Five urban health research traditions: A meta-narrative review.

Urban health scholars explore the connection between the urban space and health through ontological perspectives that are shaped by their disciplinary traditions. Without explicit recognition of the different approaches, there are barriers to collaboration. This paper maps the terrain of the urban health scholarship to identify key urban health research traditions; and to articulate the main features distinguishing these different traditions.

Protocol for a meta-narrative review on research paradigms addressing the urban built environment and human health.

Background: Urban health is a field of research and practice that has attracted the interest of various disciplines. While it is encouraged for diverse disciplines to contribute to a multidisciplinary field of study such as urban health, this often results in tensions, conflicts or competition between the different traditions that stem from different epistemological backgrounds. This meta-narrative review aims to identify and describe the multiple paradigms and articulate the underlying epistemological, ontological, methodological, and aetiological differences in their approaches.

City deals and health equity in Sydney, Australia.

'City Deals' are new governance instruments for urban development. Vast evidence exists on the relationship between urban factors and health equity, but little research applies a health equity lens to urban policy-making. This paper does precisely that for the Western Sydney City Deal (WSCD) in Australia.

How do advisory groups contribute to healthy public policy research?

Objectives: This paper reflects on experiences of Australian public health researchers and members of research policy advisory groups (PAGs) in working with PAGs. It considers their benefits and challenges for building researcher and policy actor collaboration and ensuring policy relevance of research.

Methods: Four research projects conducted between 2015 and 2020 were selected for analysis.

Can health and health equity be advanced by urban planning strategies designed to advance global competitiveness? Lessons from two Australian case studies.

Background: The purpose of this article is to investigate whether the neo-liberal goal of global economic competitiveness when included alongside image-inspired social goals such as liveability and environmental goals such as sustainability can lead to policies that impact positively on health and health equity. The paper presents an analysis of the content and intent of strategic planning and transport plans from two Australian state governments.

Methods: The analysis was undertaken using a thematic document analysis of each plan and interviews with agents (n = 21) directly involved in the preparation of each document.

Climate change is a health issue: what can doctors do?

The visit to Australia by Dr David Pencheon, Founding Director of the National Health Service (NHS) Sustainable Development Unit, in April-May 2018 generated considerable interest and engagement. Dr Pencheon's overarching messages were that climate change is a health issue and that doctors and health systems have an opportunity, and responsibility, to lead climate action. This article distils Dr Pencheon's presentations into three themes: (i) carbon accounting; (ii) transformational change in our systems of healthcare; and (iii) a health system fit for the future.

Healthy urban planning: an institutional policy analysis of strategic planning in Sydney, Australia.

Rapid urbanization requires health promotion practitioners to understand and engage with strategic city planning. This policy analysis research investigated how and why health was taken up into strategic land use planning in Sydney, Australia, between 2013 and 2018. This qualitative study develops two case studies of consecutive instances of strategic planning in Sydney.

Including health impacts in environmental impact assessments for three Australian coal-mining projects: a documentary analysis.

Notwithstanding the historical benefits of coal in aiding human and economic development, the negative health and environmental impacts of coal extraction and processing are of increasing concern. Environmental impact assessments (EIAs) are a regulated policy mechanism that can be used to predict and consider the health impacts of mining projects to determine if consent is given. The ways in which health is considered within EIA is unclear.

Addressing the carbon footprint of health organisations: eight lessons for implementation.

Background: The scientific evidence for global warming is overwhelming. Health organisations, as large carbon polluters, are at significant 'carbon risk' and must act to reduce their carbon emissions. Many environmental sustainability initiatives, if properly implemented, would not only reduce harm, waste and pollution but also deliver health, social and financial benefits.

How Local Health Districts can prepare for the effects of climate change: an adaptation model applied to metropolitan Sydney.

Climate change adaptation can be defined as a form of risk management (i.e. assessing climate change-related risks and responding appropriately so that the risks can be pre-emptively minimised and managed as they arise).

Including Health in Environmental Assessments of Major Transport Infrastructure Projects: A Documentary Analysis.

Background: Transport policy and practice impacts health. Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are regulated public policy mechanisms that can be used to consider the health impacts of major transport projects before they are approved. The way health is considered in these environmental assessments (EAs) is not well known.

Creating 'healthy built environment' legislation in Australia; a policy analysis.

Influencing healthy public policy through health advocacy remains challenging. This policy analysis research uses theories of agenda setting to understand how health came to be considered for specific mention in legislation arising from land-use planning system reform in New South Wales, Australia. This qualitative study follows critical realist methodology to conduct a policy analysis of the case.

Framing health for land-use planning legislation: A qualitative descriptive content analysis.

Purpose And Setting: Framing health as a relevant policy issue for other sectors is not well understood. A recent review of the New South Wales (Australia) land-use planning system resulted in the drafting of legislation with an internationally unprecedented focus on human health. We apply a political science approach to investigate the question 'how and to what extent were health and wider issues framed in submissions to the review?'

Methods: We investigated a range of stakeholder submissions including health focussed agencies (n = 31), purposively identified key stakeholders with influence on the review (n = 24), and a random sample of other agencies and individuals (n = 47).

Development and oversight of ethical health promotion quality assurance and evaluation activities involving human participants.

Issue Addressed: This paper considers the role of ethics and ethics review processes in the development of health promotion quality assurance and evaluation activities involving human participants.

Content: The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research and associated documents provide the framework for the ethical conduct and independent review of research (including quality assurance and evaluation) involving humans in Australia. Identifying the level of risk to which participants may be exposed by participation in quality assurance and evaluation activities is essential for health promotion workers undertaking such activities.

The fit between health impact assessment and public policy: practice meets theory.

Purpose And Setting: The last decade has seen increased use of health impact assessment (HIA) to influence public policies developed outside the Health sector. HIA has developed as a structured, linear and technical process to incorporate health, broadly defined, into policy. This is potentially incongruent with complex, non-linear and tactical policy making which does not necessarily consider health.

Ethical considerations involved in constructing the built environment to promote health.

The prevalence of chronic diseases has increased in recent decades. Some forms of the built environment adopted during the 20th century-e.g.

The essential elements of health impact assessment and healthy public policy: a qualitative study of practitioner perspectives.

Objectives: This study uses critical realist methodology to identify the essential and contingent elements of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) and Healthy Public Policy (HPP) as operationalised by practitioners.

Design: Data collection-qualitative interviews and a workshop were conducted with HIA and HPP practitioners working in differing contexts.

Data Analysis: Critical realist analytical questions identified the essential elements of HIA and HPP, the relationship between them, and the influences of public policy and other contingencies on the practice of both.

Public health ethics: informing better public health practice.

Public health ethics has emerged and grown as an independent discipline over the last decade. It involves using ethical theory and empirical analyses to determine and justify the right thing to do in public health. In this paper, we distinguish public health ethics from clinical ethics, research ethics, public health law and politics.