Housing, health and energy: a characterisation of risks and priorities across Delhi's diverse settlements.

Improved housing has the potential to advance health and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. Research examining housing, health and energy use in low-income countries is limited; understanding these connections is vital to inform interventions for healthy sustainable human settlements. This paper investigates the low-income setting of Delhi, where rapid urbanisation, a varied climate, high pollution levels, and a wide variation in housing quality could result in significant energy use and health risks.

Developing a programme theory for a transdisciplinary research collaboration: Complex Urban Systems for Sustainability and Health.

Environmental improvement is a priority for urban sustainability and health and achieving it requires transformative change in cities. An approach to achieving such change is to bring together researchers, decision-makers, and public groups in the creation of research and use of scientific evidence. This article describes the development of a programme theory for Complex Urban Systems for Sustainability and Health (CUSSH), a four-year Wellcome-funded research collaboration which aims to improve capacity to guide transformational health and environmental changes in cities.

A tool for assessing the climate change mitigation and health impacts of environmental policies: the Cities Rapid Assessment Framework for Transformation (CRAFT).

A growing number of cities, including Greater London, have set ambitious targets, including detailed policies and implementation plans, to reach global goals on sustainability, health, and climate change. Here we present a tool for a rapid assessment of the magnitude of impact of specific policy initiatives to reach these targets. The decision-support tool simultaneously quantifies the environmental and health impacts of specified selected policies.

Systemic inequalities in indoor air pollution exposure in London, UK.

Unlabelled: Deprived communities in many cities are exposed to higher levels of outdoor air pollution, and there is increasing evidence of similar disparities for indoor air pollution exposure. There is a need to understand the drivers for this exposure disparity in order to develop effective interventions aimed at improving population health and reducing health inequities. With a focus on London, UK, this paper assembles evidence to examine why indoor exposure to PM, NO and CO may disproportionately impact low-income groups.

Portable air purification: Review of impacts on indoor air quality and health.

A systematic literature review was carried out to examine the impact of portable air purifiers (PAPs) on indoor air quality (PM) and health, focussing on adults and children in indoor environments (homes, schools and offices). Analysed studies all showed reductions in PM of between 22.6 and 92.

Exposure to indoor and outdoor air pollution from solid fuel combustion and respiratory outcomes in children in developed countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Epidemiological studies have shown a positive association between exposure to outdoor and indoor solid fuel combustion and adverse health effects. We reviewed the epidemiological evidence from Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand on the association between outdoor and indoor exposure to solid fuel combustion and respiratory outcomes in children. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Exposure to indoor air pollution across socio-economic groups in high-income countries: A scoping review of the literature and a modelling methodology.

Disparities in outdoor air pollution exposure between individuals of differing socio-economic status is a growing area of research, widely explored in the environmental health literature. However, in developed countries, around 80% of time is spent indoors, meaning indoor air pollution may be a better proxy for personal exposure. Building characteristics - such as build quality, volume and ventilation - and occupant behaviour, mean indoor air pollution may also vary across socio-economic groups, leading to health inequalities.

Evaluating Housing Health Hazards: Prevalence, Practices and Priorities in Delhi's Informal Settlements.

Housing quality is crucially linked to health and sustainability goals, yet there is limited research on informal housing and settlements where housing quality is poor, and the health risks are expected to be greatest. This paper describes the investigation of housing conditions in a low-income resettlement colony in Delhi. A novel transdisciplinary methodology to evaluate multiple housing health hazards and establish intervention priorities in participation with the community was developed.

Participatory Action Research as a Framework for Transdisciplinary Collaboration: A Pilot Study on Healthy, Sustainable, Low-Income Housing in Delhi, India.

To tackle global challenges, research collaborations need to integrate multiple disciplinary perspectives and connect with local practices to find solutions that are sustainable and impactful. This paper discusses how participatory action research (PAR) is used as a framework for transdisciplinary collaboration to integrate different disciplines and identify healthy and sustainable housing solutions appropriate for local development practices and policy. By analyzing a transdisciplinary research collaboration investigating housing interventions for low-income settlements in Delhi, reflections and recommendations are provided for other projects wishing to use a similar methodology.

Application of an indoor air pollution metamodel to a spatially-distributed housing stock.

Estimates of population air pollution exposure typically rely on the outdoor component only, and rarely account for populations spending the majority of their time indoors. Housing is an important modifier of air pollution exposure due to outdoor pollution infiltrating indoors, and the removal of indoor-sourced pollution through active or passive ventilation. Here, we describe the application of an indoor air pollution modelling tool to a spatially distributed housing stock model for England and Wales, developed from Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) data and containing information for approximately 11.

Integrated decision-making about housing, energy and wellbeing: a qualitative system dynamics model.

Background: The UK government has an ambitious goal to reduce carbon emissions from the housing stock through energy efficiency improvements. This single policy goal is a strong driver for change in the housing system, but comes with positive and negative "unintended consequences" across a broad range of outcomes for health, equity and environmental sustainability. The resulting policies are also already experiencing under-performance through a failure to consider housing as a complex system.

Impact of climate change on the domestic indoor environment and associated health risks in the UK.

There is growing evidence that projected climate change has the potential to significantly affect public health. In the UK, much of this impact is likely to arise by amplifying existing risks related to heat exposure, flooding, and chemical and biological contamination in buildings. Identifying the health effects of climate change on the indoor environment, and risks and opportunities related to climate change adaptation and mitigation, can help protect public health.

Health effects of home energy efficiency interventions in England: a modelling study.

Objective: To assess potential public health impacts of changes to indoor air quality and temperature due to energy efficiency retrofits in English dwellings to meet 2030 carbon reduction targets.

Design: Health impact modelling study.

Setting: England.

Home energy efficiency and radon related risk of lung cancer: modelling study.

Objective: To investigate the effect of reducing home ventilation as part of household energy efficiency measures on deaths from radon related lung cancer.

Design: Modelling study.

Setting: England.