Urban Heart

Urbanization in Asia is expected to reach 55% by 2030 and 64% by 2050 to constitute 53% of the world's urban population and contribute half the world's gross domestic product. But as cities swell, they also struggle with environmental degradation, traffic congestion, inadequate urban infrastructure, and lack of basic civic services. This manual prepared by Urban Sector Group of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) provides guidelines for conducting rapid urban assessments. It is guided by the Urban Operational Plan 2012-2020 which outlines ADB's support to its members in developing their urban economies through the 3E approach (Economy, Environment, and Equity). It presents a framework providing a context for the city-level 3E tool kits (Tool Kit for Rapid Economic Assessment, Planning, and Development of Cities in Asia; Green City Development Tool Kit; and Enabling Inclusive Cities: Tool Kit for Inclusive Urban Development).

This volume brings together the world’s leading experts on urban and transport planning, environmental exposures, physical activity, health and health impact assessment to discuss challenges and solutions in cities. The book provides a conceptual framework and work program for actions and outlines future research needs. It presents the current evidence-base, the benefits of and numerous case studies on integrating health and the environment into urban development and transport planning. Within cities there is a considerable variation in the levels of environmental exposures such as ambient air pollution, noise, and temperature, green space availability and physical activity. Many of these exposures, and their adverse health impacts, are related to and are being exacerbated by urban and transport planning and policy. Emerging research suggests that urban and transport planning indicators such as road network, distance to major roads, traffic density, household density, industry, and natural and green space can explain a large proportion of the variability in environmental exposures and therefore represent important and highly modifiable factors. The urban environment is a complex interlinked system. Decision-makers need not only better data on the complexity of factors in environmental and developmental processes affecting human health, but also an enhanced understanding of the linkages between these factors and health effects to determine at which level to target their actions most effectively. In recent years, there also has been a shift from trying to change at the national level to more comprehensive and ambitious actions being developed and implemented at the regional and local levels. Cities have come to the forefront of providing solutions for environmental issues such as climate change, which has co-benefits for health, but yet need better knowledge for wider health-centric action. This book provides the latest and most up-to-date information and studies for academics and practitioners alike.

This tool kit presents an integrated approach to inclusive urban development and was prepared for ADB staff and their partners to engage in inclusive urban development programming and implementation as an integral component of ADB’s lending programs. It presents methods to gather required information on a particular context and location for inclusive urban development; to decide priorities; and to plan, design, and implement inclusive urban projects. The operational focus is provided by practical guidelines and criteria for inclusive urban development projects and is designed to stimulate innovation in the solution and approaches that define inclusive urban development projects.

This thoughtful book offers unique insights on global health research, drawing attention to the equity choices embedded in day-to-day patterns and assumptions that shape how people do, think about, and navigate research. It invites readers to position equity as the driving principle and purpose of this field and presents a plethora of examples that demonstrate how to navigate the complex work of centring equity in research. This book provides foundational content on the standards of guiding equity considerations in global health, with chapters adopting cross-disciplinary methods of engaging in equity thinking and doing. Chapters explore applications of six distinct elements of the CCGHR Principles for Global Health Research, including partnering authentically, embracing inclusion, sharing benefits, committing to the future, acting on causes of inequities and practicing humility. Each chapter is accompanied with engaging reflection questions. This book is a pivotal resource for those who perform, use or support global equity health research. It will appeal to students, researchers, policy makers, professionals and funders, as well as those with an interest in and commitment to centring equity in their approaches to doing, using, or supporting health research.

Strategic Urban Health Communication Charles C. Okigbo, editor People are bombarded with messages continuously and sorting through them constantly. In this milieu, critical ideas about health promotion and illness prevention are forced to compete with distracting, conflicting, even contradictory information. To get vital messages through, communication must be effective, targeted, artful—in a word, strategic. Strategic Urban Health Communication provides a road map for understanding strategy, enhancing strategic planning skills, and implementing strategic communication campaigns. Deftly written chapters link the art and science of strategic planning to world health goals such as reducing health inequities and eradicating diseases. Flexibility is at the heart of these cases, which span developed and developing countries, uses of traditional and digital media, and chronic and acute health challenges. And the contributors ground their dispatches in the larger context of health promotion, giving readers useful examples of thinking globally while working locally. Included in the coverage: Urbanization, population, and health myths: addressing common misconceptions. Integrating HIV/family planning programs: opportunities for strategic communication. The role of sports in strategic health promotion in low-income areas. The Internet as a sex education tool: a case study from Thailand. Advertising and childhood obesity in China. Health communication strategies for sustainable development in a globalized world. Balancing depth of understanding of audiences and methods of reaching them, Strategic Urban Health Communication is a forward-looking resource geared toward professionals and researchers in urban health, global health, and health communication.

While cities have long been associated with employment, development and economic growth, hundreds of millions of children in the world’s urban areas are growing up amid scarcity and deprivation. This publication presents the hardships these children face as violations of their rights, as well as impediments to fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals. It examines major phenomena shaping the lives of children in urban settings, including migration, economic shocks and acute disaster risk. It also provides examples of efforts to improve the urban realities that children confront and identifies broad policy actions that should be included in any strategy to reach excluded children and foster equity in urban settings driven by disparity.

The Department of Health Promotion (HQ/HEP/HPR) is collaborating with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) on an initiative to promote urban governance that puts at the centre, equitable health and wellbeing for all through innovation and multisectoral approaches. The initiative started in 2019 in five cities: Douala (Cameroon), Bogota (Colombia), Mexico City (Mexico), Tunis (Tunisia) and Khulna City (Bangladesh). Within the initiative, the research component reviewed existing evidence on two issues central to health promotion: how to achieve good governance for health and well-being, understood as participatory governance that builds upon multisectoral action and civic engagement, and how to measure the impact of governance on urban health outcomes. This preliminary systematic review aims to identify potential barriers and facilitators for multisectoral action and civic engagement as well as validated and reliable indicators and tools to assess processes and outcomes of participatory governance for health, equity, and well-being in urban settings.