Assessing tenant health amid social housing redevelopment: lessons from a pilot project.

Objectives: To trial methods for a future longitudinal study to: a) assess how the redevelopment of a large social housing estate affects the health of tenants; and b) act on health needs identified throughout the redevelopment. Type of program or service: Self-reported health assessment with referral to community-based link worker.

Methods: Participants recruited from the tenant population completed (online or face-to-face) a health questionnaire covering self-reported health status and behaviours, housing conditions, sense of community, and demographics.

Land surface and air temperature dynamics: The role of urban form and seasonality.

Due to the scarcity of air temperature (T) observations, urban heat studies often rely on satellite-derived Land Surface Temperature (LST) to characterise the near-surface thermal environment. However, there remains a lack of a quantitative understanding on how LST differs from T within urban areas and what are the controlling factors of their interaction. We use crowdsourced air temperature measurements in Sydney, Australia, combined with urban landscape data, Local Climate Zones (LCZ), high-resolution satellite imagery, and machine learning to explore the influence of urban form and fabric on the interaction between T and LST.

Background climate modulates the impact of land cover on urban surface temperature.

Cities with different background climates experience different thermal environments. Many studies have investigated land cover effects on surface urban heat in individual cities. However, a quantitative understanding of how background climates modify the thermal impact of urban land covers remains elusive.

Using Real-Time Dashboards to Monitor the Impact of Disruptive Events on Real Estate Market. Case of COVID-19 Pandemic in Australia.

Real estate markets are complex both in terms of structure and dynamics: they are both influenced by and influence almost all aspects of the economy and are equally vulnerable to the shocks experienced by the broader economy. Therefore, understanding the extent and nature of the impact of large-scale disruptive events such as natural disasters and economic financial downturns on the real estate market is crucial to policy makers and market stakeholders. In addition to anticipating and preparing for long-term effects, it has become imperative for stakeholders to monitor and manage the short-term effects as well due to the emergence of 'PropTech' and 'platform real estate'.

Integrating shade provision into the healthy built environment agenda: the approach taken in NSW, Australia.

Objective: To detail the approach and progress being made by the Shade Working Goup (SWG) across health and the built environment to embed natural and built quality shade provision in places used by the community in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Type of program or service: The NSW Skin Cancer Prevention Strategy sets a comprehensive and collaborative approach to skin cancer prevention for the state of NSW. Through the Strategy, the SWG has been promoting the benefits of shade for solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) protection, in addition to heat mitigation, among peak bodies, governments and practitioners.

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.

Exploring the potential for planning support systems to bridge the research-translation gap between public health and urban planning.

Background: There is consensus that planning professionals need clearer guidance on the features that are likely to produce optimal community-wide health benefits. However, much of this evidence resides in academic literature and not in tools accessible to the diverse group of professionals shaping our cities. Incorporating health-related metrics into the planning support systems (PSS) provides an opportunity to apply empirical evidence on built environment relationships with health-related outcomes to inform real-world land use and transportation planning decisions.

Socioeconomic differences in the cost, availability and quality of healthy food in Sydney.

Objective: To compare the cost of a basket of staple foods, together with the availability and quality of fresh fruit and vegetables, by supermarket store type in high and low socioeconomic suburbs of Sydney.

Methods: A food basket survey was undertaken in 100 supermarkets in the 20 highest and 20 lowest socioeconomic suburbs of Sydney. We assessed the cost of 46 foods, the range of 30 fresh fruit and vegetables and the quality of ten fresh fruit and vegetables.

Investigating articulated heavy-vehicle crashes in Western Australia using a spatial approach.

Background: Recent developments in Western Australia's economy including widespread traffic congestion as well as road safety issues are increasingly becoming prominent. Previous studies relied on traditional statistical methods to investigate patterns and characteristics of motor vehicle crashes. Although useful, statistical analysis alone is incapable of providing a spatial context and is therefore unable to associate existing crash characteristics with a spatial distribution.

Examining associations between area-level spatial measures of housing with selected health and wellbeing behaviours and outcomes in an urban context.

Adequate and affordable housing is a major social determinant of health; yet no work has attempted to conceptually map and spatially test area-level measures of housing with selected health and wellbeing outcomes. Sourcing data from 7,753 adults from Melbourne, Australia, we tested associations between area-level measures of housing density, tenure, and affordability with individual-level measures of neighbourhood safety, community satisfaction, and self-rated health. Compared with the reference groups, the odds of: feeling unsafe was higher for residents living in areas with less affordable housing; community dissatisfaction was ~30% higher in those living in areas with >36% residential properties assigned as rentals, and was significantly higher in the least affordable areas (OR =1.

Building partnerships for healthy environments: research, leadership and education.

As populations across the globe face an increasing health burden from rising rates of obesity, diabetes and other lifestyle-related diseases, health professionals are collaborating with urban planners to influence city design that supports healthy ways of living. This paper details the establishment and operation of an innovative, interdisciplinary collaboration that brings together urban planning and health. Situated in a built environment faculty at one of Australia's most prestigious universities, the Healthy Built Environments Program (HBEP) partners planning academics, a health non-government organisation, local councils and private planning consultants in a state government health department funded consortium.

Health and the built environment: exploring foundations for a new interdisciplinary profession.

The supportive role of the built environment for human health is a growing area of interdisciplinary research, evidence-based policy development, and related practice. Nevertheless, despite closely linked origins, the contemporary professions of public health and urban planning largely operate within the neoliberal framework of academic, political, and policy silos. A reinvigorated relationship between the two is fundamental to building and sustaining an effective "healthy built environment profession.