Using open data and open-source software to develop spatial indicators of urban design and transport features for achieving healthy and sustainable cities

Determining thresholds for spatial urban design and transport features that support walking to create healthy and sustainable cities: findings from the IPEN Adult study

“…This finding might be due to the sampling strategy adopted by the IPEN Adult study, which required that 50% of the participants be recruited from the most walkable neighbourhoods in each city; 40 consequently, these participants had good access to amenities for daily living, 63 which is the most salient urban design feature for walking and was not measured by IPEN Adult. 23,31,56,62 Another important consideration when using our results for guiding city planning efforts is the shape of the associations we observed. Most participants in our study lived in areas likely to benefit from increases in population, intersection, and public transport densities.…”

“…In the first paper in this Series, Lowe and colleagues 32 found that many city planning policies, particularly those in middle-income countries, did not have evidence-informed measurable standards and targets. In the third paper, Boeing and colleagues 56 show how spatial indicators with health-enhancing thresholds can identify spatial inequities within and between cities in diverse lower-middle-income countries and highincome countries.…”

City planning policies to support health and sustainability: an international comparison of policy indicators for 25 cities

“…• Collaborate closely with policy makers to codesign policy-relevant studies, including determining optimal policy thresholds for urban design and transport features, and testing how well city planning policies are being developed and implemented • Collaborate with policy makers to evaluate the costs, consequences, and economic benefits of policies designed to support health and sustainability • Further develop and evaluate the present policy analysis approach, paying special attention to adaptations needed for LMICs middle-income countries, outperforming many cities in HICs on policy presence and quality, making it a positive example for other middle-income countries. Although policy implementation requires further study, in the third paper in this Series, Boeing and colleagues 46 show that São Paulo's policies might be translating into better real-world, spatial outcomes relative to some other cities in middle-income countries.…”

Creating healthy and sustainable cities: what gets measured, gets done

“…(5) If so, are there inequities in access to supportive environments between and within cities? 5 Given the rapidly evolving global challenges that have arisen since our original framework and indicators were published in 2016, the final paper in Series 2 9 considers "where to next?" It updates and expands our 2016 framework of the pathways through which city planning affects ecosystem, human, and planetary health and recommends additional city planning indicators to benchmark and monitor cities.…”

“…We therefore provide open-source tools to facilitate measurement of city planning policies and interventions and to enable immediate action. 5,10 Our vision is that evidence-informed indicators measuring city planning policies and outcomes will be used worldwide to benchmark and monitor progress to hasten the transition to a healthy, sustainable future.…”