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Summary Lectures Governing Healthy Cities
Lecture notes of 29 pages for the course Governing Healthy Cities at EUR (-)
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Summary Lectures Governing Healthy CitiesWeek 1: Introduction
2 important shifts
1) From the biophysical idea of health to wellbeing idea of health opening up the concept of
health. talking about well-begin of people and communities makes cities better and more
resilient, more able to deal with change.
2) Shift from government (top down) to governance (involving many actors in the city).
Finding our ways as we go through these shifts.
- Previously things were much clearer: used to only be about the absence of disease and how to
realize that how do you govern the healthy body. This idea is now much more complex
because we deal with governing a healthy body, mind and environment and that becomes much
more complex and involves more actors.
- currently living in pandemic cities, focus on health and governing behavior. reflected in
nudging, how do you deal with governing healthy behavior in a pandemic timing.
Why cities?
- About 4.2 billion people more than half of the world population (55.3%) are living in urban areas
today. By 2045 this figure is estimated to increase by 1.5 times to more than 6 billion”.
- Quote “ The number of so-called mega cities – cities that have more than ten million inhabitants,
most of which are located in the Global South – is expected to increase from 33 to 43, with the
fastest growth in Asia and Africa. Today, Tokyo (37.4 million), New Delhi (28.5 million), and
Shanghai (25.6 million inhabitants) are the most populous cities worldwide.”
Cities are growing, because they offer a lot more opportunities geographical proximity makes it easier
to contact each other and work together, and a lot more economic opportunities in the cities since a lot of
industries work together in the cities.
Mega cities (monster cities): very large cities taking over areas around it natural phenomenon for
cities to grow where people come together who need facilities that are available in cities.
That is why we focus on this: when many people come together in small spaces this brings health issues.
On the one hand you have that many industries come together, research showing that the temperature is
higher because of so many things working together, so many industries and people in the cities so in
many cases leads to health hazards (clean water, clean air (cities are struggling with healthy air)
therefore cities are a hotspot for health issues and therefore it is really important to see how we govern
health in the cities on the one hand.
On the other hand geographical proximity of a lot of people (as seen with the pandemic) where
people live further apart the virus spreads less quickly. Easier to spread diseases around in cities.
researchers are busy with the question how to govern this well, that is why we also focus on the city.
Urbanization and health
Quote: “Rapid urbanization, imposes challenges: a lack of affordable housing results in nearly one billion
urban poor living in informal settlements at the urban periphery, vulnerable and often exposed to criminal
activity. A lack of public transport infrastructure results in congestion and often hazardous pollution levels
in inner cities. By one estimate, in 2016, 90 per cent of city dwellers have been breathing unsafe air,
resulting in 4.2 million deaths due to ambient air pollution.”
Urbanization lately has been called rapid urbanization which is a lack of affordable housing etc. all of
these things are happening in cities because of urbanization. Important to realize that urbanization in
,and of itself is not wrong or dangerous, it is about the speed in which it goes that imposes challenges.
living in the city is not dangerous in itself, what is dangerous is that there is not enough time for policy
makers, government officials and municipalities to deal with the challenges that are being imposed.
making infrastructures is really important for developing cities, however this never happens fast enough.
The urban poor living in informal settlements is a big issue in many countries, also issues of clean air and
clean water are complicated to achieve. By one estimate, in 2016, 90 per cent of city dwellers have been
breathing unsafe air, resulting in 4.2 million deaths due to ambient air pollution.” question is why are
we not doing something about this, because the numbers are high? Well, we are: urban governance is
focused on health. However: it’s called a wicked problem: very hard to tackle because it involves to many
elements. The challenges now are too big and too challenging.
Place matters
How does place matter for health? Directly and indirectly few examples of how place matters.
- In NYC 72% can walk to food in 5 min. in Indianapolis this is only 5% the way we organize and
structure cities has an effect on health. Issues of how to organize cities and about social justice:
what is a just city? --> not only about the way we organize the sidewalks and biking alleys but also
about food and where you can live, which makes a healthy city. we broaden the definition of
healthy cities, broader than just the body.
- Other examples: air pollution, cities that don’t have sidewalks (people are then obliged/nudged
to take public transport and they cannot just walk, which is unhealthy).
All of these things are seen through the lens of urban justice and healthy cities.
Wellbeing is the new GDP
There are bigger differences between people with good and bad health than between rich and poor
(Legatum Institute).
Wellbeing is an inclusive concept: physical health, healthy communities, access to healthcare, mental
wellbeing:
- How to improve well-being? --> reason why we are not only talking about health. Well-being can
be improved through the environment (e.g., cleaner air, greaner cities)
- Well-being has become a buzz-word --> some critique: shift from health to well-being that is not
always a good thing. However, the well-being notion is much more inclusive so you can talk about
mental care, connection and research has shown that makes up healthier communities so there is
a direct link. Need more than just physical health
From biophysical to holistic view of health & From health to well-being.
World Happiness Report
Ranks countries on 6 key variables that support well-being: income, freedom, trust, healthy life
expectancy, social support and generosity. Top 10 countries tend to rank high in all six variables as well as
emotional measures of wellbeing.
Relational view on cities not just about the individual which used to be known in the last century to be
much more focused on whether you are healthy and how urban health can support or be harmful to that.
Nowadays we look at cities in a much more relational view feeling comfortable in the community? Able
to have valuable connections in life (loneliness among NL elderly is high). policy makers are thinking
about how can we design the city to enable people to connect these things + the way governance is
being done is in the much more relational view.
Interconnectedness of place, health, well-being of communities
- Interconnectedness of place (geographical view: can you walk to fresh food, do you have access
to food), health (clean air, able to exercise and eat good food), and wellbeing of communities
(the way we design and govern buildings also the neighborhoods and cities has a profound effect
on health and happiness, connected into this idea of well-being.
- If we try to understand this interconnectedness of place health and communities, we get to the
broader idea of health --> not just the biophysical but also connection.
, 2 Ideas about the city:
1) The dystopian city
How the way that we frame cities, what is important to the cities and how we govern cities has very
important consequences:
Simmel (1903): the metropolis and mental life – the city depersonalized
- City is so big you don’t know anyone (whereas in the village you know all your neighbors)
metropolis is about the notion of the city as a hostile place where you don’t have a connection
prevalent discourse previously, trying to undo this now by trying to show that a city can also be a
city on a small scale (difficult to have friends in a community the bigger the city is, as opposed to
a small village) consequences attached to this idea?
- Simmel says: The city depersonalized, mental life is dead, you cannot have connection in the city
trying to undo this
- Governance of mega cities today: how do we scale it back, down to smaller places e.g. corner
where people come together and have their own neighborhood --> create neighborhoods that
have similar identities. part of designing the cities which has been a pushback against the idea
of the dystopian cities: the cities that kill your spirit.
Metropolis (1927)
2) The smart city: Data and promises a newer idea as opposed to the metropolis idea
Beginning 21st century --> idea of the city changes. Data and promises it’s called. Idea of the smart city is
interesting and everywhere. The idea of data solving all our problems is very prevalent --> The idea of big
data being used in a way that makes the city so smart you don’t have to think much: smart cities create
dumb bodies. --> the city things for you because it is so smart. E.g., previously bodies would have to adjust
to the environment, but now we walk on perfect streets and everything is polished for us. But this idea of
a smart city is also a dangerous idea because it shows a lot of promises that is solves everything, but the
idea of a smart city is very much connected to loneliness. when everything is so organized there is no
space for serendipity, for being spontaneous and meeting someone.
This idea of smart city is controversial one: on the one hand has a lot of promises to help us forward (e.g.,
parking garage close by, supermarkets nearby helpful) but it also makes people very dependent on
services lot of scholars are pushing against the ideas of smart city while others see it as a solution to
our urban problems (as mentioned earlier in the lecture).
These two ideas of cities are discourses: doesn’t have to be true but it is a way of looking at cities.
How to build a happy and healthy cities? – governance
Governance = actions of trying to incorporate and come together with as many actors in the city and
decide what is just and what is healthy and happy.
In order to do governance you need to take into account a lot of elements and many groups of people
with different needs and different ideas of the city. Ideas about the city are difficult to put into practice
because when they are inclusive they are per definition exclusive. (for example: creating a green space
for current residents automatically means that you cannot built an appartement complex in order to
attract new residents) How do you reconcile those ideas, what is the process of making that decision, and
what are the issues that come with that?
Second shift: from government to governance: Swyngedouw 2005
In the article talking about the following elements: Decentralization, Deregulation, Devolution of state
functions, Inclusion of non-state actors (= can be a lot of things: from citizens organizing themselves to
affect change, NGO’s.)
Example of students in Rotterdam: Veggies Without Borders. discovered that it’s not only about food
and food waste but also about bringing people together.
To sum up
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