzati, M., & Kammen, D.M. (2005). Mortality and greenhouse gas impacts of biomass landscapes, the consistent winds allow me to opportunities, the pressures are significant. many inequities built into transport systems. travel in a direct course with clarity of mind. and petroleum energy futures in Africa. Science, In large cities, buildings impede the wind flow Urbanisation limits possibilities for For example, children and young people 308: 98-103. creating crosscurrents; cars and buses zoom household food production, so that suffer the most, as the most common cause 2 Rah, J.H., Cronin, A.A., Badgaiyan, B., Aguayo, by and blow harsh puffs of toxic smoke; and food is transported over long distances, of death among this group in developing V.M., Coates, S., & Ahmed, S. (2015). Household the landscape of foot traffic constantly and sanitation and personal hygiene practices are contributing to environmental damage countries is motor vehicle accidents. associated with child stunting in rural India: a cross- busily changes. (greenhouses gases). What’s more, in urban The large energy inputs on which cities sectional analysis of surveys. BMJ Open, 5 : e 005180. environments, beef, pork and chicken are depend contribute greatly to climate reared industrially. This process depends change, the impact of which is worse in on land-clearing and the extensive use of urban areas. For example, the effects of fertilizers, water, pesticides and veterinary heatwaves are more intense because of antibiotics. The methane production from the urban ‘heat island’ phenomenon. The livestock is a more harmful greenhouse gas urban poor suffer more from water-and- than carbon dioxide. food-borne gastrointestinal infections, and Transport (also discussed in detail in a vector-borne diseases (e.g., dengue fever) separate section) in cities affects physical and due to climate change.

23 24 A Sense of Physical and Spiritual Place

What does it mean to have a sense of place? feel physically and spiritually connected to You often have a sense of where you want makes us reach out toward a better version to live and how that place could feel. And of ourselves as individuals, and all that we then you find it. It’s Taipei or Fukuoka or can achieve collectively as a community San Jose. But why do I feel at home here? and a civilisation. Is it the memories stored in the stone of the But then it’s the facilities, infrastructure buildings, or the stories the citizens recount and rituals of every day that make us feel about the city itself? Is it the buildings that at home, and that nourish our physical ignite my own personal sense of beauty, and mental health, isn’t it? It’s the house something that could only find expression which promotes good health and contains in this place? For the Japanese, beauty no hazards such as mould, allergens and emerges in the phases of an object’s or asbestos, but the house must also be a home a building’s lifetime and in the patina of laden with meaning, a setting for intimate time (the concept of wabi sabi), but we relationships, and a source of personal and don’t all feel at home in Japan. Perhaps the cultural identity. It’s the neighbours that I see streetscapes, buildings and sightlines evoke my family and cultural history in, the food something greater, almost transcendent. I recognise, the smell of the sea nearby, the Yes, Renaissance Florence may do that, but dirt playing field where I kick a ball around my spirituality is not yours, so why can’t with friends. It’s the safe neighbourhoods Kolkata or Lagos do the same? The British that protect my family. But, why are some writer Ben Okri says the mountains make gated? And who are those security guards in us yearn for unrealised grandeur. Is that uniforms? Jane Jacobs said the ‘eyes on the what makes the residents of Vancouver feel at home? Does the built environment work Right: Junyi Mah Rifle Range Flats Penang, in the same way? Perhaps a city that we Malaysia 2015. Digital photograph

Above: Punggol, Singapore Housing and Development Board New Town Northeastern Singapore. 2015 25 UNU-IIGH Photographic Library 26 Sense of Physical and Spiritual Place

Left: street’ (our neighbours, community) are the give that space up for the automobile and Digital Games Room Komtar Mall, Penang Malaysia. 2015. UNU-IIGH Photographic Library best ‘security guards’. Was she right? its ubiquitous infrastructure? Now we know If a sense of physical and spiritual place is the world via the car, not the soles of our Opposite page: all of these, what are the ingredients of such feet. Chun Woei a city? As urbanists, how can we mould, And if there were fewer malls and more Defender of The Universe 2015 29.7 x 21.0 cm rebuild, tinker with and preserve cities and shrines or mosques or parks, or streams or Digital print on paper towns to ensure its residents feel at home, in public art, perhaps people would come out their bones and in their spirit? We need the of their houses more, and come back to Everyone needs a defender to help protect urban spaces from the continuing, tormenting effects of heroic ‘Defender of the Universe’ (pictured) the streets. Research tells us they would, pollution by evil forces. This heroic ‘Defender’ is to stop the pollution and save our health, because, as Jan Gehl reminds us, people a figment of the imagination - one that we might but also because our spirit is lifted when need to be around other people. Then a city encounter in dreams or on television. It once lived in the heart of many back in the 1980s. Someday, we can see the sky. We need to preserve the is a home. If we walked more or sat more this ‘Defender’ could actually help protect us from history in the buildings we vow not to rip in parks, what would we think or dream? further environmental damnation. down, in the green spaces we fight to keep If we think about consumption when we From the exhibition, SURVIVAL! Health and and in those that we decide to grow (the are in malls, what would we think about Wellbeing in the Urban Cave. Penang, 2015 neighbourhood vegetable patches). Do we if they occupied less space in our cities? need to pull down more freeways that blight And would our cities be less polluted with our cities, as the previous Mayor of Seoul advertising billboards and the detritus and (and later President) did, to reveal a long litter of consumption? buried stream in the heart of the city? Do And how can we make everyone feel a we need to put back the shrines and temples sense of place, feel at home? Perhaps we and mosques and parks, and could we need, for example, braille signposts for the construct more pavements? Because, after blind as Sydney City is investing in. How all, we have to walk to mark our territory, to do we ensure the elderly, the marginalised, feel a sense of place, don’t we? Why did we the newcomers and the long-time residents

27 28 feel equally connected to their city? And is our private house the only pace we should feel ‘at home’ in? Why not the street, or the public square? Our ecological footprint demands that we live in smaller homes in the future, as the Japanese already do. And as poorer populations do in many cities. Then, we will need to find home and spirit in public places as well. If we felt such a sense of physical and spiritual place in our cities, who could we become, and what could we achieve together?

Further Readings: 1 Glaeser, E., (2011). The Triumph of the City. New York: Penguin. 2 Sen, R., and Silverman, L., (Eds.). (2014). Making Place: Space and Embodiment in the City. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 3 Palermo, P. C., and Ponzini, D. (2015). Place- Making and Urban Development: New Challenges for Contemporary Planning and Design. New York: Routledge. Opposite page: Above: Eva Struble Adrimal’s Row 2 2011 Mall seats San Diego, CA USA. 2015 114.3 x 154.9 cm UNU-IIGH Photographic Library Oil and acrylic on canvas From Landsmen, an exhibition of paintings Following page: that explored architecture of the Brooklyn Navy Low Density Living George Town, Penang Malaysia. Yard, New York, NY USA 2015. UNU-IIGH Photographic Library

30 11 Mobility and transportation

How do we want to move around our cities? obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular New questions arose: For whom should And, what forms of mobility will make us disease related to physical inactivity, social we design easy mobility? And in some healthier and happier? isolation and higher rates of depression in developing countries, especially, urban Car companies, urban planners and car dependent neighbourhoods, and social planners, such as Enrique Penalosa, Mayor local governments in the twentieth century and health inequalities. Of course, private of Bogota from 1998 to 2001, asked ‘Why assumed the answer to the first question for transport systems contribute greatly to should systems of mobility privilege the us. They built lots of cars, planners laid out global warming through their greenhouse middle class who can afford cars only? sprawling cities to accommodate them, city gas emissions. To be fair, cars afford certain What about the great numbers of low- officials invested more in road infrastructure freedoms (unless caught in a traffic jam), income residents and poor? How can than public transit, and advertisers told allow us to look after family members, mobility make us more active and healthy? us we needed a car to be happy and show for example, by transporting children and How can mobility make us happier? our peers we were successful. In many elderly parents to medical treatment, give us The answer is that while the automobile cities (Atlanta, Kuala Lumpur, etc.) people access to social networks and employment. has a place in the mobility mix, active were left with no alternative but to buy They provide a sense of security in unsafe transport (walking and cycling) and mass a car, unless they could not afford one, neighbourhoods and satisfy the consumer transit options such as light rail and BRT and then getting around the city became desires of some. But, the collective cost to (Bus Rapid Transit) are more desirable very problematic. The result was private society has been high. for a number of reasons. They promote automobile dominated transport systems, We began to realize that our cities were individual health, reduce pollution-related with entrenched transport inequality. designed primarily to move cars, rather illness, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, And, in answer to the second question, than people. And, as Gehl poignantly and reconfigure urban space towards we now know that the health and well- reminds us, a city can be designed for cars more walkable neighbourhoods, which being impacts of this car-centric form of or designed for people, but not for both. Or mobility fall into 5 areas: road deaths and as Montgomery points us, ‘It is not moving Opposite page: Osman B Saaidin RM 10.00 2015 injuries, respiratory illness, cardiovascular vehicles per se that nourish the city, but 36.0 x 55.0 cm. Watercolour on paper disease and cancer from air pollution, people and goods’. (See photograph page 1)

33 34 Thrive Mobility and Transportation

encourage social interaction and build is the bicycle, and as the city ‘s Green Wave social capital within communities. Children initiative is rolled out to make Copenhagen can walk and cycle without fear of being the world’s first carbon neutral capital by hit by cars, the elderly are more inclined 2025, wireless LED lighting embedded to venture outdoors, and green space is in bicycle paths uses sensors feeding into restored to spaces previously occupied by software to provide information to cyclist cars. And our sensory landscape becomes about traffic conditions ahead more attractive, when the sound of cars and This embrace of digital technology is the smell of their fumes gives way to the occurring in other forward-thinking cities sounds of the city itself and the smell of also. Apps on smartphones allow people to fresh air. find the nearest car or bike share facility, Re-imagining mobility from a people- so that the car, according to the Mayor of centred prism has had great results. In Lyon, is now becoming an accessory to Mexico City, for example, new bike the smartphone for some groups. Status share systems are proving popular with doesn’t have to be about owning a private women especially, a group that is often automobile, but about sharing systems of more vulnerable to transport exclusion, mobility. The New Cities Foundation argues mostly due to safety fears. Sweden’s that the future of mobility lies in open data Vision Zero policy has reduced road traffic and integrated mobility platforms. And deaths by 50% since 1997, by redesigning then there is the paradigm shift towards streets according to the way people use viewing transport as a customer-oriented (and misuse) them. It now has the fewest service. Various uses for driverless cars, traffic deaths per capita in the world. for example, are being explored by the city In Copenhagen, the preferred mode of of Gothenburg in Sweden. And, Google transport for almost half of the population is investing in driverless car technology

35 A Pedestrian Walkway, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, provides safe passage. 2015. Photographs: John Reid 36 Rebecca Lanning Oh Gary Darling 2007 60.0 x 90.0 cm Bus advertisement (Modified for publication)

The Art of Moving Field Study, Digital Art Bank, Environment Studio, SoA, ANU

hoping to reduce the number of car accidents attached to the car. Can they find a better Further Readings: by taking human error out of the equation. transport mix in time? Will they find their own 1 WHO. (2015). Global status report on road safety 2015. www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_ But as we embrace this technology, we solutions? Who is missing out in these cities? safety.../2015/en/(accessed 22 November 2015). must not lose the lesson of the twentieth Finally, it is important to consider 2 Alois, S., & Bruno, S. F. (2008). Stress That century – that mobility should be designed how mobility is actually affective too. Doesn’t Pay: The Commuting Paradox. The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 110 (2), first and foremost for people in the paths, The Danes talk about the ‘psychology of 339-366. neighbourhoods and routines that occupy mobility’. Perhaps the ultimate question is, 3 Shanghai Daily. (2013, November 6). China our daily lives. ‘How do we want to feel as we traverse our says air pollution affecting physical, mental health Timo Gill Pick Your Tyre 2007 60.0 x 90.0 cm of citizens. Shanghai Daily. Retrieved from http:// Bus advertisement (Modified for publication) And what about developing cities? As the cities? Do we want to feel healthy, happy, at www.shanghaidaily.com/national/China-says- cities of China, Nigeria and Myanmar speed ease and socially connected? If so, then the air-pollution-affecting-physical-mental-health-of- The Art of Moving Field Study, Digital Art Bank, towards the future, they too are becoming answer is clear. citizens/shdaily.shtml. Environment Studio, SoA, ANU

37 38 Sense of Community

Cities brings together strangers who depend determined, especially, by the level of trust, intimate and more prosaic connections with on each other, and that dependence plays out and research shows us it has significant others. Partners, children, friends, strangers in economics, culture, mobility and myriad health benefits. Neighbours, for example, in the street, and casual acquaintances who other ways. In the early 1960s, Jane Jacobs pitch in to look after each other’s children, exchange daily face-to-face greetings on drew out the most salient element of this mix. there is a heightened sense of safety, and the footpath, or in the park, are our greatest She showed us that a city could be designed strangers find common ground in coming source of strength and happiness. The to elicit the greatest possible social capital. together to undertake collective action, such question is, ‘Are we doing a good job of Social capital allows us to access resources, as protesting the closure of a local school. designing this into our cities? And how can such as exchanges of social support and The psychosocial benefits improve health we do more of it? There are specific features the possibility to undertake collective status. For example, the quality of sleep of the built environment that may enable or action, through our social connections. The of people who feel connected is better, impede social interaction, including, for amount of social capital in a community is they are more resilient, live longer, and are example, the width of sidewalks, street happier. US research shows that there is an layout, and mixed land use, which builds association between perceptions of levels in more opportunities for daily interactions, Opposite page: Sense of Community Food market, Rifle Range of community trust and health. As well, thus generating more opportunities for Flats, Penang, Malaysia. 2015. Photograph: John Reid mortality rates are lower in US states with social connection. Families, friends, couples and solitary newspaper high social capital. Our history in this regard, however, readers cohere as a colourful community over More than anything, the best cities are is varied. In the early twentieth century, fresh food and drinks along the market concourse. those which strengthen the social ties and streetcar neighbourhoods found the right

Following page: emotional connections between friends, geometric mix. Planners realized that a Crace, a Canberra suburb, ACT Australia. 2014 families, and strangers. This is how we critical mass of people was necessary to Photograph: John Reid should see adding value in cities. If the make streetcars viable, and they assumed Student artists are briefed about the sustainability ultimate goal is happiness and meaning, then people wanted to be within a 5 minute and health features of this award winning suburb to research repeatedly tells us the most robust walk of shops and streetcars. Housing, inform art production for a local exhibition source of these two is the quality of our therefore, was designed to this end, and it

39 40 was a win-win. Developers and streetcar is the greatest environmental health threat when walking through the neighbourhood) vehicle dominated mobility and low more lonely than those living at street level. Further Readings: providers made a profit, and people felt in cities. Its harmful impact is worse than, and makes an organized get together with density sprawl, we are re-imagining the And, yes, while people want conviviality, 1 Jacobs, J. (1961). The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House. happy and connected in their walkable overcrowding, pollution or noise. The odds friends, participation in team sports, and city through a more people-centred prism. they want control over that interaction. 2 Montgomery, C. (2013). Happy City. New York: neighbourhoods. Unfortunately, the arrival of experiencing colds, strokes, cancer, heart involvement in social groups harder when Active transport (i.e., bikeshare, public They want to be able to decide when to Penguin. of the automobile determined a new layout attacks and depression decrease, the more forced to commute in dispersed cities. As transit, walking) housing design, street mix with others and not be forced to mix 3 De Silva, M.J., Mc Kenzie, K., Harpham, T., & Huttly, S.R. (2005). Social capital and mental of cities, imagined as some kind of private connected we feel to family and community. Montgomery also reminds us, the access layout, density, and building scale are with strangers by dint of the design of their illness: a systematic review. J. Epidemiol transport and suburban utopia. This was The auto-centric urban form is conducive citizens have to each other, is determined all being reimagined through this prism. buildings, common areas and streets. Community Health, 59:619-27. not the case. Decentralisation (sprawl) of to social isolation because it precludes largely by how thinly a city is spread out. For example, planners have found that Ultimately, if we can’t tinker with these cities has led to social isolation, and, as informal social interactions (bumping into Decades later, and at odds with an entire mid-density design is optimal for social elements to bring us together, we must ask Montgomery points out, social isolation acquaintances, neighbours, local vendors paradigm of twentieth century private- interaction, and that people in high rises feel ourselves, ‘What good are they?’

41 42 Fresh Food

Opposite page: In a majority urban world, ensuring a people without families, a reliance on street Fruit Shop Rifle Range Flats, Penang, Malaysia. 2015 supply of fresh food for cities has become foods of variable quality and safety poses Photographs: John Reid a hot topic. nutritional issues. And households within The challenges are numerous and the informal settlements often lack not only answers are not so easily identified in cash, but cooking and water facilities to settings which feature inadequate bio- prepare healthy meals. Socio-economic and environmental resources and food system cultural drivers complicate the presence related capabilities. While urban agriculture or absence of food and nutrition security. is prominent in some places, most towns In short, urban settlements come in many and cities rely on food grown outside of different shapes and capacities and so it is their perimeters and such supplies often hard to generalize how best ensure a fresh have to travel long distances, sometimes food supply for a city. without adequate refrigeration and can be As urban settlements grow in low and prone to interruption when there are severe middle-income countries, rapid population weather events, corrupt supply chains and growth follows from rural to urban civil strife. However, access to ‘healthy’ migration. So cities require higher volumes nutrition cannot be assumed even if there of food to feed the growing population. But are adequate supplies of dietary diversity to house the new populations, food growing present from urban agricultural sources, lands may be taken over for housing and rural supplies or international imports. services, meaning that these cities are High fat, sugar and salted foods are readily constrained in supplying their own needs. accessible in urban settlements, they are Modern logistics and food transport hubs heavily promoted, and they are often also take over lands used previously to grow cheaper than fresh ingredients. foods, as do roads to transport large volumes For low-income residents and single of food daily into cities. To bring food from

44 Fresh Seafood Market Penang, Malaysia. 2015. Photograph: UNU-IIGH Photographic Library

45 46 Fresh Food

the countryside becomes more expensive or lost altogether. When fresh markets food hub businesses which can ‘represent’ and involves more complex supply chains do survive, car access problems are often small farmers and get their produce to – distribution and logistics centres become present, leading people to supermarkets and market in a safe and efficient way. These food corporatized and may not want the food convenience stores and higher exposure to hubs are gaining traction in high income from hundreds of small farmers preferring unhealthy food. What’s more, fresh foods countries to support small producers. one or two large farms. This, in turn, leads in these outlets can be more expensive than to the loss of farmer livelihoods and fuels in the traditional fresh market. At the same Further Reading: the rural to urban migration. time, women’s employment patterns change 1 Searchinger, T., Hanson, C., & Ranganathan J, et al. (2013). Creating a sustainable food future. A Meanwhile, as car ownership and usage in urban settlements and more women work menu of solutions to sustainably feed more than 9 grows in the cities with more affluent outside of the home, sometimes with long billion people by 2050. Retrieved from http://www. populations, fresh markets become an commutes. They need food to be convenient, wri.org/sites/default/files/wri13_report_4c_wrr_ obstacle to the flow of commuter traffic and in this context supermarkets and online.pdf(accessed 22 November 2015). 2 Godfray, H.C., & Garnet, T. (2014). Food security and can be displaced in urban planning, convenience stores are welcome, and these and sustainable intensification. Philos Trans R Soc newly employed women can perhaps afford Lond B Biol Sci, 369: 20120273. to shop in supermarkets. This, in turn, Opposite page: makes fresh markets less viable. S C Shekar 2011. Digital photograph Daily Meal One lever for change is to be innovative Daily meals served in Debbie Teoh’s home in about how to supply minimally processed Subang Jaya, Selangor, may feature several and locally grown foods to households. This simple nyonya dishes and rice. Unlike many working women in the city, Debbie still cooks at means safeguarding existing fresh markets, least two meals a day for her family. encouraging the establishment of new fresh markets and establishing businesses Reproduced from Our Land Within Passages for mobile fresh food vendors. All of this through Southeast Asian Communities. Liew Suet Fun. Photographs: SC Shekar. Published requires urban planning support. It also in Malaysia in 2011 by Beagle Books requires the establishment of ‘alternative’

47 48 Sunlight and the visual Environment

The sun symbolizes many things, across oneself, or even dream. cultures and time, but essentially it But we don’t all gaze or see in the same symbolizes life itself. Symbols nourish us way. Charles Landry reminds us that the when the daily routine becomes too literal, city is a sensory experience, with many but it is on the physical properties of the views and many ways of viewing it. This sun that we especially depend. It enables the experience affects our being in the city, and ingenious process of photosynthesis that our well-being. The sense of ‘seeing’ the grows the green roofs and vegetable gardens city is all important and it is the architect spreading across cityscapes to counteract especially who has greatest input into the the effects of climate change and the urban visual environment. heat island effect. Climate change is already Will we accept the monochrome spread impacting cities with more heatwaves, of grey asphalt as the de facto colour palette which are exacerbated by sprawling cities. of our cities? As long as we allow the car to Urbanites, especially the very young and the encroach on more and more space, then a elderly, are those who will suffer more heat gritty grey is here for good. But, wouldn’t stress as heatwaves intensify. less grey and more green be preferable? Sunlight stimulates the production of Or multi-coloured streetscapes as in some Vitamin D, essential for healthy bones and Buenos Aires neighbourhoods? Or a muscles. And we know from suicide rates sexy lipstick red BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) in the long dark winters of some countries, snaking proudly through the city, as the that the sun has a great impact on the spirit. Transmilenio does in Bogota, its colour Who doesn’t get a lift from waking up to a bright sunny sky? The intensity of city life is Opposite page: occasionally relieved when you are able to Apartment Block Toronto, Canada. 2013 gaze up at an open sunny sky and distract Photograph: Marzena Wasikowska

49 Sunlight and the Visual Environment

chosen especially by the previous Mayor of right in our face? Where and how can we there was more lighting in Rio’s favela’s? Or Bogota to make bus riders feel proud of their pause for reflection, and collect ourselves in the dim alleys of a South African slum? transport mode. Why should status go to in a fast-paced city if we are constantly Could lighting, used practically, and even private car owners, he figured, as he boldly bombarded by the imagery of the market? whimsically, be deployed to reduce crime used mass transit and colour to restore And so, occasionally we shut down, rates? pride, a sense of equality, and happiness to withdraw in, or even retreat to our homes the city’s residents. to re-energise. Further Readings: And then there are the ubiquitous Electricity, of course, has totally 1 Zhang, K. R., Wang, C., Shen, and L. Da. (2009). Temporal and Spatial Characteristics of the Urban advertising hoardings. Hong Kong’s Nathan transformed the city. People’s sense of safety Heat Island during Rapid Urbanization in Shanghai, Road and Tokyo’s Akihabara are the extreme. at night, their nighttime entertainment China. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 169: 101-12. The city perpetually communicates images (light facilitates the 24 hour city), and 2 Landry, C. (2006). The Art of City-Making. London: and sells products to you. What does this their ability to perform activities that once Earthscan. mean for our psyche? And if advertising is were only possible during the day, are often subliminal, what is happening without all attributable to electricity. Night time us even knowing it? Do corporations have festivals specifically use the interplay of the right to bombard us, to encroach, inch light against buildings, set within the night by inch, on ever more expansive spaces of sky’s darkness, to entertain and inspire our visual environment? Do we need to be us (Sydney’s Vivid lighting festival, for sold something on a TV screen hooked to example). the back of the driver’s seat as we ride in a And what of the energy-saving properties taxi, or urinate in a trough with a screen of LED lighting now being used to light cities, and even embedded in road surfaces to help cyclists avoid red lights? The “Green Opposite page: Apartment View Melbourne, Australia. 2013 Wave”, as it is known in Copenhagen, flashes Photograph: Marzena Wasikowska on when a cyclist approaches. And what if

51 52 Quality of Air and Water

In classical philosophy, air and water century answer to mobility – the automobile constitute two of the basic four elements – have produced poor air quality that kills (earth and fire being the others), which millions of people worldwide every year. are believed to be the essential parts of all Its egregious impact is now written into the things. So, how did air and water come to be design of many Western, especially North a threat to urban health? What went wrong? American and Australian cities, where low If air pollution is killing people, it must also density suburbanization, ubiquitous road be killing the planet, and vice versa. Why infrastructure, and minimal capacity for did we ever de-couple human health and active transport (footpaths for walking, as planetary health, poorly imagining that they well as cycling infrastructure) is the norm. were not part of the same system? Lung And, sadly this unhealthy urban design is cancer statistics in Beijing and soaring now being written into the developing cities greenhouse gas emissions leading to of Africa, and Southeast and South Asia, as global warming are a sad testament to our they turn to the car. Cities bring together shortsightedness. (concentrated populations of) strangers, as From the famous London fog of 1952 to Jane Jacobs said, whose interdependence the perpetual haze shrouding New Delhi and Beijing today, what have we learned Above right: about air pollution and how to control or Preet and Hafiz Lian mitigate its impact? Industrialization and Drawing #2 2015 (From the series, Desolation) the burning of liquid fuels to power the 20th 29.0 x 20.0 cm x 14 Ink on tracing paper

Opposite page: From the exhibition, SURVIVAL! Alley way Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2015 Health and Wellbeing in the Urban Cave UNU-IIGH Photographic Library Penang. 2015

54 requires more than transport systems. These cities require industries, as well as power plants providing heat and energy, all of which produce their own emissions and add to poor air quality. Indoor air pollutants from fossil fuel powered cooking in some developing cities, poor quality gas cooktops and smoking indoors, pose another if lesser health risk. And is everyone equally impacted? Environmental justice theories suggest not. Low-income neighborhoods and households are likely to have greater air pollution exposure. The poor who ride

Opposite page: Air over Brooklyn New York, USA. 2014 UNU-IIGH Photographic Library

Right: Liz Coats Untitled #2 2015 86.0 x 74.5 cm Acrylic media on canvas

South East Coast Climate Adaptation Field Study, Digital Art Bank, Environment Studio SoA, ANU Left: Tony Capon Message 2015. Teletransmitted digital photographs and text

buses without air-conditioning and open the future unfolds. windows in Bangkok breathe in the toxic And what of wastewater, especially in fumes emitted by the cars owned by the developing nations? Public sewers, septic middle class, and for whom the transport tanks, cesspools or chemical toilets are all system (car-dominated) is geared. Transport means to dispose of sewage. But are they inequity means we don’t all breathe the equally available and affordable across the same air. urban world? And what of water? From poisoned water Blue-Green cities offer some hope by supplies to thousands of diseased pigs bringing water management and green floating down the river in Shanghai, are infrastructure together in cities, and we still learning how to safeguard drinking reintroducing the natural water cycle into and cooking water? It is clear that the built urban habitats. Urbanization in the 21st environment of cities impacts the flow of century is concentrated in coastal areas water and wastewater in a community. The so the association between the sea and three main challenges in planning the built cities must be part of urban planning and environment are: too little water, too much dreaming. And, water in cities crucially Above: Swimmer, Bondi Baths Sydney, NSW Australia. 2014. UNU-IIGH Photographic Library water, and poor water quality. The greatest provides recreation, drawing people threat, however, according to UNESCO, is together to swim, to play in the surf, and to the finite nature of water resources on Earth, frolic in lakes. residents and keeps them company too? Further Readings: We are moving towards sustainability and 1 WHO. (2014). 7 million premature deaths settings: a retrospective analysis of data from 145 even disregarding for the impact of climate Urban blue space alleviates mental annually linked to air pollution. Geneva: World countries. Trop Med Int Health, 19: 894-905. change. Climate change itself is already stress and fatigue. So why don’t we dig up the finite nature of petroleum bodes well for Health Organization. Retrieved from http://www. leading to permanent drought conditions more long-buried streams cutting through air quality at least. But what else must we who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/air- imagine and do to pick up the momentum? pollution/en/. in such places as the southwestern United cities, as the Mayor of Seoul did? Or build 2 Pruss-Ustin, A., Bartram, J., Clasen, T., et al. States. Increased competition for water swimming pools in poor neighborhoods, After all, there is no city without clean (2014). Burden of disease from inadequate water, resources, and even conflict, is predicted as where the TV is usually what entertains its water to drink and fresh air to breathe. sanitation and hygiene in low- and middle-income

57 58 Thrive Natural heritage and Green Space

From an evolutionary perspective, human and repurposed freight lines have become lives, and their predecessors have been green walking thoroughfares from New interwoven into the natural environment York to Sydney. Mexico City’s Plan from the beginning. So, what is the state of Verde is expanding its green roof cover. In the relationship between nature and humans Curitiba, Brazil, political will has sprouted in cities today, especially in terms of health greenery throughout the city, not only in and wellbeing? Moreover, is it an equal large green parks, but also at a granular relationship? And how can we ensure that one level, insinuating green spaces into small does not suffer for the benefit of the other? pockets of streetscapes. Research confirms According to the biophilia hypothesis, this is the way to go. What is crucial is not humans have a tendency to affiliate with quantity, but daily doses of nature scattered nature and there is ample evidence to throughout the spaces where we live, confirm the physical and mental benefits we work and play. So we need to find ways derive from it. But the challenge is to ensure to infuse nature into dense urban fabrics, that the natural heritage and green space and preferably nature complexity, not more of cities is not adversely impacted by the monochrome stretches of manicured lawn. expanding human footprint of inexorable Traditionally, urban design has hewed to urbanization. Imagination and execution a particular, often artificial, urban form, are already taking our cities in exciting, rather than the biophysical processes as uplifting and healthy directions. Renovated determinants of urban form. Unfortunately,

Opposite page: Right: Simfoni Lake Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2015 Preet and Hafiz Lian Drawing #3 2015 UNU-IIGH Photographic Library (From the series, Desolation) 29.0 x 20.0 cm x 14 Ink on tracing paper

From the exhibition, SURVIVAL! Health and Wellbeing in the Urban Cave Penang. 2015 Thrive

then, there are countless examples of across cityscapes as horizontal and vertical health of the urban population. cities whose design and form are entirely spaces1 for people to grow vegetables, fruit The Lancet Commission on Planetary Health mismatched to their regional climates. Is etc. Besides providing improved access to recently pointed out that across the world there that what happens when you try to recreate fresh, wholesome food and helping people are now more than 370 cities with declining Amsterdam, when your postcode says to build a sense of community, these gardens populations. Herein lies an opportunity. What Dubai? We can try and grow tulips in the restore run-down neighbourhoods, become if local governments and constituencies desert but must we always live another life? survival tools2 and improve wellbeing. infused these shrinking spaces with additional We are better off when we live in the here Green spaces in cities yield important greenery, promoted food local production, and now. Our health and mental wellbeing co-benefits too. They reduce air pollution, and enhanced biodiversity? Besides the health know that. But our cities haven’t quite facilitate groundwater recharge, help to and social benefits, such efforts may also help caught up with our hearts and minds. regulate the temperature, cool urban heat to halt and reverse population loss. Soothed Biophilic design shows us that contact islands, reduce energy demand and provide by green space, we may have time to pause, with nature can be woven into cities in cultural services including recreation, all reflect and summon greater clarity to imagine two ways: 1) by including natural elements contributing to the physical and mental other, greener solutions. such as plants, water, sunlight and natural materials, or 2) through vernacular or place- based design, which adheres to the ecology 1 http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/10/vertical-farms- Further Readings: grow-food/ 1 Berman, M. G., Jonides, J., & Kaplan, S. (2008). of a locality, e.g., Sydney Opera House with The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting with Nature. http://yagrein.blogspot.my/2011/09/multi-storey- Psychological Science, 19 (12): 1207-12. its sails referencing the harbour surrounding vegetable-gardens-for-food.html it. Contact with nature has a number of 2 Velarde, M. D., Fry, G., & Tveit, M. (2007). Health 2 http://www.cityfarmer.info/2014/03/11/urban- Effects of Viewing Landscapes: Landscape Types health benefits. It restores one’s attention gardens-for-survival-in-harare-zimbabwe/ in Environmental Psychology. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 6 (4): 199-212. when fatigued and stressed, reduces stress http://www.resilience.org/stories/2006-02-25/ Elmqvist, T., Fragkia, M., Goodness, J., et al, and helps children to develop perceptual power-community-how-cuba-survived-peak-oil 3 (Eds). (2013). Urbanization, biodiversity and and expressive skills, and imagination. http://survivethecomingcollapse.com/1171/urban- ecosystem services: challenges and opportunities. Community gardens are literally sprouting survival-gardening-after-disasters/ Netherlands: Springer. Caitlyn Miller-Knight Birds Eye 2007 It’s about seeing lots of bugs and footprints outside 21.0 x 29.7 cm Acrylic paint on paper The Art of Moving Field Study, Digital Art Bank, 61 From You will never get there by car 2007 Environment Studio, SoA, ANU 62 Thrive Access to Health Care Services

The concentration of populations in urban in certain countries, and in developing areas requires many services to sustain cities. The most significant barriers are human life, one of which is healthcare itself. related to coverage and cost. The overriding Presumably, the denser the population, the question here is “Can I afford to pay?” greater the provision of healthcare services. And, just as important, ‘Am I covered by But, provision does not equal access, nor a public program?’ And, if so, ‘Are the does it ensure equity of access. If healthcare services I need included in the basket of services are at our fingertips, why are they goods and services offered by the program? sometimes beyond our grasp? Or beyond Another salient barrier is transport, which the grasp of certain groups and specific enables individuals to access treatment. disadvantaged pockets of cities? Disadvantaged groups tend to have lower Barriers of access to healthcare in cities rates of car ownership, which, in car- are similar across countries, but some dependent cities especially, limits their barriers are more pronounced than others access to healthcare services. The elderly

Opposite page: Above right: Tan Zheng Yuen Preet and Hafiz Lian Passion 2015 Drawing #4 2015 21.0 x 29.7 cm. Digital print (From the series, Desolation) 29.0 x 20.0 cm x 14 Light up a match in a fraction of a second. Time Ink on tracing paper passes in split seconds without knowing it. Nowadays, people live in urban places and neglect From the exhibition, SURVIVAL! to communicate with their family and friends. This Health and Wellbeing in the Urban Cave is because they are busy earning money to live Penang. 2015 better lives. When suddenly they need someone’s help, there is no one they can turn to.

From the exhibition, SURVIVAL! Health and Wellbeing in the Urban Cave Penang. 2015 64 Thrive Opposite page: S C Shekar Exercise Facilities, Rifle Range Flats, Penang, Malaysia 2015 Digital photograph may be worried about transport safety and others, especially those with low health number of war zones around the world is cost, and lone parents find it more difficult literacy. Health literacy refers to those skills not negligible but are we doing enough to to arrange transport than do two-parent which determine an individual’s motivation coordinate better efforts to provide access to families. There are also organizational to access healthcare services, as well as these, the most disadvantaged groups? barriers within health institutions their ability to understand and use that And finally, how is globalization themselves which may lead, for example, to information. It may also be linked to actual affecting access? For example, WTO trade waits and delays in accessing care. language literacy problems. liberalization policies have made access These barriers are on the supply side, An individual’s social capital, as well as the to affordable drugs either very difficult or but what affects people’s access on the stock of social capital within a community, impossible in some developing countries. demand side? Cultural beliefs may also is another factor. Individuals with high And rising inequality within countries influence attempts to access care, as well as social capital gain information and advice means unequal access to healthcare attitudes to care. For example, a UK study about services from their networks. And especially in poor countries in Sub-Saharan found that compared to white people, the communities with strong social capital Africa and West Asia where per capita language South Asians used to talk about tend to have more efficient, humane, and income levels are lower than they were in their illness showed more passivity. And well-coordinated systems, according to US the 1970s. pregnant Chinese women were less likely to research. access antenatal care services because they Cities must also address the issue of didn’t see them as necessary. Some women’s inequitable access. Vulnerable groups Further Readings: groups may feel uncomfortable with the include, for example, older people with 1 Oliver, A., Mossailos, E. (2004). Equity of access to healthcare: outlining the foundations for action. idea of visiting a male general practitioner. functional limitations, those with mental Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, But it would be simplistic to attribute disorders, migrants, and asylum seekers. 58:655-658 . differences in help-seeking behaviours to These groups also tend to have poorer 2 Anderson, L. M., Scrimshaw, S. C., Fullilove, M. cultural attitudes alone. Locating easily access to information and communications T., Fielding, J. E., Normand, J. (2003). Culturally competent healthcare systems: A systematic accessible information about the availability technologies. And what of the children review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, of services affects some groups more than in Eastern Ukraine or Syria today? The Vol. 24, Issue 3S, 68-79.

65 Security and Safety What would make this bridge safer for children Security and Safety - who cross it on the way to school? Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. 2015. Photograph: Uta Dietrich

How can we ensure that all groups (children, disproportionate concerns about safety traffic through raised barriers, planting, design cultural policies which encourage the elderly, women, ethnic minorities, In- discourage people from exploring their and curbs. Workplaces and the countless night time use of the city in large numbers? migrants from the countryside, etc.) within cities, and their own possibilities. This construction sites in rapidly growing cities Consider the safety of the 3,000 children our cities are safe and secure? Need for exploration requires a trusting and open such as Lagos, Shanghai, and Ho Chi Minh, living on the streets of Ulan Bator, where it safety, and the fear of terror, impact greatly society; almost an infrastructure of trust. need not only the infrastructure of safety, can drop to -52 degrees Celsius in winter. on the design and management of our cities, Countering this, though, is a whole risk but the regulatory environment, freedom The fall of communism has exacerbated increasingly under the ubiquitous ‘watchful industry (backed up by litigation in some from corruption, and culture to back it poverty, led to factory closures, higher eye’ of surveillance. countries) making us over-cautious, and up. But safety measures add to bottom line unemployment, and pushed many children To be sure, there are an array of measures media industry whose purpose seems to be costs, and in fast growing countries, such as onto the icy streets. We have an obligation we can take to promote safety in workplaces, to create fear and trivialize. Individuals and China, safety standards may fall behind the to protect them too, not just the children in homes, streets, parks, and the like, but cities that embrace possibility, ideas, and pace of development. with roofs over their heads. safety is not just about protection from better versions of themselves, rather than Beauty and quality infrastructure not only crime, or terror, or avoiding accidents. The hunker down with fear and reality TV, are lift the spirit but contribute to the overall Further Readings: urban experience, as Charles Landry points healthier, more alive, and happier. impression of safety. Extensive public 1 CABE (2005). What are We Scared of? The Value of Risk in Designing Public Space, London. out, is a psychological one. On the practical side, pedestrians, art, custom-designed benches, and trash Retrieved from http://webarchive.nationalarchives. As such, safety is also about psychology especially children and the elderly, need facilities ground us, but also provoke and gov.uk/20110118095356/http:/www.cabe.org.uk/ and the mental paradigms within which we to be able to walk in people-friendly inspire us when too many other messages files/what-are-we-scared-of.pdf live in our city. Are we open and trusting? Or neighbourhoods, free from the fear of tell us to withdraw and be fearful. Equally, 2 Branscomb, L. M. (2006). Sustainable Cities: Safety and Security. Transportation in Society, 28, mentally cocooned to block out a dangerous being hit by cars, tripping on potholes or the configuration of buildings can make 225-234 world of radioactivity, terrorism, murderers, experiencing violence. Pedestrian refuges us fearful, or draw us out of ourselves and 3 NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety etc.? To live fully, to realize our best as with raised and buffered islands will make encourage us to participate in public space. and Health). (2009, June 17). The Business Value of Prevention Through Design. PtD in Motion no. 4: individuals and collectively as great cities, walking safer and promote health and well- Well-placed lighting has the same impact. 2. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ we need to dream and then dare. As Landry being. Walkable, cohesive communities Jane Jacobs knew that ‘eyes on the street’ ptd/pdfs/PtD-inMotion_Issue4.pdf. cautions, if a city becomes too defensive, report higher levels of safety and security. constitute the best form of safety. Crowds are or over-cautious, then risk aversion and Bicycle lanes need to be protected from a natural form of surveillance, so why not

67 68 Urban Regeneration

If any theme has appeared throughout If we agree that cities should and can lives there. We need to act strategically, these texts, it is that people should be at make us healthier and happier, while rather than transactionally, think how the the centre of any intervention to build cities minimizing the impact on the environment, city will look and feel tomorrow, not just in which promote health and well-being. then, we already have a 21st century today’s tourism campaigns. Access should According to the eco-social framework mission statement for urbanization. As the be easy for people of all ages and abilities. for understanding health, explained in world adds one million new residents to its Land use, street fronts, and the size of city the first section, ‘The Global Picture’, cities on a weekly basis, there is a historical blocks should all facilitate connectivity and health has ecological, economic and social opportunity to see this mission statement community. Public spaces can be big but dimensions. If viewed as levers within a materialize. And it is equally important that also small, and will only be good if they are complex system, we can use these levers we apply this thinking to urban regeneration, usable. They should foster ownership so that to have positive impacts on other areas not just urban growth. the locals want to look after these spaces. within the system. For example, we can What is urban regeneration? Some would People should be able to dance on them if build bicycle lanes and attractive footpaths say it is gentrification for a privileged few. they wish, as Shanghai’s renowned groups to facilitate mobility, reduce greenhouse gas It sometimes is, but as the Urban Land of dancing dama (elderly women) do every emissions from cars, improve individual Institute (ULI) argues, at its best, ‘urban night in the city, with their portable sound health, and promote social interaction in regeneration should better the physical, systems, or walk through them. In other walkable neighbourhoods. The bicycle social, and economic fabric of a society’. lanes and footpaths are designed for people In so doing, it can make us healthier and first and foremost and fit the criteria of an happier. Above right: Preet and Hafiz Lian Drawing #5 2015 eco-social framework of health. It may There are a number of physical, social, (From the series, Desolation) seem obvious that understanding people’s economic and environmental tools available 29.0 x 20.0 cm x 14 behaviours, needs, wants, and feelings to remake a city, correct past mistakes, Ink on tracing paper should be foremost in our minds, but history challenge deficiencies, and to inspire, uplift From the exhibition, SURVIVAL!

reveals that we have sometimes had other and bring together its citizens in a common Health and Wellbeing in the Urban Cave

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 2015. UNU-IIGH Photographic Library Photographic UNU-IIGH 2015. Malaysia. Lumpur, Kuala renewal Urban Adjacent: ends in mind (e.g., cities designed for cars). project for the betterment of everyone who Penang. 2015

69 70 Urban Regeneration

Kerry Shepherdson Branching Out 2010 words, public space must be active. (lane houses) should be re-created in new as ‘authentic’? Without the people, there 60.0 x 60.0 cms Acrylic on canvas Ecological betterment should be a key housing developments. Industrial sites and is no authenticity, no community, and no outcome of all efforts. Locally-sourced land resources, such as a river, are physical, history. There is only consumption. Branching growth patterns invade and recycled green materials, solar heating but, according to the way people use them, Finally, by bringing together diverse and divide the surface of the work, claiming space that alludes to the and naturally cooled buildings reduce are also cultural. experts and constituencies (planners, contest of land. The colours and forms greenhouse emissions. And, the economic As Landry shows us, lighting can entrepreneurs, architects, minority groups, reflect the disappearance of productive history of a city doesn’t need to be repeated be deployed with dramatic impact to developers, investors and academics) our agricultural areas under the weight of in its entirety. Clever cities rethink the regenerate neighbourhoods and spaces, to ways of viewing, and hence, re-generating urban development and the quest for contemporary human amenity. economy of a certain place, and sometimes awe, inspire, and to make us safer. Cities the city are multiplied. The chances of create growth clusters of similar enterprises must be connected from their sewers, to improving peoples’ health and wellbeing The Contested Landscapes of Western which leverage on proximity, improve their transport networks, waterways, and will also be greater. Sydney Field Study, Digital Art Bank Environment Studio, SoA, ANU productivity, and add vibrancy and jobs. neighbourhood blocks. And finally the For example, Silicon Valley, or a street in city’s residents must be connected within Further Readings: Dhaka lined with fresh food markets. And all these networks. 1 Herzfeld, M. (2015). Heritage and the Right to the City: When Securing the Past Creates sometimes it should be bottom-up, and then Demographic diversity is important, Insecurity in the Present. Heritage & Society, it will be more real. Shanghai’s Tianzifang but also aesthetic and functional diversity. 8(1):3-23. neighbourhood grew slowly and organically Different socio-economic groups in 2 Ren, X. (2008). Forward to the Past: Historical from a small artist’s collective into a vibrant different spaces with mixed purposes and Preservation in Globalizing Shanghai. City & Community, 7(1):23-43. district with art spaces, retail, food outlets, amenities and an element of surprise will 3 Esposito, A., et al. (2014). Heritage beyond the entertainment, and housing. help to keep monotony at bay. And long-tem boundaries: a manifesto. The Newsletter of the Cultural heritage should be preserved, but residents should not be kicked out to make International Institute for Asian Studies, 69:22-23. its not just about buildings and materials. way for regneration. Why do developers Worthwhile and enriching social traditions believe they can reproduce a city’s can be perpetuated. For example, the vernacular architecture, fill it with high-end unique social capital in Shanghai’s lilong retail and restaurants, and pitch it to tourists

72 Postscript

Readers of THRIVE are encouraged to choose an image from the book, read any accompanying artist statement and think about the link to health and wellbeing in sustainable urban development. It is the creativity in each person considering the images emotionally and intellectually that in the lead up to Habitat III, the 3rd United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, may assist us to grasp the issues and look for solutions that will help people thrive in our cities. ThriveUrban.info offers a platform to share your thoughts.

Pelita International School Penang, Malaysia A Bug’s Life (Detail) 2015 15.0 x 10.0 x 4.0 cm Overall dimensions: 15.0 x 200.0 x 4.0 cm Wire

Minute yet magnificent

From the exhibition, SURVIVAL! Health and Wellbeing in the Urban Cave Penang, 2015. (See: photograph page 3)

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