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S. Capolongo et al.
of cities depend not only on the health sector, but also on urban planning decisions,
as well on social, welfare, and education programs (Galea and Vlahov 2005).
In this regard, the Erice 50 Charter entitled “Strategies for Disease Prevention
and Health Promotion in Urban Areas” by D’Alessandro et al. (2017b) defines ten
goals useful to designers and policy makers, aimed to support the design of Healthy
Cities. One of the most important goals for local government is the promotion of
urban planning interventions that address citizens’ healthy behavior and lifestyles
(Capolongo et al. 2011; World Health Organization 2017).
Furthermore, the emerging environmental, social, and economic criticisms of the
last years have given rise to a need for more specific objectives aimed at achieving Salutogenic Cities (Capolongo et al. 2018). In particular, the new objectives for
healthy design and urban planning strategies have been defined, such as environmental and social sustainability of urban areas; adaptation to climatic changes and cities’
urban resilience (Hickman and Banister 2014); new responses to the population’s
needs (Croucher et al. 2012; Active Living Research 2015).
In this regard, the support of urban planning becomes an important task to promote and protect different aspects as the health, wellbeing, and social inclusion of
individuals who are directly influenced by their relationship with the built environment. Processes of validation, monitoring, assessment and formulation of strategic decision-making processes, through the application of mathematical tools and
systems, are the basis of city regeneration actions as well as urbanized territory
governance and Public Health promotion (Capolongo et al. 2016). Multi-criteria
evaluation tools, updated with innovative strategies to reach Urban Health purposes
are, therefore, needed in order to support planners and designers to achieve a healthier
scenario. However, tools which evaluate how the design of cities can have an impact
on people’s health are still difficult to compare and apply, and they are primarily
focused on quality and urban sustainability, neglecting the direct and indirect Public
Health implications.
For this reason, the research starts from the current need to investigate the most
recent and common urban quality evaluation tools, in order to understand which
of them adopt performance criteria with direct or indirect relationships with Urban
Health.
Within this context, the paper describes the advancements in the development of a
multi-criteria evaluation tool based on a set of performance criteria (Capolongo et al.
2015). The tool was developed by an interdisciplinary working group which includes
researchers from the DABC and DAStU Departments of the Politecnico di Milano and
technicians from the Health Prevention Department of the Local Health Authorities
(LHA) of Milan (Capolongo et al. 2013). The evaluation tool was developed with
the main purpose of providing support to guide urban transformation and fostering
the elaboration of strategic decisions on new planning interventions (Coppola et al.
2016). In addition, it is also aimed at monitoring advancements by evaluating changes
over time. However, after the application of the tool, the need of extending its scale
of intervention, from a local to a national level, defines the basis on which to review
and improve the assessment tool, which is carried on by the DABC of the Politecnico
di Milano and by the LHA of Bergamo, thanks to the funds of the National Center
S. Capolongo et al.
of cities depend not only on the health sector, but also on urban planning decisions,
as well on social, welfare, and education programs (Galea and Vlahov 2005).
In this regard, the Erice 50 Charter entitled “Strategies for Disease Prevention
and Health Promotion in Urban Areas” by D’Alessandro et al. (2017b) defines ten
goals useful to designers and policy makers, aimed to support the design of Healthy
Cities. One of the most important goals for local government is the promotion of
urban planning interventions that address citizens’ healthy behavior and lifestyles
(Capolongo et al. 2011; World Health Organization 2017).
Furthermore, the emerging environmental, social, and economic criticisms of the
last years have given rise to a need for more specific objectives aimed at achieving Salutogenic Cities (Capolongo et al. 2018). In particular, the new objectives for
healthy design and urban planning strategies have been defined, such as environmental and social sustainability of urban areas; adaptation to climatic changes and cities’
urban resilience (Hickman and Banister 2014); new responses to the population’s
needs (Croucher et al. 2012; Active Living Research 2015).
In this regard, the support of urban planning becomes an important task to promote and protect different aspects as the health, wellbeing, and social inclusion of
individuals who are directly influenced by their relationship with the built environment. Processes of validation, monitoring, assessment and formulation of strategic decision-making processes, through the application of mathematical tools and
systems, are the basis of city regeneration actions as well as urbanized territory
governance and Public Health promotion (Capolongo et al. 2016). Multi-criteria
evaluation tools, updated with innovative strategies to reach Urban Health purposes
are, therefore, needed in order to support planners and designers to achieve a healthier
scenario. However, tools which evaluate how the design of cities can have an impact
on people’s health are still difficult to compare and apply, and they are primarily
focused on quality and urban sustainability, neglecting the direct and indirect Public
Health implications.
For this reason, the research starts from the current need to investigate the most
recent and common urban quality evaluation tools, in order to understand which
of them adopt performance criteria with direct or indirect relationships with Urban
Health.
Within this context, the paper describes the advancements in the development of a
multi-criteria evaluation tool based on a set of performance criteria (Capolongo et al.
2015). The tool was developed by an interdisciplinary working group which includes
researchers from the DABC and DAStU Departments of the Politecnico di Milano and
technicians from the Health Prevention Department of the Local Health Authorities
(LHA) of Milan (Capolongo et al. 2013). The evaluation tool was developed with
the main purpose of providing support to guide urban transformation and fostering
the elaboration of strategic decisions on new planning interventions (Coppola et al.
2016). In addition, it is also aimed at monitoring advancements by evaluating changes
over time. However, after the application of the tool, the need of extending its scale
of intervention, from a local to a national level, defines the basis on which to review
and improve the assessment tool, which is carried on by the DABC of the Politecnico
di Milano and by the LHA of Bergamo, thanks to the funds of the National Center