Imagine a beautiful park near your home, but it’s on the other side of a busy highway. Or a quiet playground that, unfortunately, is only accessible via footpaths that don’t feel very safe. Does having something nearby mean the same thing for an elderly person, a child, or someone who’s mobility-impaired? Does proximity necessarily imply actual use of a place? And what about the quality and experience of walking or cycling to these destinations?
Dr. Achilleas Psyllidis and his Urban Analytics group at TU Delft | Industrial Design Engineering look at how combining city design with analytics can help create the conditions for more liveable neighborhoods and communities that promote well-being and healthier lifestyles. They use location intelligence to help planners, designers, and public health professionals better measure and grasp the interplay of urban design with environmental exposures and associated health and well-being outcomes.
With help from a KNAW - Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences) Science Communication grant, dr. Psyllidis and his team created this short movie to introduce their research approach. In a nutshell, they focus on two things: (1) measurements of the urban environment tailored to the city and people’s characteristics, and (2) providing measurable evidence (dose-response) for health-promoting interventions.