Healthy Housing, Healthy Community 2005 to 2009

The Healthy Housing, Healthy Community Project of the Chebucto Communities Development Association seeks to increase understanding of, and raise awareness about, the strong but generally unrecognized link between urban and community design, and the health and well-being of the public. An extensive bibliography identifies the background research to the project.

The Project has developed a Healthy Development Evaluation Framework, in matrix form, with extensive consultation among public health professionals, planners, developers and local residents. The Healthy Place graphic (un milieu de vie sain) is a visual summary of the project and the Healthy Development Evaluation Framework matrix. 

The Project has also developed a variety of methods, combined into the Healthy Places Toolkit (Trousse sur l'amenagement de milieux de vie sains) to help residents involved in community planning processes to discuss the health impacts of the built environment. The processes are designed to nurture positive working relationships among residents, planners, developers, and health professionals to improve the quality of life for residents through changes to the built environment. 

In the final phase of the project, done in partnership with Professor Daniel Rainham at Dalhousie University, several indicators from the Evalouation Framework were mapped for Spryfield. The report and appendices detail the results and mapping methods used. A Field Mapping Manual was also developed so that community groups and others can map features in the natural and built environment of interest to them.

Community health and wellbeing are affected by physical design in several ways.

Income and Social Status – The gap in housing quality between those who are rich and those with low incomes appears to be growing in Spryfield. It used to be a community with housing that was reasonably homogeneous, both in price range and a sense of equality among neighbours. Demands for housing from the well-to-do, and the process of gentrification, could result in higher taxes that make it more difficult for older and lower income residents to stay.

Social Support Networks – The width of streets, the closeness of house fronts to sidewalks, the size of lots, the mixture of housing for different ages, income levels and family types, the mix of uses, all have an influence on conviviality and the sense of connection neighbours have with each other. As well, those who lack easy means of transportation, exacerbated by poor urban design, find it more difficult to be with friends, families, social groups and activities in the community.

Environment, Built – Everyone needs housing that provides shelter and enables them to feel safe, not only in their homes but out and about in the neighbourhood, with sufficient and safe sidewalks, land use planning that encourages pedestrian and bicycle use, and a convenient, accessible and fully integrated public transit system offering an attractive alternative to car travel. Medium-dense housing has been linked with a greater sense of safety, lower construction costs, less land consumption, and less reliance on automobiles.

Environment, Natural – Health and well-being depend in part on a healthy, clean environment and the services nature provides, as well as the physical, spiritual and recreational benefits for people with access to natural settings. Depending on the design, developments may eat up a lot of natural space, or be planned in a way that is sensitive to, and protective of, natural features and wild space.

Personal Health Practices and Coping Skills – It has been suggested that urban design based on car reliance is contributing to obesity and lack of exercise. Providing housing development designs with a multitude of routes for pedestrians and cyclists, to reach a variety of destinations, makes it easier for people to choose to walk or cycle.

Healthy Child Development – As well as physical exercise and weight control from ready access to pedestrian walkways and bicycle routes for children, Dr. Howard Frumkin has suggested a link between teenage depression and the isolation of teenagers who live in communities with low walkability and lack of transportation, at a critical stage in their development when they should be out making connections to the broader community.