A recent report by the Regional Health Observatory insists on the impact of the living environment on good physical and mental condition. What factors should be taken into account?
Are the sidewalks around your home wide enough? Is transport sufficiently accessible? How many nearby parks do you have? Aesthetics, building density, green spaces… In addition to pollution, many lesser-known factors influence health, as indicated in the report by the Regional Health Observatory on the “health of Ile-de-France residents” published on 28 March. For the institute, the aim of this work is to put “urban planning favorable to health” back at the heart of its concerns. Overview.
Does the layout of your neighborhood encourage you to walk?
Do you want to go for a walk? Wandering the streets or discovering new places just a few bus or metro stops away? Would you like to cycle along the banks of a nearby waterway?
If so, it’s because your living environment harbors a real “walkability“. Concretely, the way your neighborhood is laid out encourages you to step outside. And physical activity (mainly walking) partly conditions your health.
The diagnosis identifies several very concrete factors in urban planning. For example, he insists on the importance of public transport when it allows easy access to shops, cultural venues or sports complexes. The report is also interested in the beauty of the buildings which can encourage you to continue your wandering. Or the beauty of a natural element: who doesn’t appreciate their stroll more when it takes place on the bank of a river? The study also highlights more concrete, but no less important, elements, such as the width of the sidewalks on which you walk and which allow you to walk around more freely.
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Do you have a green space near your home?
The amount of green space also matters. The report highlights numerous research findings that have proven a positive link between access to “different types of green spaces» and the state of health, «measured through different indicators – overall health status, mental health, obesity, birth weight, child development and mortality».
The study thus pleads in favor ofphysical, psychological, social, economic and environmental benefits» green spaces. For what ? Because the latter modify your behavior, allow you to frequent nature if you are in the middle of the city and allow biodiversity to be maintained. The report also specifies that “all” green spaces do not have the same effects, whether it is a small garden or a large park.
Analysis of the causal mechanisms of the impacts of urban green spaces on health and well-being. Regional Health Observatory, according to a diagram by A. Roué-Le Gall in Milvays and Roué-LeGall (2015)
Concretely, the spaces can, for example, be synonymous with jogging, resting in the sun, playing games with the family or meeting up with friends. All of these situations can help you reduce stress and maintain good physical condition. It is also on the side of ecosystems that we must look to understand the benefits of parks and gardens: green spaces allow a “temperature and water regulation“, regulation of pollution or maintenance of biodiversity.
What about your social environment?
Finally, it is the social environment that must be taken into account. Do you feel safe in your neighborhood? If so, you will naturally tend to walk there more regularly and longer. Do you have local businesses or local services? These will encourage you to go shopping on foot and eat healthier. Are there, around your home, places of social cohesion? Associations and other structures that generate social ties reduce stress and fight loneliness.
For the Observatory, it is therefore imperative to consider urban planning as “fundamental action leverfor good health, points out the report. He nevertheless indicates that the field of research is in “full explorationand that many studies remain to be done.