MEASUR
Most people now live in cities, and there is a major challenge to build, renovate, and (re)develop significantly more housing. Urban densification affects people's health, both during the construction process and after completion. As a result, there is growing interest from both the public and private sectors in healthy urban development that protects as well as promotes people's health. However, the scientific foundation for healthy urban development remains limited. Key reasons for this include insufficiently developed measurement instruments to evaluate it, their limited scalability, and the weak connection between the results they produce and the concrete courses of action available to professionals and citizens.
Objective
The development of various measurement instruments, together with a flexible, modular, and user-friendly framework for monitoring interventions in urban living environments, both during the construction phase and in the spatial design of the living environment.
We make use of the Living Lab Utrecht–Cartesius as a test location. Cartesius is a residential area under development for people with diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, with a central focus on health. A public–private partnership is active there, enabling successful implementation.
Results
The framework includes the development of a generic technical and FAIR data infrastructure to integrate various measurement instruments. In addition, it includes the development of tools for data analysis and visualization, providing actionable insights to various stakeholders, including residents. Special attention is given to the involvement of residents with a low socioeconomic position (SEP).
Approach
All components of the framework, including the individual measurement instruments, will be thoroughly tested in Cartesius. Iterative feedback cycles will ensure continuous improvement and refinement. The applicability of the framework will also be evaluated by experts from relevant (market) parties outside the consortium to ensure that the framework is flexible, scalable, and open.
Education impact
MEASUR supports professionals in health, spatial planning, and policy through innovative measurement instruments and a standardized evaluation framework. This enables better measurement, substantiation, and sharing of the impact of living environment interventions. By making data reusable and translating it into actionable insights, the project promotes collaboration, knowledge sharing, and more effective design of healthy living environments.
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HU researchers involved in the research
Collaboration with knowledge partners
