Creating health justice together
CENTRIC LAB
KNOW YOUR HEALTH
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INTRODUCTION PAGE 04
CREATING HEALTH EMPOWERMENT PAGE 12
03 04 05 06 HOUSING PAGE 24
NATURE AND BIODIVERSITY PAGE 32
MOBILITY PAGE 40
NOURISHMENT PAGE 48
07 08 09 SOCIAL SPACE PAGE 56
GOVERNANCE PAGE 64
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HONORABLE MENTIONS PAGE 80
THE TEAM PAGE 82
INFRASTRUCTURE PAGE 72
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INTRODUCTION
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Hello! We are PLP Labs, Comuzi, and Centric, we specialise in urbanism, architecture, technology, data science, and neuroscience. Through our work, our personal lives, and the communities we come from, we have been made aware that most people do not know that health is strongly linked to the places they live in. We have been taught that health is binary; you are either sick or not. We have also been taught that health happens only at the individual level, rather than acknowledging the systemic nature of health. In short sick cities make people sick. Understanding health and how it relates to the places we live is a civil right. We have produced this playbook as our civil duty to support communities that are spearheading health justice. We invite you to use this playbook if you are an organisation reaching out to communities about health concerns, if you are in public health, if you a single individual wanting to understand more about how health relates to the places we live, or if you are a health- and environment-conscious placemaker or shaper who wants to create better real estate products and find better ways of engaging your customers/users around their health and wellbeing. This playbook is dedicated to everyone advocating for more equitable and healthy places. This is your tool to support your existing health justice campaign or to make a start in understanding health. Many thanks for taking this journey with us. JAAAH
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MISSION
Social justice is health justice. And the next step for health justice is understanding the lived experience of different habitats and how it contributes to people’s health. Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) disproportionately live in places that have high environmental pollutants and inadequate housing, and we want to understand how that affects overall health outcomes. We are architects, neuroscientists, and technologists working towards health equity and justice. Help us understand how the places that we inhabit affect our health, so we can advocate for policy change, better design practices, and more just development.
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WHY IS IT URGENT?
Over 50 years of epidemiological studies have highlighted that the places where we live contribute significantly to our health. Despite this deep knowledge pool, many of us - including medical professionals - fail to acknowledge the critical role that the places we live play in our poor health outcomes. Additionally, many of us who create places may not understand that how we build cities has a direct affect on a community’s health and wellbeing. Understanding health from the perspective of place opens up a new opportunity in helping improve public health. The opportunity is creating proper health prevention schemes. Reducing air pollution would make a dramatic difference to those experiencing asthma, cardiovascular diseases, dementia, depression and anxiety. Reducing noise pollution would allow people to sleep deeply and reduce fatigue, improve digestion, brain, and immune function. Finally, reducing light pollution can reduce the risk of an array of metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes. The urgency comes in the continual degradation of our planet, which is making the places where we live sicker. In turn, it is creating spikes in poor health outcomes. A cornerstone of a civil society is health. Specifically, health for everyone. Let’s demand better health together.
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WHO IS THIS FOR?
We have created this Playbook and its additional survey for everyone who is interested in health and health justice. Citizens: A new framework for understanding your health and a tool to ask for health justice. Public Health Professionals: A more equitable understanding of health. Placemakers: A health-centred framework for creating cities that are equitable.
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SURVEY
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Fill out the Survey
Read the Report
Knowledge
Learn how your neighbourhood supports your health.
Find out what health is and what its relationship to the places we live.
Knowing how well your neighbourhood supports your health can help you understand more about how health works.
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Inspiration
We are all...
We hope you use the survey to inspire you tochange or make you curious about health relates to our environments. The results may instigate your inner activist or scientist.
... Scientists and activists.
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SURVEY
This survey is for you. For you to understand more about how your health relates to where you live and your daily experiences. It is to empower you and, if you are up for it, to help you advocate for health justice. We do not see a separation between citizen and practitioner. The insight of people who inhabit cities is valuable intellect and scholarship, which we hope to reciprocate through our future reports and talks. We will be using the survey results to create free, publicly available reports and talks as part of our commitment to health justice. The reports will also be given to key decision makers in public health and those working in cities. We want this to drive systemic change in how we create cities.
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TRANSPARENCY STATEMENT
We have all volunteered our time to this project because we acknowledge the importance of health. We also acknowledge that there is a disconnect between people and practitioners which we hope to bridge. None of your information or replies to the survey will be used for commercial gain, it will be used to understand more about how place plays a role in health, to make necessary improvements to cities.
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02 CREATING HEALTH EMPOWERMENT
WHAT IS THE PLAYBOOK?
The Playbook is a resource tool which teaches us about the relationship between place and health. It is an educational and empowerment tool to help you question whether your local environment is providing the adequate support for your health. Within the playbook are case studies, explanations of where you can have agency over your environment, resources and tools to help you get to know more about your personal and community’s health.
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UNDERSTANDING HEALTH
The relationship of health to stress To understand the relationship between health and habitat, we need to understand in more detail how the stress response works. Health is the ability for the body to return to a point of biological stability after adapting to an internal and external stressor. A stressor can be defined as any stimuli that creates an instability or a threat to our regular biological function. For example, it could be air pollution, a physical injury, or losing a job. In order for our body to appropriately adapt and respond to a stressor it requires our biological systems to have the adequate support to return to stability - by support we mean clean and nutrient rich air, clean water, nourishing food, dark and quiet sleeping environments, safe and adequate housing, access to healthcare. There is also the need for psychological support from strong community ties, economic security and housing security. Health is not binary. The absence or presence of disease is a lifelong process, which relies on many different
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factors and requires constant support. If a person is in good health they can live a life of fulfilment, equity and dignity. This is the end goal. However, in the urban environment of the 21st century, many people are not provided with the affordances to lead a life of health. Unfortunately, this can contribute to people living with chronic disorders from an early age, such as asthma. This, with time and with other factors, (such as avoiding physical activity due to breathing difficulties) can lead to obesity or diabetes. It is important that we recognise what the environmental and place related factors are that contribute to poor health in order to make a dent in the poor health outcomes we are experiencing. We also shouldn’t expect poor health as a part the human condition, we all deserve good health. More importantly, mother nature gives us everything we need to lead a life of health ( forests to exercise and breathe nourishing air, water to hydrate and feed us, plants that can cure us) - therefore a critical part of this health conversation needs to be about conserving the ecological health of our habitats.
“In the urban environment of the 21st century, many people are not provided with the affordances to lead a life of health.�
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Has the pandemic changed anything? Before COVID-19 cities were already showing signs of vast health disparities due to increasing levels of air, noise, and light pollution in certain neighbourhoods. Environmental stressors, as they are often referred to, are increasingly worsening across urban systems. However, their distribution is not equal. According to various data studies, they concentrate in mainly poor areas; specifically affecting Black, Asian, and Indigenous communities at disproportionate rates. This phenomenon is called environmental racism. Air pollution is of specific concern, as according to the World Health Organisation, there are no healthy levels of air pollution. Therefore, any inhabitant of an urban environment is at risk of disease. This pandemic has put a poignant and direct focus on health, specifically how a person’s environment creates a susceptibility and higher risk for disease. The susceptibility is created by another phenomenon that we see, called biological inequity. This is a term defined by Centric Lab as a person’s disproportionate chronic exposure to environmental (e.g. air pollution
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or inadequate housing) and psychosocial stressors associated with poverty (e.g. income, housing or insecurity). It is important to note that health is not only affected by environmental stressors. Our bodies react to physiological injury or stress in a similar manner. In other words when we experience economic insecurity our biological system reacts in a similar manner as when presented with air pollution. Those who experience poverty are disproportionately exposed to psychological stressors as well as environmental stressors. Therefore, we have to take both factors into consideration when referencing poor health outcomes. Another poignant lesson from the pandemic has been that health should be the ultimate goal. As without it we don’t have forward movement, communities are interrupted, and human innovation is stalled. Therefore, the subject of health justice is a movement for everyone.
What role do communities play? The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and further climate change impacts will continue to challenge governmental systems. As a result, one of the key factors in creating health justice will be the presence of connected and active communities. There are already key lessons to be learned from recent climate change-based events like Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017. In a recent study on the recovery of the country, it became obvious that it was the communities who were the first responders. “In the beginning it was all done by the communities,” says Dr. Pablo Méndez-Lázaro, Associate Professor of Environmental Health at the University of Puerto Rico. “When you ask the community leaders who were the first responders after the hurricane, everyone will tell you the same thing.” A community knows their members, neighbourhoods, and local resources, making them the best starting point for health rehabilitation, health justice, and preventative health. People work best in communities as they are great at fostering and passing on
knowledge. They also help prevent psychosocial issues such as isolation, which is one of the main repercussions of climate change. As climactic events displace people, they can dismantle a community, which in turn results in people feeling isolated or alienated in their new environments. There are two key factors to consider. The first is that climate change in both its direct health effects and its destruction of communities presents the greatest health threat of our lifetime. Therefore, health justice goes hand-in-hand with climate justice. The second factor is a caveat. Whilst communities will be the source of change, they cannot be expected to do it alone. It cannot be an opportunity for other parts of the system; healthcare, government, urban planning or corporations, to continue with “business as usual”. To properly restore health it will take all of us to act as a global community.
“People work best in communities, as they are great at fostering and passing on knowledge.”
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Environmental stressors 01 / Noise Cities can experience extremely high levels of noise, which can lead to physiological and psychological responses. A study1 conducted on workers showed that above 85 dB (decibels) people experienced higher blood pressure. From a psychological perspective noise is an experience, it can be a nuisance that we cannot control, which becomes a psychological stressor. The experience of noise pollution becomes more acute for those who are on the Autism Spectrum, especially those who have a hypersensitivity to noise, this can induce panic and distress. Through long exposures to noise pollution we can develop sleep disorders, fatigue, and anxiety. 02 / Light Light pollution can have adverse impacts on our physical and mental wellbeing by disrupting our circadian rhythm, which is our internal body clock that is largely managed by the timed exposure to light and darkness. The dysregulation of the sleep/wake cycle can affect hormone production, our digestion system, brain function, and overall metabolic functions. This can put people at risk for a wide range of metabolic and mental disorders such as sleep disorders, diabetes, obesity, depression, anxiety, clinical fatigue. Light pollution comes in many forms, including sky glow, light trespass, glare, and overillumination. Sky glow is the bright halo that appears over urban areas at night, a product of light being scattered by water droplets or particles in the air. Light trespass occurs when unwanted artificial light from, for instance, a floodlight or streetlight spills onto an adjacent property, lighting an area that would otherwise be dark. Glare is created by light that shines horizontally. Overillumination refers to the use of artificial light well beyond what is required for a specific activity, such as keeping the lights on all night in an empty office building. 03 / Air Air pollution is one of the most impactful and harmful of the stressors as we are constantly exposed to its effects. Furthermore, it has an immediate effect on 18
our biological system. In other words, there are no biologically safe levels of air pollution. Given the vast expansion of Capitalistic efforts, there are now few places which are not affected by air pollution, which comes from cars, airplanes, construction, industrial plants, any type of industrial production, resource extraction, heating/cooling of buildings, fires, agriculture, pesticides, and so on. Given how much we are exposed to air pollution, there is over 20 years of neuroscientific and epidemiological work on its effects. Air pollution affects us deeply, affecting all our biological functions; endocrine, immune, respiratory, cardio-vascular, metabolic, digestive, reproductive, and brain. In turn, air pollution has been linked to dementia, Parkinson’s, diabetes, obesity, depression, various cancers, anxiety, asthma, eczema, infertility, low birth weight, and neurodevelopmental disorders. 04 / Heat Cities act as ‘urban heat islands’ when pavements, roads, car parks and buildings soak up heat during the day and radiate this heat back out overnight. One consequence of this is that, with a lower contrast in temperature between the land and sea during the summer, night-time winds are reduced and pollutants become trapped within cities. On top of this, many cities are not designed to withstand the higher temperatures that are occurring as a result of the climate crisis. This in turn can affect residents and their ability to go about their day normally, particularly among the elderly whose bodies are less efficient at regulating temperature. Heat is also associated with heat stroke, asthma, hypertension, and cardiovascular problems. This is especially dangerous when a person is living in an environment that doesn’t afford them any respite from the heat, which we are increasingly seeing in economically inequitable neighbourhoods. 1. Stansfeld, S.A. and Matheson, M.P., 2003. Noise pollution: non-auditory effects on health. British medical bulletin, 68(1), pp.243-257.
Environmental stressors will engage a person’s biological stress response system, which can impact other regulatory systems and biological processes, regardless of whether a person is aware of it or not.
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Psychosocial stressors are presented in the local environment through relative poverty, shelter and food insecurity, financial anxiety, discrimination, and the awareness of one’s own vulnerability.
Psychosocial stressors 01 / Income Low income is one of the principal conditions of deprivation that can affect both those that are out of work, and those that are in work but who have low earnings. Low income is a leading contributor to psychological stress and can be regarded as a base on which other psychosocial stresses compound. Income deprivation can limit opportunities for improving one’s physical health (e.g. having a gym membership or having a home with a garden). But it can also greatly affect the mental health of those suffering, with the constant stress of managing daily costs. - Affecting Children and Parents Deprivation also affects children and parents. Aside from worrying about oneself, trying to ensure proper care for others on a low income can drastically increase the pressure that households face. For 20
children, the effects of not receiving proper nutrition, education and opportunities in early childhood can have long term health and social issues. This can include neurodevelopmental disorders, behavioural challenges, mood disorders, diabetes and obesity. On the social side, it could prevent children from becoming economically stable later on life, furthering the experience of poverty. - Affecting The Elderly The effects of income deprivation can also have compounding impacts for those in older age brackets. They can be plunged into energy poverty, in turn that can lead to living in a home that is too cold or too hot. Both temperature extremes can affect respiratory and cardiovascular health. It can also make symptoms of arthritis more severe. Another acute consideration is dementia and Parkinson’s both prevalent in older age.
Both disorders have been linked to air pollution and poverty. 02 / Employment A lack of suitable or stable employment can lead to a range of issues impacting health resilience and quality of life. The constant stress due to feelings of helplessness, overwhelmingness and uncertainty can be a risk for anxiety and depression. This includes people who would like to work but are unable to do so due to sickness, disability, or caring responsibilities. Also to consider are the working conditions for many experiencing poverty. ‘Working poor is a prevalent phenomenon for those on zero-hour contracts and doing essential work. This can lead to shift work, exposure to environmental stressors, toxic work environments, working long hours without proper rest, and time poverty for self-care. All of this can contribute to dysregulation of metabolic, endocrine, cardiovascular, and endocrine systems. The final factor to consider is that these jobs are often performed by newly arrived immigrants, who may be refugees, which in itself is a specific type of trauma and stressor. For these demographics the trauma and stress to their bodies is complex and compounding. 03 / Physical Differences and Poor Health When a person experiences poor health, that in itself can be a stressor and set off a relay of other stressors, especially if they do not have the adequate social, health, and financial support. Additionally, people with variant physical abilities can also experience social isolation, loneliness and lack of employment due to poor urban and social infrastructure. For example, if a person is not able to access transportation due to being in a wheelchair, this could isolate them and impede them from accessing a job. In turn, this isolation can put a person at risk for depression, mood disorders, or anxiety. 05 /Violence Often in places of deprivation there are incidents of violence. The reason is that deprivation itself forces people into illegal activity to survive. This can range
from taking drugs, forced sex work, and the sale of illegal substances. These activities can lead to violence being perpetuated on the person exerting the activities as well as those living near the activity. Often with alcohol and drug addition there is domestic violence across all demographics. Most at risk are children, elderly, women, and trans women. Witnessing or directly experiencing violence can result in an acute episode of stress, often referred to as trauma. In turn this can put people at risk to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or complex PTSD. This can described as the permanent dysregulation of the stress response. PTSD can also have comorbidities such as diabetes, depression, anxiety, obesity, and addiction. 06 / Housing and Services Access to housing and local services is crucial to being able to have the necessary places and spaces to live a healthy life at the most fundamental level – having a safe home or being able to get to work. All too often barriers stand in the way of these. This may be due to ‘geographical barriers’, which relate to the ability to physically get to these services – e.g. distance or wheelchair accessibility. Or, this may be down to ‘wider barriers’, which include less-tangible issues such as affordability or homelessness. 07 / Environmental Deprivation Our living environment has three zones; the home, the immediate external, and the wider urban areas accessed by a person. A person can experience deprivation across all three zones, or just one or two of them. In terms of home, psychosocial stressors can include homelessness, housing insecurity, awareness of living in a deprived environment. Immediate external can be; unclean streets, lack of services, unkempt neighbourhood, feeling unsafe. Issues in the wider urban environment can include walking in unsafe areas, experiencing unkept urban infrastructure, long commutes, experiencing harassment or discrimination. These stressors can put people at risk for wide spectrum of poor health outcomes ranging from PTSD to depression, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, asthma, to diabetes and obesity. 21
Case studies
This section has several chapters detailing various case studies on community based activism and the areas where we as citizens have agency to enact change.
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The long journey of environmental and health justice has its roots in the Civil Rights movement, which acknowledged that living conditions of Black people were a civil rights issue. A little less than 20 years later in 1982, a small African American community in Warren County, North Carolina were submitted to hazardous waste landfill. This exposure made them sick, however, no one would listen. So they were forced to start protesting and fighting for health justice. They catalysed a national movement connecting with similar communities across the United States, who were also experiencing environmental racism. This was the start of decades long work on health and environmental justice for and by Black and Indigenous communities. As we move forward to a new generation of health and environmental justice we must acknowledge those who came before. Whose shoulders we stand on.
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03 HOUSING
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“Housing is a human right. There can be no fairness or justice in a society in which some live in homelessness, or in the shadow of that risk, while others cannot even imagine it.�
Jordan Flaherty Journalist, producer and author 25
Start by making your home healthier.
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This section offers an opportunity to introduce some sprinkles of personal health. Anything that you can do will help lessen the load on your biological systems is a good thing. However, it is very important to note that these personal points are there to simply alleviate and provide some agency, however the real change and impact to health has to come at a systematic level. In context of housing, those who build homes have a disproportionate responsibility in making healthy homes. There are three categories to consider; a home of “the now� has to be climate adaptive, low toxin, and ecologically compatible. This entails the following characteristics: 1. Insulation to both heat and cold without the use of toxin materiality. Insulation has to be able reduce the use of heat/cooling mechanism which are a climate burden. 2. Build homes with low toxins; walls, floors, finishes, furnishings, all have to be toxin free.
3. Clean outdoor air and low environmental stressors. 4. Access to clean and biologically intelligent green and blue infrastructure. 5. Community and social infrastructure to aide people who for various factors have been socially isolated. 6. Equitable mobility so people have more time to spend with their community and family. 7. Well-placed play areas for children (away from environmental toxins). 8. Well constructed homes that do not have mould, radon, can be ventilated, last against climatic phenomena. 9. Economic infrastructure so people can afford healthier homes, spend time building a community, and partake in self-care. 10. Social infrastructure to reduce discrimination, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia and racism. All factors that can make people feel unsafe in their own home and neighbourhood.
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HEALTH TIPS AND AGENCY
1 Even if its 5 minutes a
stretching your entire body, finding times of complete quiet where possible, taking work breaks outside. Out all of the self-care practices, slow and intentional breathing is the most important ritual you can develop. Breathing is a core essential to brain and body health and wellbeing.
couple of times per day, find ways to introduce self-care. Self-care is very personal, therefore, it means different things for different people. Some baselines are sleeping 8hrs, 5-10 minutes of slow breathing,
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6 Mould can be a risk for
respiratory and skin problems. It is better to catch it when its small so it is cheap and easy to fix. To prevent mould, keep rooms ventilated and dry if you are able to.
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7 Aerosols and bleach
can put us at risk for skin and respiratory problems. If you already have asthma, these products can make symptoms worse. Therefore, where its possible, clean with no fragrance soapy water or vinegar. If you do have allergies, it might be good to avoid dry cleaning furniture and carpet. Look into less toxin methods of keeping home clean.
2 If you live an a home
that doesn’t provide you with a sense of safety, calm, security. This is an opportunity to look at both what are the personal things you can do to introduce elements that make you feel calm, safe, and secure. However, it is also an opportunity to campaign for more systemic changes that would improve that feeling of safety and security.
3 Loneliness affects
us all. It is a growing epidemic with a range of contributing factors; social isolation, mental illness, or mobility challenges. Find socially and physically safe ways to engage and bond with people. Introducing yourself to a neighbour, organising a walking club, or find
safe/nourishing online communities. Many people struggle with even small interactions and that is okay, we can all move at our own pace. This might be something we need professional help with, there are various hotlines, support groups, and professionals which can help.
4 Daily outdoor physical
activity is an essential part of childhood health and development. Introduce outdoor play for kids where it’s possible and safe. Do look for playgrounds that are away from traffic to avoid air pollution, if that is not possible encourage other types of physical outdoor activity. If the outdoors is not possible, indoor physical activity can also be good. Encourage kids to play in way that helps them stay active.
5 Ventilating the home
can remove air pollution, mould, and CO2. It can bring in fresh air, which is needed for all biological functions. It is important to note that if you live near a busy road, keep windows closed during high traffic. Another option to keep home ventilated is to have indoor plants. Plants are very effective air filters, which are cheap and ecologically friendly.
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8 Where possible bring
natural light into the home, of course being mindful of heat discomfort. Morning light is especially nourishing and it is not as hot as midday sun. If this is not possible take walks or work breaks in the sun. Even on a cloudy day, there are still degrees of vitamin D that are beneficial for mood regulation and metabolic regulation.
9 If possible switch to
indoor shoes to avoid bringing in outdoor shoes, which as we have learned from the pandemic can bring in harmful germs.
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comfortable spend as much time as possible outside; gardening, walks or resting.
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buy dark curtains to remove as much artificial light as possible during the night.
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CASE STUDIES
Based in Mexico City, Comunal is an architectural team made up of women who are committed to encouraging and facilitating the participation of women, youth and girls – as well as local communities – in the development and participatory process of their work. 01 Comunal bit.ly/2L5gIzP - Encourages and strengthens female involvement in local participatory processes. - Advocates for inclusive, collaborative, equitable and caring community development.
Comunal use architecture, participation and knowledge sharing to improve living conditions in rural communities in Mexico, strengthening territorial memory and improving participatory processes that strengthen local knowledge, autonomy, knowledge exchange and resilience.
02 Community Development in Native Communities bit.ly/3gP9Phm Across the US, many programmes are ongoing to help Native communities develop climate adaptive and safe homes. This document illustrates key examples, including the Navajo Housing Authority’s sustainable community planning manuals, which aim to improve the development of over 34,000 homes on sacred land.
Bastion is a community for wounded veterans to live alongside retired military and civilian volunteers.
03 Bastion, Community of Resilience bit.ly/2Lwo0MC - A community for veterans built around inclusion and wellness. - The built environment supports the social, community and health aims of the supporting Bastion organisation.
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Wellness is promoted through physical design, with buildings clustered to create common courtyards between residents, to help foster social bonding and prevent isolation. The homes are in close proximity to the local wellness centre and residents are supported by the Bastion community group. The buildings are designed to be resilient to both a changing climate and different needs of the veterans. Buildings have enhanced insulation, natural ventilation and HVAC systems.
04 Building Dignity bit.ly/3i65kQh Building Dignity explores, advocates and demonstrates how building design can support survivors of domestic violence and their children, helping them rebuild a sense of dignity, security and connection. This could include parent-child bonding, privacy or creating feelings of safety.
GET STARTED
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How Does Housing Influence Our Health?
Lead Funding Toolkit
bit.ly/3bjoIYs Find out more about the relationships between health and the home through The Health Foundation’s infographic and article.
bit.ly/3hSr9m2 Learn how you can leverage and deploy private, public and philanthropic organisations to provide sustainable support for the removal of harmful lead in homes in your community.
The Health Foundation is an independent charity which educates about, and advocates for, better health and healthcare for people in the UK. As part of this, the organisation explores the role that housing plays on personal and family health.
Over half a million children under the age of six suffer from lead poisoning in the US - many more suffer or are at risk around the world. This toolkit by the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative helps to educate readers on how they can support lead poisoning prevention in their communities.
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Warm Homes, Affordable Fuel and Healthy People
Healthy Housing Toolkit for Housing Counselors
bit.ly/3ovJIyY
bit.ly/3s4Wzue
Learn more about the issues behind fuel poverty and what charities, organisations and authorities can be doing about it.
Explore guidance which details how you can ensure your home is healthy and free of hazards.
Explore the issues behind fuel poverty and the steps that Citizens Advice are taking to reduce it across the country so that vulnerable or disadvantaged families can get help with cold homes and unaffordable fuel bills. This includes their toolkits, aimed at encouraging local authorities and health trusts to tackle fuel poverty.
The Healthy Housing Toolkit for Housing Counselors includes information to help housing councillors educate their clients – homeowners, homebuyers, and renters about the rules that protect them and actions that they can take to maintain healthy homes.
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04 NATURE AND BIODIVERSITY
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“Your deepest roots are in nature. No matter who you are, where you live, or what kind of life you lead, you remain irrevocably linked with the rest of creation.�
Charlie Cook Political Analyst 33
Get involved in creating a greener neighbourhood.
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Communities all over the world are making their neighbourhoods and homes greener and more ecologically friendly. This can range from small pots outside a window, to community vegetable gardens. From end-to-end the process of integrating nature in our life can instigate a wide range of health benefits. The cycle of planting and growing has been useful for those with dementia, and eating organic and fresh fruit and vegetables is a wonderful source of nourishment. Additionally, the more green we have around, the more clean air we have and the more we help sustain biodiverse communities.
a societal shift. However, this is a necessary change. Access to nature is not just pivotal to human health, it also makes us more climate resilient, and forces us to build a reciprocal relationship to that which provides us with life.
Systemically, these community initiatives should be supported via funding, land allocation, and specialised knowledge where necessary. There should also be stronger policy in dedicating land to green infrastructure, conservation, and the cleaning up of existing land and water. Making access to nature a necessity, such as access to clean water, will require
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HEALTH TIPS AND AGENCY
1 Get involved with
community gardening, or start groups if there aren’t any. Help make these accessible to everyone, particularly young people and those with mental health issues, and disabilities. Use the garden to help feed the community.
2 When you visit local
natural areas, have a look at how accessible they are for the elderly or those with mobility problems. Raise awareness of these issues and petition for change.
3 Call for safe
accessibility for young children to access natural space.
4 If possible find out
if there is closed off nature in your area, which might need restoration and conservation.
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infrastructure is being created, especially squares, parks, or playgrounds, find out what type of pesticides and water quality they are using. Pesticides can irritate skin or increase risk of respiratory problems. They can also be a source of air pollution, killing off essential
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10 Signage is important 11 Encourage local 12 Green infrastructure biodiversity. Using to help people find businesses or building can be a great contaminated water routes to natural owners to re-purpose opportunity for social can be a source of air spaces. If your area is underused space into cohesion. If you have pollution and be unsafe lacking, get together green space. If you are time, organise outdoor for children and pets with neighbours a business owner, look playgroups, free yoga to use. There are other and ask your local at your entire supply and meditation, techniques called authorities for more of chain and ensure that running/walking clubs bio-controls, which it. Alternatively, come you are not polluting or gardening clubs. use insects and plant up with signage ideas your local area or other Ensure that neighbours based oils to help keep yourself and ask local ecosystems. who might have social vegetation healthy property owners to put challenges or issues without the harmful them up. of mobility access are and toxic side effects. also included in these activities.
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5 Where possible and
applicable review local development plans to see the levels of new green space being added. If there is no information on local developments that are easily accessible, start asking your local authorities for more information.
6 If you are comfortable,
bring nature into your home. Get house plants and add greenery to your front garden, stoop, balconies and window sills. For the outdoors, explore which plants are best for local bee, bird and other wildlife populations. This not only cleans up your air quality it also gives back to nature.
7 If you can, petition your
local authorities to add greenery to streets and pavements. Ask them to bring in experts such as ecologists to understand the most water efficient and self-sustaining ways to create mature green spaces. If trees are not properly planted they can die young and their ability to clean air is diminished. Ensure that the green spaces work in unison - creating mini ecosystems, to ensure their health and longevity.
8 We should all get to
know nature a bit more. Take time to learn more about what type of birds, insects, and plants are around you. If you are extra curious, find out which plants are native to where you live and find a way to plant more of them. Often these native plants can help shelter us against flooding, drought, or heat.
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13 If you are parent, it
might be a good idea to encourage school trips to local nature, so children can learn about their local natural biodiversity.
14 If you are an ecologist,
team up with a community for grants which can help restore local habitats. This is a great way to create social cohesion, a relationship with nature, and bring back nature in an intelligent manner.
15 Spend as much time
as possible in big nature - this is forests, beaches, woodlands and big parks. There are essential microbiomes that we breathe when exposed to nature. These microbes are essential for the health of all our biological functions especially our immune system.
16 Make green and
open spaces safe for everyone. Don’t overpolice young people. Include LGBTQ+ in social community based activities. It might be useful to observe who are the groups that are not seen in your local green space, find out the reasons they are excluded. Many people
are excluded due to social cues, mobility differences, time affordances or age. We all have to play a part in making people feel safe and welcome in nature.
37
CASE STUDIES
The Project to Improve the Resilience of Agricultural Systems in Chad (PARSAT) was set up to restore the county’s land with the aim of overcoming poverty, food insecurity and environmental degradation.
01 / PARSAT bit.ly/2XjRrnS - A government and NGO led initiative to tackle environmental degradation in the country, with the explicit aim of improving living conditions and prospects for the people living there.
Chad has been devastated by climate change driven by Western exploitation. This is causing longer periods of drought, which is depleting the biodiversity of the entire country. Since 2017, the Chad government alongside communities, researchers, and development agencies have been using spatial data to identify areas for land restoration. The aim is restore ecosystems, lower climate risk, and feed the nation.
02 / Depave bit.ly/3bl1WPZ Depave engages with communities to transform their over-paved spaces and reconnect them to nature. The organisation works with local community groups to build stronger neighbourhoods through better placemaking.
596 Acres is an advocacy group set up in New York City with the aim of helping advocate for better access to community land and championing resident stewardship of these areas, with the aim of building just and equitable cities. 03 / 596 Acres bit.ly/35mUBvl - Is a land-advocacy group with the aim of building more just and equitable cities. - The group has created tools to help people understand what is happening to land in their cities.
38
On their website, 596 Acres provide a series of online tools that can help residents of the city learn about parcels of land, vacant lots, upcoming developments, public land sales and city renewal plans. Their tools map out this otherwise difficult to digest information in easy to read maps, encouraging a bottom-up approach.
04 / Nature Prescriptions bit.ly/35iyuGu A partnership project between NHS Shetland and RSPB Scotland was created to be able to Prescribe Nature to people. It started out as a pilot and it has now turned into a full fledged programme to help treat patients.
GET STARTED
01
02
Children & Nature Network
Framing Nature Toolkit
bit.ly/35lQFLu
bit.ly/3bgVGJ7
The Children and Nature Network provide resources and tools to help educate children about the natural world.
The Framing Nature Toolkit by the Public Interest Research Centre concentrates on how we communicate about conservation and the natural environment.
Their website contains a huge amount of information, including toolkits, a research database and information on how to take personal action. With such a rich collection of information, this a great place to start if you’re keen to get your children or local youth groups more engaged in the natural environment.
Whether you’re petitioning your local councillor or trying to drum up support in your local community, how you speak about your cause matters. This toolkit will help you create a powerful message for your cause. The toolkit is available for free online or hard copies can be ordered online.
03
04
Tree Talk
Rewild My Street
bit.ly/35heCUf
bit.ly/2LcmMq5
Tree Talk is an online tool that generates a local walking route for you based around the different types of trees in your area. Currently it is limited to London.
The Rewild My Street online resources are a great place to learn more about what steps you can take to improve biodiversity and encourage wildlife to flourish in your area.
The tool provides information on the types of trees that you’ll be seeing along your route, helping you to gain some knowledge about your local wildlife. The generated map not only highlights specific trees, but also green spaces and places to get refreshments on your walk.
In their resources section, follow the various links to discover what additions you can make to your home and local environment to encourage native flora and fauna. Rewilding My Street is based out of London Metropolitan University.
39
05 MOBILITY
40
“A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transportation”
Gustavo Petro Past Mayor of Bogotá 41
Fight for less pollution, healthier streets and more space for people.
42
Mobility is a key factor in eliminating inequities. It is how we access various resources from work, to food, to healthcare. Without equitable mobility (accessible, affordable, safe) people are forced into longer, more expensive and unsafe commutes. This exposes them to more air pollution, removes them physically from their families and community, it can take away time they could use for self-care, education, resting, exercising, or cooking nourishing food for their families. In turn this has systemic effects on a person’s quality of life and ability to leave poverty.
adaptive transport systems, a massive cut-down on consumerism, less construction, improvement of road systems, more local economic opportunities, more local resources, strong social cohesion, and an end to inequity and poverty. Until we have this full systemic change, people will have to rely on the car, our roads will be clogged, our air will be polluted, and our health will suffer.
This section provides tips about how to bring in more equitable mobility to yourself and community via changing the system. However, it is important to note that those in planning and policy, cannot leave a systemic problem to communities. We cannot solve a multi-factor problem with single factor solutions. We simultaneously need reliable, safe, accessible transport for all demographics, which is not a burden to any natural ecosystem. We also need climate
43
HEALTH TIPS AND AGENCY
1 When you move
around, take a look at which pavements are too narrow to safely practice social distancing and that should be widened. Report this to your local authorities, gather signatures and support to request change.
2 If you notice that there
aren’t enough places to safely store bicycles, point this out to your local authorities. Safe bike storage in town centres or outside homes is important to encourage people to cycle when possible.
3 If traffic is too fast
on certain roads, collaborate with other residents to request stop signs, speed limits or traffic calming measures.
4 If you are thinking of
pedestrianising your street, consult with neighbourhoods to understand what their mobility needs are before making changes. For example, you might have a neighbour who is in a wheelchair who might need to use their car, it would not be
fair to make their life harder. Secondly, understand where traffic is being diverted, if it increases traffic on main roads where there are other homes, then think of other more inclusive options to reduce car use in your area.
7
12 9 1 2
3
10
5 4
8 Planners should work
with communities to establish at city transport network for the elderly, neurodiverse, and others with mobility challenges. This is especially important as climate change makes walking around areas more challenging. 44
Severe wind, rain, cold, or heat can isolate those with mobility differences.
9 Planners and local
politicians should work together with communities to establish ‘safe-routes’. These routes should have wide pavements, neighbourhood stewards, clear wayfinding, safe and clear crossings for all mobility abilities, clear
streets of obstructions, safe sidewalks, low car traffic. These safe zones should be a city wide initiative in order to encourage people to walk from place to place.
5 Create a community
buddy system. This can be analogue and super easy. Either pair people up with a person with mobility challenges or assign a buddy in shifts that people can call upon. This would really help the elderly with doctor appointments, or a person who is neurodiverse to feel safer around the neighbourhood.
6 Where possible
encourage free communal childcare that is inclusive, especially think of parents who are essential workers. This can reduce an economic burden, increase social cohesion, and reduce car use.
6
7 For parents working
from home, it might be good to create school pick-up clubs, where parents rotate picking up duties. This can really help reduce cars in areas where cars are needed for child pick up.
8
11
7
10 A community can also
organise weekly clean ups on sidewalks and crossing. Clearing any obstructions which make it difficult for people to use. Often rubbish is put on sidewalks which is a hazard for those who are blind or in a wheelchair.
11 Cut down on personal
good deliveries, which are a major source of clogging. Delivery trucks for personal goods have to park where they can which causes congestion and is a leading contributing factor to air pollution.
12 Policy makers need to
work with communities to understand all the different goods and services needed for the area, which includes all economic brackets and social, cultural needs. Otherwise, this still leaves people who are less economically stable,
or from a marginalised community, reliant on cars for goods and services.
45
CASE STUDIES
Activists and city officials are working together in Mexico City to take the streets back for pedestrians in what is a largely unwalkable city.
01 / #CAMINA bit.ly/39hfjy9 - A series of temporary interventions on Mexico City’s streets envisioned a safer and more walkable future for the city.
As part of a wider campaign to improve pedestrian environments #CAMINA (#WALK, in English) staged temporary interventions on the streets with illuminated traffic cones and clear signage to demarcate new areas for walking. These short-term installations allowed residents to see how something so simple could radically alter people’s behaviours and create a much safer environment for pedestrians, cyclists and even drivers. They show the locals what a city can be like if it pays attention to the human scale.
02 / Atenistas mo.ma/39c1TDx In Athens, Greece, NGO Atenistas reacted to the city’s distinct lack of seating at bus stations by creating self-made seating areas. Local activists got together to install and paint attractive bus stops guerilla style, with bold colours and artistic benches.
Built under the mantra of ‘the city should be built for human beings’, Frida was created to show how simple it can be to create a space for people to come together.
03 / Frida bit.ly/3bj8G0P - Frida is an evolution of the car, an upcycled social space on wheels to bring people together in the city.
46
Sitting in a parking space and hiding in the disguise of a roughly put together wooden car, the experimental intervention provides seats facing each other around a small table where passers-by can share a moment or a beer. Although created with unskilled labour and recycled parts Frida proved to be an extremely popular display of guerilla intervention for a more social type of city.
04 / MUV bit.ly/38rmLay Mobility Urban Values (MUV) levers behavioural change in local communities using an innovative approach to improve urban mobility: changing citizens’ habits through a game that mixes digital and physical experiences.
GET STARTED
01
02
Living Streets
The Open Streets Guide
bit.ly/3os1YcB
bit.ly/2XmqArg
Dubbed ‘the UK charity for everyday walking’, Living Streets advocates for more and safer walking environments in cities across the UK.
The Open Streets Project is based in the US and aims to spread the word about open streets initiatives - where roads are temporarily shut off to cars for use by walkers, cyclists and for social activities.
Through their website you can find out about the projects that they’re running throughout the country, as well as find groups local to you. The charity was founded in 1929 and campaigned for the UK’s first zebra crossing and the introduction of speed limits. Now, the organisation faces new challenges that you can help tackle.
The guide offers some great further reading on the benefits of car-free streets initiatives; for people and cities. The publication has a huge collection of case studies in the US, and culminates in a ‘best practices overview’ that walks you through the steps of starting your own initiative.
03
04
Walk [Your City]
Wheelmap
bit.ly/3q2dTyc
bit.ly/2LcphZu
Walk [Your City] is a service that supports your walking or social campaigns through providing easy to create signage.
Wheelmap’s online tool allows you to mark and find wheelchair accessible places around the world, for free.
The platform allows you to create your own signs, which they’ll ship and send in a format that is really easy to install around your city. They can also link your online campaign, including maps or directions, with these signs to help bring your movement into the real world. Do you want to raise awareness and accessibility of important places in your community? This might be a great place to start.
The website uses a map interface to layout parts of the city that are wheelchair accessible, with extra information on the types of places and the level of accessibility. Users can also contribute by adding in places that they’ve visited or know about. You can also become a Wheelmap ambassador to campaign for better mobility or run mapping events.
47
06 NOURISHMENT
48
“The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.�
Ann Wigmore Natural Health Pioneer 49
Develop a culture of fresh eating, nourishing cooking and healthy living.
50
Nourishment is a deeply personal source of health. Nourishment is more than the consumption of food, it is the ability to source natural, non-toxic, nutrientrich food that helps our bodies heal, restore, and replenish. Unfortunately, most of us are not able to access this type of food for a wide range of factors. This might include poor education in cooking, food nourishment, and food sourcing; economic barriers such as not having enough money for fresh food; fuel poverty; or access to clean water. Poverty affects so many factors in a person’s life. So much so that some homes do not have an adult who has the time to cook from scratch; forcing families to cut corners with quick and cheap food sources, which often lack nutrients.
further alienating people with low economic resources. Many countries such as Chad, Mexico, and Cuba are leading the way in climate adaptive food production that provides people with cheap, but nourishing, food. We need this type of thinking in countries like the UK, Europe, Canada, and the United States. These tips are helpful for adding nourishment to daily life and to understand our relationship with food. However, we need massive systemic change to end economic poverty and deprivation. People are not to be blamed for not being able to access nourishing food, we all need to take responsibility.
There are other structural issues such as food deserts, taxation on produce, and food production. Climate change will also have an acute effect on food supply chains, which could make fresh food more expensive
51
HEALTH TIPS AND AGENCY
1 Get involved in
2 Take a look into what
community-based food production. Are there existing places or groups that you could get involved with? Could you start one? Can you start growing small vegetables on your balcony or garden? Can you get others involved, particularly young people?
food donation services or food banks operate in your area. See how you can donate food or your time. If there isn’t anything, start something or contact nationwide charities and petition them to open up something in your area. There will be people who will benefit, even if you don’t think there are in your area.
3 For neighbourhoods
experiencing food desserts, making grants available for subsidised fresh produce would help with nourishment shortages. There could even be partnerships with local farmers or coops.
4 Local governments
should open up grants for people who can teach about the benefits of nutrition, fresh cooking, and develop a healthy food culture. This could be a communal cross learning programme for the community. To accomplish this we also need the systemic support of free and communal spaces.
8
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3
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14
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6
5
9 Drink water where
possible. Water is an essential staple of a nourishing diet as it helps our kidneys flush waste, which in turn helps with immune health. Access to clean water is a human right and it is important that this is granted to all people. If you can, contribute to clean water initiatives at a local level. Europe, UK, USA, and Canada are increasingly failing to deliver clean drinking water to all people. 52
10 Nourishing food
doesn’t mean expensive; lentils, oatmeal, cornmeal, maize, corn, rice, beans, barley are all cheap foods that keep you full for a long time and offer highly nutrition and fibre.
11 If possible, contribute
to end fuel poverty, as many people cannot cook due to not being able to afford fuel costs. This is an increasing problem in Europe, USA, UK, and Canada.
12 Where you can, learn
what the seasonal and local vegetables are, which are often cheaper options. In western countries spinach, broccoli, root vegetables, onion, garlic, apples, and bananas are usually cheaper and full of great nourishment.
5 Are there local
businesses with resources and space that would support community food drives?
6 Pay attention to the
types of food vendors in your area, are there healthy options? Are there local options? Can you petition for new food places to be healthier, or promote a good, balanced diet? Perhaps create a local food market for local produce.
7 If you can, support
landback initiatives this is especially important in colonised lands such as the Americas, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific or India. Land sovereignty allows Indigenous populations to have sovereignty over food supplies and governance. This frees them to have better healthcare, education, equity, and dignity.
8 If you have time, learn
about agro-ecological farming, which can then be used to create organic and nourishing food plots. These food plots can grow to cooperatives that feed local communities. These initiatives should also have local government support in the form of grants.
13 12 11 7
2
13 For those who are
more economically well off, paying attention to where your food is sourced is very important. Food like soy, palm oil, and almonds are not sustainable, especially if they come from the Amazon. We cannot contribute to further destruction of ecosystems and lives.
14 If you are a local
restaurant, consider donating time and space for a local food kitchen. Often people cannot cook with fresh food due lack of infrastructure and know how. This can be an opportunity to create a knowledge library based on food nourishment that can last for generations.
15 Take time to learn more
about the link between food and health. The West often discards natural ecosystems as an inferior source of health, yet for centuries many Indigenous cultures have used plants as medicine and food as a source of cleansing, sustenance and healing. Food
has been turned into a commodity, which can create a sense of elitism around food. Yet it is one of our direct connections to the earth, it is what keeps us healthy, therefore it should not be a commodity.
53
CASE STUDIES
01 / Lambeth GP Food Co-op bit.ly/2JTOQhc - Doctors surgeries and NHS services in Lambeth, London are supporting community gardens on their premises as a way to improve the long-term health and wellbeing of their local communities.
03 / Zapatistas bit.ly/3blvTPR - The Zapatistas rose up in revolt against capitalist systems that were exploiting their lands and installed their own system of sustainable food production that protects, rather than exploits, their lands.
54
The Lambeth GP Food Co-op is a community-led health cooperative working in and for the NHS. The group creates growing gardens in doctor surgeries and NHS hospitals to help patients learn more about growing food and the benefits of healthy natural foods, whilst socialising in a safe, supported environment. The garden communities provide a place and reason for locals to get together and grow food together. Besides the benefits of producing healthy and natural foods, the act of gardening itself has enormous physical and mental health benefits. Not only can people join the gardening communities by their own accord, but GPs are also prescribing gardening sessions to their patients. The Zapatistas are land and water protectors composed of various Indigenous Mayan peoples. For over 500 years they have been fighting for sovereignty and independence from the colonised Mexican government. Their sovereignty includes their right to traditional food sources. For the Zapatistas food sovereignty means using agro-ecological farming. This is a type of farming that works with natural ecosystems rather than just exploiting it. In order to achieve this they participate in place-based teaching and learning, developing local cooperatives, and engaging in collective management and work.
02 / Organopรณnicos bit.ly/35iJsM4 Organopรณnicos is a system of urban farming that was originated in Havana Cuba. It works with nature and is ecologically friendly, avoiding pesticides, promoting soil richness and polyculture. It was a community response to the food scarcity facing Cuba due to sanctions from the US. They are community sustained and take up 35,000 hectares of Havana.
04 / Chilli Con Carner bit.ly/3s55TOx British rapper Loyle Carner established a cooking school for 14-16 year olds with ADHD, which focuses on nutritious dishes that the children actually want to eat. Having grown up with the condition himself, Carner was aware of the therapeutic properties that cooking can bring.
GET STARTED
01
02
Communities for Healthy Food
Capital Growth Resources
bit.ly/3bl4spi
bit.ly/3s55WtH
Communities for Healthy Food have developed a toolkit which aims to integrate healthy food access and social justice into community development.
Capital Growth is a food growing network in London which has over 2,000 gardens located throughout the city.
This guide is aimed at community organisations and presents ways to plan, design and implement programmes that ensure low-income communities and communities of colour have access to healthy food options, have a greater voice in the discussion of food justice, and have economic opportunities around healthy food.
The organisation supports communities across the capital to grow their own food, with access to training, events, support on growing to sell, and much more. On top of this, they have a large collection of downloadable toolkits and guides to help get you on your way to improving your local natural environment and growing your own food.
03
04
Urban Agriculture Toolkit
Cities and Circular Economy for Food
bit.ly/2XzKj77
bit.ly/3q0ByPn
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published and made available online their step-by-step guide on how to start your urban farming project.
Our current approach to food production and management of by-products endangers biodiversity and our health, we need a new system for the 21st century.
The guide takes an extremely thorough approach to helping you get on your way, walking you through everything from accessing funding, testing your soil to market development. Whilst this is specific to the US, the guide has every step you could think of and could serve as a base for you to create a version of this document local to you.
The publication, published by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation aims to highlight the role that urban food actors can play in transforming our food system into one that is more sustainable and better for our health to build a circular economy.
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07 SOCIAL SPACES
56
“Being the Queen is not all about singing, and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well.� Aretha Franklin Singer, performer and civil-rights activist 57
Build up your neighbourhood to be sociable, safe and vibrant.
58
Social spaces, or spaces for people to gather, are instruments of change and equity. The Civil Rights of the 1960’s sprung out of living rooms and churches. Spaces are the places where we learn, spread knowledge, educate, and give security to those from marginalised communities. Social spaces are places of healing, politicking, enlightenment, support, and safety. We need spaces that are culturally relevant and offer intersectional expertise. Given that space is infrastructure and a capitalistic tool, it has meant that Black, Indigenous and other marginalised communities often have been left out, having to be more inventive with access to space. We are not even close to equitable access to space, making it an important area for systemic change. It might seem like a stretch to link space with health, however social spaces offer a place for social cohesion, which can lessen the risk for loneliness, depression, and anxiety. Having a strong social infrastructure is very much part of our mental health landscape as we are social beings.
59
HEALTH TIPS AND AGENCY
1 In order for social
spaces to be successful they have to be inclusive. This means being open to different cultures, languages, and ages. They also have to be in buildings or areas that can be accessed by different mobility abilities.
2 With the permission
of neighbours and landlords where applicable, communal spaces such as rooftops and courtyards offer opportunities for temporary social spaces.
1 3
9
6 Vacant outdoor lots in
your community can be turned into an outdoor seating area open during the daytime for elderly people to relax, or for children to play in.
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4
7 You can turn your front
garden into a seating area for elderly people, to help them relax as they journey to local shops. Or you could do something to make it vibrant and exciting for your local area, e.g. art or a nice garden. You can contribute to your area being active and beautiful.
3 Culture and
entertainment is one of the core reasons for people coming together. Think how your area or building can incorporate cultural programming, host activities and events, maybe run a festival, or use art to brighten the place up.
4 If there are vacant
storefronts in your local area, there are charities, businesses and often government support to activate them for local community use.
5 If there are underused
places in your area that could have secondary or pop-up uses, organise something to do in that area with your community and petition the owner or local authority.
2
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6
8
7
8 At certain times of
year parks, squares, and other green spaces can be social spaces, especially for activities like yoga, meditation, or child playgroups. This offers social cohesion and access to the outdoors.
9 There should be grants
available for starting and sustaining social spaces, especially for marginalised groups who have been historically left out of spaces.
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CASE STUDIES
01 / Sistah Space bit.ly/35nZxQR - A London-based organisation which provides domestic abuse services and a cultural space for women and girls in the city’s African & Caribbean community, including the Rastafarian/ Grassroots community.
Sistah Space in Hackney, London was founded in 2015. It is a community-based non-profit initiative created to bridge the gap in domestic abuse services for African heritage women and girls. They offer an array of mental health resources as well, which is an important part of domestic abuse recovery. The organisation provides advice and support, as well as practical help in the form of sanitary pads, toothbrushes, soaps and other essential items. Their mission is to encourage survivors or victims to report abuse, by providing a safe setting for them to feel able to disclose abuse in a confidential environment, and to encourage community integration.
02 / Onion Collective bit.ly/3bib6fZ Onion Collective helps communities develop plans for their hometowns and supports their delivery. They help ask the right questions, define priorities and then to deliver projects. The group started as a local grassroots organisation working in their own community and has since expanded to share their experience with others.
The Bevy is a pub with a difference in the South of England. The venue is community-run and works with local charities and community groups to make sure no one in the community ever needs to feel lonely. 03 / The Bevy bit.ly/2Xj9MBo - A community-run and oriented pub which works with local charities and community groups to tackle loneliness. - The Bevy hosts events and services for their local community.
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The pub has been open for five years as a place for locals to come together for lunch clubs, dementia cafes, cooking lessons, arts and crafts sessions, family fun days, breakfasts, music nights, pub quizzes - or a simple pint. During the UK’s first COVID-19 lockdown The Bevy reinvented itself to deliver over 2000 meals to those in need, not only providing hot meals but regular social contact with the most vulnerable in their community.
04 / The Pallet Pavilion bit.ly/3bknqwv Social enterprise Gap Filler created The Pallet Pavilion as a temporary community space and events venue. Built by volunteers the project aimed to create a space for the community to come together whilst showcasing local abilities.
GET STARTED
01
02
The Value of Public Spaces
Tactical Urbanism
bit.ly/3i10cwz
bit.ly/3s4prCM
This report by the Design Council shows how cities around the UK and globally have received farreaching economic, health and social benefits from making the most of their public spaces.
The Street Plans Collective have pulled together examples tactical urbanism, grassroots initiatives to improve cities, from around the world in a comprehensive compendium of possibilities.
Find out more about the benefits of public space and how important they can be for your community’s development. Use this resource to strengthen your understanding of what your area needs and why - it’s your ammunition to fight for your neighbourhood.
Read through a global list of real-world examples where citizens have taken it into their own hands to improve conditions in their cities. Get some inspiration and see what could be applied to your local area.
03
04
Including Culture in Development
Take Part
bit.ly/3nmf2Pb
bit.ly/35ld4so
Whether it’s a market, busking or street festivals, culture is deeply woven into the daily lives of our cities and our social spaces. With this tool, learn how to add your voice to the creation of culture in your area.
If you want to help your local area by supporting businesses, services, community groups or by repurposing underused space, then this pool of resources by the British Government is a great place to start.
This step-by-step guide clearly lays out how culture can be woven into the development process from the very beginning, in a way that brings different voices around the table. It explains the processes that developers, designers and decision makers go through and can help you understand the role that you have to play.
The gov.uk page has links to external sites and organisations for you to get involved with. If you want to help run a community shop or library, if you’d like to grow food as a community, or use your local pub to support local services - then this is the starting point for you.
63
08 GOVERNANCE
64
“Organising is providing people with the opportunity to become aware of their own capabilities and potential.�
Fred Ross American Community Organiser 65
Lead, listen and take action within your community.
66
Governance is not exclusive to government, we as citizens can have the agency to start communities and groups that can impact policy and governing at a national or local level. In fact, many of the changes we see happening to our societies and communities are through these independent groups of thinkers. Whether it is the Civil Rights Movement or the LGBTQ+ movement, groups of people have been at the forefront of policy change and a more equitable way of governing our society. As we move forward, our planet, communities, and families will need us to continue our fight for cleaner air, biodiversity, our health rehabilitation post-COVID, and a more equitable society.
manner, we can feel helpless or hopeless. In turn these feelings can make us feel stress or anxiety. In the long term this could affect our mental health. Indirectly, poor governance can affect the quality of air we breathe, the quality and access to water, our ability to access healthcare, or expose us to other environmental stressors. Therefore, it is important that we learn more about how those who govern us are responsible for decisions and factors which contribute to poor health outcomes. Once we know this information, we can then create communities and groups that can bring about change.
Governance affects us in both a direct and indirect manner. Directly, governance gives up a sense of agency which can help mitigate the feelings of helplessness. When we are faced with top down policies and decisions that affect us in an unfair
67
HEALTH TIPS AND AGENCY
1 Find out what online
groups and platforms there are for your area, including on social media. Many areas have local Facebook groups. These are a great way to involve more vulnerable or less physically active members of the community.
2 Find out how many
buildings and plots of land in your community are owned by the community. If you know who owns what, then you know who to go to with suggestions on how to improve the community or host events.
3 Start or join a
representative community group to protect local community places of interest, to improve walkability on highstreets, to fight for less cars, or whatever you care most about.
2
13 12 3
7 If you do not feel like
your health is being supported by your neighbourhood, for example, your air is being polluted, then it might be a good idea to turn to your community to start a group. Then identify the failings in your local public health service and campaign for better change. Community action should not have to take the role of taxpayer funded health services. 68
8
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1
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8 Take the time to study
the movements that came before, so we know where we pick up the baton.
9 Please remember to
take time for selfcare. Organising and establishing community based governance can be tiring. Take time to rest and take care of yourself
4 Find out what groups
are active in your community and sign up to their newsletters or see how you can get involved.
5 Find out what links
there are between the local community and local authorities or decision makers. If there aren’t many links, start a community representative group to lobby for your community. Fight for issues that matter to you.
6 Mobilise your friends,
family and new groups to get involved in community decision making. Go to town hall events, get involved online.
10 5 6
10 Where possible
reach out to other communities establishing governing methods that improve the health of their community. Both for learnings and to reciprocate the solidarity.
7
11 Governance doesn’t
have to be high burden there are various levels to conduct change. It also doesn’t have to happen all at once, take small steps at a time, so it doesn’t feel overwhelming.
12 Ensure that your
governance schemes are intersectional. Groups such as LGBTQ+, Indigenous and Black women, those with different physical abilities can often be excluded and or their specific needs can often be ignored.
69
CASE STUDIES
HandUp is an online platform for non-profit organisations to create campaigns that you can donate to - it’s crowdfunding to help people who need it the most.
01 / HandUp bit.ly/3hWphsk - An online platform that allows people to donate to causes that they care about. - Campaigns range from helping people manage their daily needs, to larger emergency responses.
The organisation passes donations directly to the cause of your choice and allows you to track its progress as more people contribute. These causes are verified by local organisations, but can include anything from helping someone in need keep their house warm, to nationwide emergency response and shelter funds. The website also offers guidance on how to set up your own campaign to get the assistance you need.
02 / Body Politic bit.ly/3onhbvo Body Politic is a queer feminist wellness collective that is concentrated on the health of queer womxn. They look at the connection between wellness, politics, and personal identity. When COVID-19 hit, they provided information and comfort to their community as well as led the first long-haul COVID-19 research, spurring the WHO to recognise the phenomenon.
In the UK the movement for clean air is just getting started, despite decades of poor air quality.
03 / C.A.S.H bit.ly/3bi7j2o - Local residents in Southall, London, came together to investigate toxic air in their area as a result of ongoing developments. - Residents had been ignored and misled by authorities, so took matters into their own hands to tackle the issue. 70
Residents of Southall - an area of London with a majority of Sikh, Muslim, and Black British communities - had been experiencing toxic air due to the development of a gasworks site. Being neglected, ignored, and gaslit by local government, public health and environmental agencies, they decided to start their own enquiries. This has led them to start a local group called C.A.S.H to change policy, clean their air, and shed a light on environmental racism in London. They have now started a coalition of other communities facing a similar situation, called the Gasworks Communities United alliance.
04 / Civic Square bit.ly/3q0EN9I Civic Square is a Birminghambased group looking into how community spaces and neighbourhoods can be developed to be better for people. The group is looking to improve places in their city by working within their local communities.
GET STARTED
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My Community
Youth Activist Toolkit
bit.ly/3s5SQwt
bit.ly/35ieNP2
My Community is an online resource that provides tools, tips and ideas to help you improve your community.
The Youth Activist Toolkit is an engaging step-bystep guide to help young people stand up for things they care about.
The resources have been created to help you protect, save or manage community spaces or assets in your local area. This could be buildings or land that have a wellbeing or social aspect to them for the community. The resources are numerous and thorough, so you should be able to find something to help you here.
The guide contains tools, tips and tricks to help them on their way - everything from explaining the ideas behind organisation, to methods of non-violent intervention and self-care. Whilst aimed at young people, this document is a good place to start for any budding activist.
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Spacehive
The Civic Tech Field Guide
bit.ly/3opBet6
bit.ly/3s03IMp
Spacehive is an online platform that enables people to fund ‘ideas that bring local places to life’.
This online database is a global collection of civic tech tools and projects. Thousands of tech practitioners from across the globe have contributed to this growing resource, you’re bound to find something that interests you.
The platform brings together people, businesses, government and foundations to work together on funding projects that communities want. Use the website to create a page for your project idea, it will then be matched to councils, foundations and companies that might want to help. The organisation has already kick-started over 1200 projects and unlocked almost £17m of funding.
The website includes citizen engagement technology, govtech, civic data, advocacy tech, media tech and emerging tech. They also provide information on events, funders and playbooks as well as help you find others that you can get involved with.
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09 INFRASTRUCTURE
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“Someone needs to explain to me why wanting clean drinking water makes you an activist, and why proposing to destroy water with chemical warfare doesn’t make a corporation a terrorist.” Winona LaDuke Environmentalist, economist, and writer 73
Hold authorities and organisations accountable for infrastructure in your area.
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Infrastructure is any physical element and facility that helps us with the operations of society, economy, and nature. This can be buildings, roads, water access, food access, or healthcare. Infrastructure should be provided to us all equally, fairly, and affordably. Infrastructure is highly linked to health as it provides us with essentials. For example, access to water is paramount to health. Without water being clean, we cannot wash hands, use it for crop production, use it for drinking, or use it to cook our food. All factors that help us keep healthy.
Climate change will have a huge impact on infrastructure as it can damage it or destroy it completely, therefore we have to start thinking about how we adapt our infrastructure to extreme weather events. We also need to consider how we repair it quickly to keep communities safe after natural phenomena to reduce the risk of displacement, infection, or injury. We all deserve the dignity of good and reliable infrastructure.
As we all live in nation states, it is the responsibility of these governments to keep infrastructure running. Sadly, in many countries this is not the case. Canada and the United States suffer greatly from poor access to clean water, especially for Black and Indigenous communities.
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HEALTH TIPS AND AGENCY
1 While having well lit
streets are important for safe mobility. Our cities are filled with unnecessary light that disturbs our sleep/wake cycle and biodiversity. If possible call your local authority to reduce excess light.
2 Consider setting up a
crowd-funding page for people in your community that are struggling to pay their bills.
3 Access to clean water
plays an important role in our health. If possible find out if your tap water is clean. Despite being a basic human right, access to clean water is becoming increasingly unequal with Black and Indigenous populations being the
most affected. This challenge will only get worse with climate change due to droughts and severe weather destroying clean water infrastructure.
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7 Investigate whether
your local authority collects storm water effectively. This can be captured in large amounts to be used on local green spaces.
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8 See if there are enough
street level, publicly accessible restrooms or drinking water facilities. If not, confront your local authorities about this.
9 Investigate what
renewable energy suppliers there are for your community. Use these and spread the word about them. Encourage members of your community to take an active stance against non-renewable suppliers.
4 Another human right
is the access to clean air. Clean air is not just not just the absence of toxins, it is being able to access oxygen and essential microbes. Oxygen is the single most important element that keeps our cardiovascular system and all organs in good
5 If possible consider
function. Microbes are important for gut and immune health. Therefore, asking local authorities for clean air is important for health justice.
the quality of road, pavement, sidewalk, and urban realm upkeep. If it is failing, local authorities have the duty to maintain the quality of this infrastructure to keep us safe.
6 If you see any untreated
waste outlets or local companies which aren’t disposing of their waste properly, confront them or your local authorities. Be a local voice for responsible waste management.
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10 We also have to pay
attention to ensure that incoming green infrastructure is not at the cost of others. For example, hydro electricity produced by dams have had various poor health impacts on First Nations in Canada. Our health cannot be at the expense of others.
11 Access to food is
already a challenge across the globe and climate change will have a big impact on food production making the problem worse. Therefore, we have to start thinking locally. How do we feed communities using local farms and production?
12 Transport is how we
access resources such as education, food, healthcare, and other communities. Making it a key cornerstone to health and wellbeing. Policy makers have to include transport in their effort for better health outcomes.
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CASE STUDIES
Gaza has been plagued with war for decades to make matters worse, it has very little access to external resources, which means that they have little basic infrastructure.
01 / GreenCake bit.ly/3oDleny - A Palestinian inovation which helps to create more sustainable construction within the country. - Recycled local rubble and ash are used to make concrete blocks which helps to lower reliance on imported materials.
03 / Red Feather bit.ly/3nDKaKn - A not-for-profit agency which partners with American Indian nations to develop sustanable solutions to their housing needs. - During the COVID-19 pandemic Red Feather have been helping to provide communities with temporary water stations.
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The constant war requires rebuilding often, but how do you do it with little money and materials? A female civil engineer named Majd Mashharawi came up with an invention called “Green Cake”; concrete blocks made out of recycled rubble and ash which makes the territory less reliant on imported aggregate and cement. The invention has won an innovation prize in Japan, and its inventor has been designated one of the “Most Creative People” in 2018 by the Fast Company media outlet.
Red Feather is a not-for-profit organisation that partners with Indigenous communities in the United States to develop sustainable solutions for housing needs. During the global health crisis they helped install temporary water stations to the Navajo Nation, which lacks running water. Estimates are that 40% of Navajo homes lack runing water. The Navajo Nation also has one of the highest COVID-19 infection rates in the United States, per-capita. During an international pandemic, when hygeine and the washing of hands is particularly important, this solution helps to mitigate the spread of the virus.
02 / The Human Utility bit.ly/2XoQfPX The Human Utility supports households who are struggling to pay their water bills in Detroit, US. The non-profit provides help to ensure that families always have running water at home; the most basic of human rights.
04 / Public Power bit.ly/2L6Gq70 Public power utilities are community-owned, not-for-profit electric utilities that provide low-cost electricity to more than 49-million Americans. This model gives local communities a direct voice in utility decisions, including rates and sources of electricity.
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Become Your Own ISP
Energy Saving Trust
bit.ly/3q1GFPn
bit.ly/2XlXd8t
ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are the companies that serve customers with internet access. They make life easy for us, but too often we’re stuck with their poor services.
The Energy Saving Trust is a British organisation dedicated to promoting energy efficiency, low carbon transport and sustainable energy use.
There is an alternative though. You can set up your own neighbourhood, community or even personally owned ISP infrastructure. You’ll get better connectivity and lower prices. This online tool runs you through the steps of setting up your own infrastructure and puts you on the path to internet freedom.
Their website contains a wide range of tools and resources that can help you do anything from getting your energy provider to supply you with renewable energy, to helping you run a Home Energy Check to show how you could be making savings. Check out their ‘Buying green electricity’ page for a detailed runthrough of how you can switch to a green tariff and help push the UK to a more sustainable future.
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Community Energy England
Module 4
bit.ly/2LuC89a
bit.ly/3blyvgv
Community Energy England is a not-for-profit organisation created to provide a voice for the community energy sector and to create the conditions for it to flourish.
Module 4 is a US-based initiative which is part of the NAACP Environmental & Climate Justice Program. In this toolkit, you can learn how to begin your own community-owned clean energy projects.
Community energy refers to the delivery of community led renewable energy, energy demand reduction and energy supply projects, whether wholly owned and/ or controlled by communities or through partnership with commercial or public sector partners. If you want to join local groups, or start something similar in your area, this is the place to start.
The resource is aimed at moving communities towards cleaner and more renewable energy sources to not only increase health and wellness but also improve economic opportunities like green jobs and apprenticeships. The document provides fact sheets, further reading and examples of how communityowned clean energy projects can work.
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10
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
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This Playbook is the start. We are aware of the acute health needs of various communities and they will be addressed in additional mini-playbooks.
The list below are communities that will face further health inequities as climate change continues to develop and as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Each community faces specific discriminations and inequalities which puts them at risk to specific poor health outcomes. Transwomen They face housing insecurity, poor access to employment, poor access to health services, and violence. In turn they can be more at risk for PTSD, depression, anxiety, and addiction. Neurodiverse They face housing insecurity, social isolation, and poor access to employment. In turn they can be more at risk for depression, loneliness, eating disorders, and anxiety.
Elderly They increasingly face housing insecurity, poor access to infrastructure, and social isolation. They are most at risk for dementia, loneliness, depression, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes. Children Face more exposure to air pollution, neglect, stress of an uncertain future, if they are poor they can face inadequate housing conditions. In turn they are at risk for neurodevelopmental problems, diabetes, and obesity. Indigenous, Black, People of Colour (BIPOC) Across the world Black, Afro-Indigenous, and Indigenous communities are facing dicrimination which often exposes them to more air pollution and other environmental stressors. This puts them at risk for a wide range of health problems from cardiovascular disease, skin rashes, asthma, diabetes, depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
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11 THE TEAM
Our built environment is lagging, struggling to keep up with change, all at a huge cost to our social and natural environments. PLP Labs tackles this by creating and advocating radical change to our cities and the systems that build them. We are a design research collective that investigates possibilities and defines solutions for tomorrow’s cities. We collaborate with leading experts from around the world across a wide spectrum of disciplines to offer an expanded range of knowledgebased services. This cross-pollination allows PLP Labs to address new urban, human and digital frontiers. We aim to make cities more inclusive by increasing the number of voices imagining new urban realities. We redefine briefs, determine design strategies and construct new narratives that add social, environmental and financial value. We serve PLP Architecture’s wider architectural and urban work, as well as external clients with unique projects; by operating outside the confines of a traditional architectural project. Our research is far-ranging, from design and technology to anthropology and social sciences. This allows us to dig deeper into the pressing issues affecting our lives.
COMUZI is a design & technology studio. A fast, strategic design partner for the rapidly changing world, we exist to help organisations become future-fit by addressing the challenge of ‘What’s next?’. Using our structured approach to innovation ‘Radical Creativity as a service’ - we explore, imagine, prototype and invent radical products, services & experiences that connect with the community you serve.
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Centric Lab is an independent research lab working at the intersection of health inequities, climate change and urbanisation. We are concerned with investigating the environmental determinants of health and how they interact with other social, economic and cultural factors to uncover how built environment influences health. Centric Lab’s introduction of neuroscience into the urban realm allows us to understand more about how urbanised environments burden the biological system that puts people at risk for diabetes, depression, anxiety, obesity, and cognitive decline. The outputs of our work form progressive research studies that improve the political, social and business understanding of the fact that health is directly influenced by the externalities coming from poorly planned urbanised environments. Climate change represents increasing challenges to people’s health as weaknesses in physical, social and economic infrastructure are exposed. We help private, public and third sector organisations navigate this field to create policies, strategies and developments that protect and systemically elevate health in the face of change. Core to our work is the belief that a person can only have agency over their health when they are part of a supportive ecosystem, which includes the places they inhabit. Our work is focused on creating health justice, dignity and equity for present and future humans.
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HEALTH DISCLAIMER
‘Know Your Health’ content is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical or health advice, or as a substitute for the advice of a doctor or other qualified health care professional. You should always consult with a doctor or other health care professional for health advice or information about diagnosis and treatment. We will not be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, exemplary or other damages arising therefrom.
P.02 Image courtesy of Unsplash. Photograph by Haseeb Jamil. P.14 Image courtesy of Unsplash. Photograph by Lily Banse. P.30 Top left Image courtesy of Comunal: Taller de Arquitectura. Top right Image courtesy of Unsplash. Photograph by Mar Bocatcat. Bottom left Image courtesy of Bastion. Bottom right Image courtesy of Building Dignity: Design Solutions for Domestic Violence Shelters. For more information, please contact: wscadv@wscadv.org, margaret. hobart.phd@gmail.com or crosen@mahlum.com. P.38 Top left Image courtesy of World Agroforestry Top right Image courtesy of Depave. Bottom left Image courtesy of 596 Acres. Bottom right Image courtesy of Unsplash. Photography by Regina Mansor. P.46 Top left Image courtesy of ITDP - Mexico (www.itdp.org). Top right Image courtesy of atenistas (www.atenistas.org). Bottom left Image courtesy of the authors 3+1 arquitectura. Bottom right Image courtesy of Unsplash. Photograph by Roman Koester. This image is not of the case study. P.54 Top left Image courtesy of Lambeth GP Food Co-op. Top right Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Photograph by Susanne Bollinger. Bottom left Photograph by Tim Russo. Bottom right Image courtesy of Shutterstock. Photograph by Evannovostro. P.62 Top left Image courtesy of Sistah Space. Top right Image courtesy of Onion Collective and Ellis Williams Architects. Bottom left Image courtesy of The Bevy. Bottom right PPV1: Guy Jansen, 2013. P.70 Top left Image courtesy of Unsplash. Photograph by CDC. Top right Image courtesy Body Politic. Bottom left Image courtesy of C.A.S.H (Clean Air for Southall and Hayes). Bottom right Image courtesy of Civic Square. Photograph by Andrew Fox/The Observer. P.78 Top left Image by Green Cake. Top right Image courtesy of Unsplash. Photograph by Sugarman Joe. This image is not of the case study. Bottom left Image by Red Feather. Bottom right Image courtesy of Unsplash. Photograph by Public Power.
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