Public Health Aspects’ Assessment Tool for Urban Projects …
327
for Disease Prevention and Control CCM2017 regarding the project titled “Urban
Health: good practices for health impact assessment of urban and environmental
redevelopment and regeneration interventions.” (CUP: C42F17000330001).
2 Methodology
Urban Health is characterized by a plurality of social and qualitative aspects derived
by the relation between the built environment and its influence on Public Health
and wellbeing. For this reason, multi-criteria analysis (Roy 2013) is adopted by the
current research to systematically and scientifically develop the tool. This approach
allows for both the analysis of the full range of aspects relating to a project and the
simultaneous comparison of heterogeneous measures for evaluating a complex situation (Department for Communities and Local Government DCLG 2009). Furthermore, a performance-based approach characterizes the assessment method, aimed
to overcome the traditional prescriptive regulations by means of the achievement of
objectives based on urban quality. Finally, the direct contribution of experts in analyzing and evaluating projects was an essential component to guarantee new evidencebased knowledge. For this reason, LHA technicians were involved in both the tool
development and the updating by means of brainstorming, aimed at discussing the
most important criticisms emerging from the hygienic–sanitary evaluation of urban
plans and projects (Capasso et al. 2018; Gola et al. 2017).
The research is developed through different phases, shown in the diagram (Fig. 1);
after defining the main objectives to consider, a collection of best practices was
supported by a literature review aimed to investigate the current and existing studies
on urban quality evaluation methods and tools. A set of criteria was selected among
the analyzed studies, fixing the basis for the development of the tool’s framework
and the evaluation method (Capolongo et al. 2016). The multi-criteria evaluation
tool was applied and tested to have feedback on its effectiveness in two cities of the
Lombardy region: in Milan since 2011 and for one year in Lecco. The reliability of
the instrument was confirmed, while the applicability of certain evaluation criteria
was considered critical. For these reasons, the tool is currently under review for an
update and improvement of its criteria and performance scales, thanks to the funds
provided by the CCM2017 project.
The on-going review will foster the possibility to apply the tool from local to
national level and to increase public awareness regarding the relationship between
Public Health and urban quality according to the Urban Health strategy (Rebecchi
et al. 2016).
327
for Disease Prevention and Control CCM2017 regarding the project titled “Urban
Health: good practices for health impact assessment of urban and environmental
redevelopment and regeneration interventions.” (CUP: C42F17000330001).
2 Methodology
Urban Health is characterized by a plurality of social and qualitative aspects derived
by the relation between the built environment and its influence on Public Health
and wellbeing. For this reason, multi-criteria analysis (Roy 2013) is adopted by the
current research to systematically and scientifically develop the tool. This approach
allows for both the analysis of the full range of aspects relating to a project and the
simultaneous comparison of heterogeneous measures for evaluating a complex situation (Department for Communities and Local Government DCLG 2009). Furthermore, a performance-based approach characterizes the assessment method, aimed
to overcome the traditional prescriptive regulations by means of the achievement of
objectives based on urban quality. Finally, the direct contribution of experts in analyzing and evaluating projects was an essential component to guarantee new evidencebased knowledge. For this reason, LHA technicians were involved in both the tool
development and the updating by means of brainstorming, aimed at discussing the
most important criticisms emerging from the hygienic–sanitary evaluation of urban
plans and projects (Capasso et al. 2018; Gola et al. 2017).
The research is developed through different phases, shown in the diagram (Fig. 1);
after defining the main objectives to consider, a collection of best practices was
supported by a literature review aimed to investigate the current and existing studies
on urban quality evaluation methods and tools. A set of criteria was selected among
the analyzed studies, fixing the basis for the development of the tool’s framework
and the evaluation method (Capolongo et al. 2016). The multi-criteria evaluation
tool was applied and tested to have feedback on its effectiveness in two cities of the
Lombardy region: in Milan since 2011 and for one year in Lecco. The reliability of
the instrument was confirmed, while the applicability of certain evaluation criteria
was considered critical. For these reasons, the tool is currently under review for an
update and improvement of its criteria and performance scales, thanks to the funds
provided by the CCM2017 project.
The on-going review will foster the possibility to apply the tool from local to
national level and to increase public awareness regarding the relationship between
Public Health and urban quality according to the Urban Health strategy (Rebecchi
et al. 2016).