Tribune. The International Market for Real Estate Professionals (Mipim), which ended on March 18 in Cannes, surprised many observers by the place given within it to health issues. Already, the last Venice Architecture Biennale had also, almost unexpectedly, revealed health as a major concern for many architects and town planners. Although it is, for designers and creators of urban spaces, an old concern aimed at creating more homogeneous and hygienic places, health is today shaking up thinking about the organization of our cities, with the central questions : how to live better together tomorrow, and how to make the city a more favorable place for health, making it possible to fight more effectively against inequalities in this area?
The analysis of the causes of the excess mortality of more than 60% known during the first wave by the department of Seine-Saint-Denis or even the highlighting, since the work of geographer Emmanuel Vigneron, of the differences in life expectancy ranging from simple to double along line B of the RER, confirms, if need be, that health policy cannot be reduced to the sole policy of providing care and that the aggravating factors of mortality or Health inequalities have their origin elsewhere, in prevention, education, training, the environment, but also in the organization of our cities and our spaces.
To think differently about the organization of our cities and develop a broader vision of health issues, the role of urban planners and designers is fundamental, and the teaching of health issues must become a priority in schools of architecture. Support for research devoted to spaces conducive to health must also be stimulated and its dissemination encouraged, because it is only by highlighting, with supporting scientific data, the policies that succeed in reducing health inequalities that a broader movement will be set in motion across our territories.
Artificial intelligence as a tool
The use of artificial intelligence is already making it possible to revolutionize approaches and to think of the city as a health actor in its own right. Now, in fact, the ability to process mass data to understand how the territory, mobility can positively influence prevention, our mental health or even maintaining autonomy is a reality. France can become a world leader in this area provided that a complete ecosystem emerges and that French players, many of whom have developed powerful applications, are supported at the highest level.
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