While cities are centres of innovation and wealth creation, they are also hotspots of air pollution and noise, heat island effects, and lack of green space, which are all detrimental to human health. They are hives of Covid-19, which has led to a rethink of urban public space.

In a paper published in Environment International, Mark J Nieuwenhuijsen PhD, director of the Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative at ISGlobal, provides a narrative meta-review of several cutting-edge and visionary urban models that may affect health, and which have been reported over the past few years.

According to the paper, new urban concepts such as the Superblocks, the low-traffic neighbourhood, the 15-minute city, the car-free city, or a mixture of these may help address the health burden related to current urban and transport practices – reducing air pollution and noise; mitigating heat island effects; increasing green space; and encouraging more physical activity. But what is still lacking, argues Nieuwenhuijsen, is a thorough evaluation of the effectiveness and acceptability of such schemes and the impacts on not only health but also liveability and sustainability. With the potential for the Covid-19 pandemic to accelerate these and other developments, he suggests that stimulus funding, such as the EU Next Generation funding, should be used to support these changes.

Transforming the traditional car-dominated city is one of the biggest challenges in urban design. Barcelona has some of the highest traffic density, air pollution and noise levels in Europe, outlines the paper, with such conditions responsible for an estimated 3000 premature deaths per year, according to Mueller et al (2017). But while 60 per cent of public space in Barcelona (ie, roads and parking) is used by cars, only a quarter of journeys are taken by car.

During the pandemic, cities increased space for active transportation at the expense of cars, and increased cycling lanes. And air pollution and noise levels fell considerably. Cities such as Vienna, Boston, Oakland, Philadelphia and Minneapolis closed roads to give more space to pedestrians and cyclists, and these changes may eventually become permanent. Nieuwenhuijsen points out that a recent German study using cycling counters in 106 European cities showed that the 20 cities that had considerably increased their cycling network (on average by 11.5 kilometres) during the pandemic saw an increase in cycling by between 11 and 40 per cent compared with those that did not.

New urban models

Nieuwenhuijsen turns to the likely impacts of several new urban models. Looking at the Superblocks approach, the brainchild of urban planner Salvador Rueda, he points out that 500 Superblocks are planned in Barcelona, and will help reduce motorised traffic in some streets of a block and provide space for people, active travel and green space. They will reduce air pollution and noise levels, heat island effects, and increase green space and physical activity, he says, with the potential to prevent nearly 700 premature deaths each year in Barcelona. 

Similar principles, he continues, are being applied in low-traffic neighbourhoods, which use bollards, planters and cameras to remove through traffic from neighbourhoods while retaining motor vehicle access to all homes. These have been part of a series of relatively inexpensive and easy-to-implement streetscape interventions, delivered as emergency measures to provide safer walking and cycling environments, and to try and discourage growth in car use while public transport has been operating under capacity restrictions. 

Paris is introducing Carlos Moreno’s concept of the 15-minute city, where work, school, entertainment, and other activities can be reached within a 15-minute walk of the home. The model, Nieuwenhuijsen anticipates, will require a major rethink of cities and a mixing of different population groups rather than the current zoning by social economic status. As well as helping to reduce inequalities, it will also reduce the need for long-distance travel and therefore CO₂ emissions, air pollution and noise levels.

The model involves the creation of a city of villages and a return to more traditional city design, with key aspects being ecology (green space), proximity, solidarity among citizens, and participation of citizens.

“The 15-minute city calls for a return to a more local and somewhat slower way of life, where the current longer commuting time is instead invested in richer relationships with what’s nearby,” says the paper.

Finally, Nieuwenhuijsen considers work going on in Vauban, Freiburg and Hamburg to create the car-free city. Hamburg plans to be car-free by 2034, partly to address the climate crisis. Car-free cities reduce unnecessary private motorised traffic and provide easy access to active and public transportation, explains Nieuwenhuijsen, while reducing air pollution and noise levels, increasing physical activity, and creating space for green space. Vauban in Freiburg, Germany, has already established itself as a neighbourhood without cars and with sustainable housing, he notes.

Common principles

Drawing on the commonalities of these models, Nieuwenhuijsen observes that they aim to reduce private car use and increase public and active transportation, and thereby lower air pollution, noise and heat island effects, and increase physical activity and, ultimately, health.

“They inverse the transport planning pyramid, where the priority for planning for cars is replaced by giving priority to public transportation and walking and cycling,” he says. “They give more public space and create more infrastructure for the transport modes that are desired, such as increasing safe cycling infrastructure. Walking is a sustainable and healthy mode of transport for trips up to 3km, while cycling for up to 7km and more with electric bikes. Furthermore, they increase green space.”

Nieuwenhuijsen goes on to caution that the new urban models discussed are from Europe, which raises the question of whether they could be implemented in hyper-dense cities in countries like China, Singapore and Japan, or the ultra-low density cities typical of the US, Canada and Australia.

“Probably these models are best suited for the hyper-dense cities, where many destinations are nearby and where there is often already a good public transport system, and implementation could go ahead without much problems,” he remarks.

Other considerations include taking into account local cultural and social norms, to avoid widening health and social inequalities, as well as weather conditions such as high temperatures in places like Africa, India and the middle East that may affect the ability for active transportation.

“These ideas need support and investments,” he concludes. “The Covid-19 financial stimulus packages, such as the Biden administration Infrastructure Plan and the EU Green Deal and the Next Generation funding, can contribute a great deal to improve urban and transport practices, and provide an excellent opportunity to improve public health.

“The new urban models are a great opportunity to bring together different sectors and stakeholders, and improve the link between urban planning and health again.”

The paper ‘New urban models for more sustainable, liveable and healthier cities post Covid-19; reducing air pollution, noise and heat island effects, and increasing green space and physical activity’ is published in Environment International.