University study looks at healthy urban ideas

Our postal code has more impact on our health than our genetic code: researcher

Urban settings — from parks and bicycle lanes to green alleyways and pedestrian walkways — can have a huge effect on residents’ social and physical activities, wellbeing and health.

But which urban design elements are best? How much depends on density, accessibility by public transport to services, green and public spaces? Are there differences from one neighbourhood to another?

These are some of the questions that the Université de Montréal is seeking to answer by launching a five-year, large-scale research study in the greater Montreal area on population health and urban environment.

Led by Yan Kestens, associate professor in the department of social and preventive medicine at the university’s School of Public Health, the research team hopes to uncover results that will contribute to a marriage of urban design with public health.

Kestens’ team will recruit 10,000 people living on the island of Montreal and in Laval, Brossard, St-Lambert and Longueuil to participate as “citizen scientists” by contributing data on how they use and interact with the environment, as well as their quality of life.

The study will track their movements using the GPS in their smartphones while also tracking changes to the environment.

“Our study is seeking to better understand which urban development features make us more active and improve social interactions, our feeling of belonging and our well-being,” Kestens said. Federal, provincial and municipal governments are going to invest billions over the next decade in sustainable development, he said, “and one of the goals is changing how the city is built, so we are more healthy.”

Part of a national research collaboration

of scientists and urban planners funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the study, called INTERACT, will look at how the design of four cities — Victoria, Vancouver, Saskatoon, and Montreal — shape the health of their residents.

In Vancouver, researchers are targeting a new cycling and walking corridor; in Victoria, it’s a new bike network; in Saskatoon, it’s the bus transit system. But in Montreal, researchers are “looking at the multiple urban changes that occur in the (greater Montreal) city,” Kestens said. “We are trying to capture all the changes that are linked to urban investments, including ‘place making,’ which are changes to the environment that give a better sense of belonging, for example, closing a street and making it pedestrian.”

In Montreal, few studies have looked at the “built environment” — that is, anything altered by humans, and its effect on health, he said. This can include slowing traffic by creating 30 km-h zones, making a two-way street into a one-way and changing the width of sidewalks, Kestens said.

“Our postal code has more impact on our health than our genetic code,” he said. “It’s very simple. You can just look at the spatial distribution of life expectancy across Montreal. ”

Governments are trying to improve the situation with interventions that make cities healthier, he said. There’s a convergence of goals, he added, to build cities that are modern, sustainable, attractive, and promote the well-being of their populations. “And an interesting part of this study: we really are looking for solutions,” he said.