Annoyance and perception of noise in rural and urban French areas (20m Lecture)

Traffic, urban, and occupational noises are now described as major environmental problems, which can greatly interfere with health. The degree of affect - especially noise perception and annoyance - can vary between subjects, according to their occupational status, their place of life and their pre-existing diseases. These points have been investigated by a cross-sectional study performed in an urban area (UA) and in a rural area (RA) of Auvergne (France). The aim of this study was to identify the main factors affecting noise perception and annoyance.

Data have been collected with a standardized questionnaire, applied to 484 subjects (242 living in UA and 242 in RA). Subjects were asked about their socio-demographic characteristics, exposures to occupational noise and to domestic noise, present diseases and feeling of health status. Statistical analysis were performed with Fischer test, Chi2 test or Fisher's Exact Test. Logistic regression models and multiple linear regression were used to identify factors of noise annoyance (with Stata v12).  484 subjects (308 women and 176 men) were included. Comparable mean ages are observed in both population (46.2 +/- 18.9 yrs in UA - 47.7 +/- 17.4 yrs in RA), with a significant female predominance noted in UA (67%) comparatively to RA (58%). Both populations recognized noise pollution as a major environmental problem. A majority of subjects has been occupationally exposed (66% in UA - 61% in RA), but few of them have used regularly individual hearing protection (14% in UA - 23% in RA). Most people live with their family (82% in RA - 70% in UA), mainly in house in RA (76%) or in apartment in UA (74%). In the vicinity of home, noise annoyance is mentioned and it is especially associated with road traffic, building tools, airports, neighbours, restaurants/pubs, rail traffic and industrial activities. In this study, the perception and the noise annoyance is specially explained by gender (females are more annoyed by noise than males) and age (the level of noise annoyance is inversely linked to the age); place of life (UA or RA) and pre-existing diseases were less contributive.

Developing policy to address near roadway pollution health hazards (50m Lecture)

Particulate air pollution is estimated to cause about 3.2 million deaths annually worldwide. Field research has shown that pollutants are elevated next to major traffic sources, including ultrafine particles (UFP), black carbon, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and others. Studies also show that proximity to major roadways and highways is associated with risk of cardiovascular, pulmonary and other health outcomes. However, noise, SES and other possible risk factors have not been entirely ruled out yet. While federal regulations exist for fine particulate matter, near roadway exposures are largely unregulated. California has limited siting of new schools next to freeways and San Francisco requires enhanced ventilation in buildings near local pollution sources in some circumstances. But there are currently no well-established approaches to regulating near roadway pollution. Beyond regulation, it might be possible to design urban sites and buildings in ways that would be protective. However, LEED certification provides little incentive to include high end filtration in the ventilation systems of housing located near heavy traffic. Nor do building codes

or zoning requirements to our knowledge, although these vary considerably from place to place. While health impact assessments and environmental impact reviews have the potential to introduce protective measures, they rarely do so with regard to local traffic pollution. One problem is the use of fine PM as a metric for near roadway exposures when this marker is elevated only slightly next to roads. In this session I will review the evidence for a need to address “hot spots” of traffic pollution and the challenges for regulating and responding to it. I will report on the ideas emerging from a project that I direct (funded by the Kresge Foundation) that seeks to influence policy and practice in the Boston area. In the City of Somerville, just north of Boston, we are developing municipal policies that are protective of pollution from the highway running through the city. In Boston Chinatown we are seeking to influence the design and construction of near highway housing to insure that it is protective.

KEYS TO FACILITATING HEALTHY CITIES PARTNERSHIP IN INDONESIA: A CASE STUDY OF MAKASSAR (20m Lecture)

image: thelancet.com

Research is completed in Makassar City - South Sulawesi, Republic of Indonesia to identify the key success factors in implementing the Healthy City Plan which utilized the WHO Healthy Cities Model (HCM). This project focused on improving local partnerships and increasing inter-sectoral action across all agencies. The HCM recognizes that improved agency and community partnerships have a direct relationship to better planning outcomes. This presentation will report on the findings of a PhD study at Griffith University. Griffith University has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the City Government of Makassar to build research, education and training capacity. The research completed a comprehensive review of Government documents, 24 in-depth interviews with key informants and community focus group discussions. The findings of the qualitative study highlighted that the main factors of organizational environment context, the nature of the Agency membership, structures and processes, the clarity of communication and the availability of resources were the significant determinants in facilitating improved partnership outcomes within Makassar. However, even with Government support for a HC Model in local cities, many Agencies continued to run their programs independently; there was limited co-ordination across the Agencies - so the local partnerships were problematic.
The Indonesian National Government has developed a new Master Regional Strategic Plan 2013 which will impact on Makassar City Government local planning processes. The lessons learned from this research may be valuable in informing the partnership arrangements for the new Master Plan.

Outside-the-Box Advocacy: Organizing Public Health’s Engagement in Built Environment Advocacy (50m Lecture)

Recently, the buzz phrase “Health in All Policies” has almost become ubiquitous, especially in public health’s efforts to come to the land use planning and

infrastructure design discussion. Public health has also seen dollars for marketing and education aimed at our community decision makers and their constituents become more valuable, whether by reduced funding, higher demand for health messaging, or both. Throughout 2012 and 2013, Tulsa Health Department has engaged with the Tulsa regional area Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Council, Tulsa’s Metropolitan Planning Organization, City of Tulsa planning and engineering staff, and various health minded coalitions to bring health and the built environment together in the minds of decision makers and the community. This presentation will tell Tulsa’s success story and provide tangible action steps to implement healthy built environment advocacy efforts. Participants will interact in small groups to discuss the process by which situational circumstance focuses advocacy messaging and share ideas among other groups. Through this interactive session, participants will walk away with innovative techniques to employ in their jurisdiction with limited resources in order to educate and advocate for health with decision makers, the public and most importantly, their own agencies.

Climate change and urban health (80m Lecture)

According to the current state of Climate Change and foreseeing a scenario of a possible worsening due to the general society business as usual, it is clear that major challenges are coming in terms of health, particularly in cities. Further measures and changes in cities are expected either in mitigation or/and adaptation.

It is foreseeable that cities will accommodate about 70% of world population by 2050. Against this backdrop and in scope of environmental, economic and social change that we are currently observing in society, it will be important to adopt a set of strategies and action programs for the protection and promotion of urban health. Particularly through urban planning and in the reconstruction of cities more sustainable and healthy.
With this paper it was done a review of the best policies in terms of sustainable development and healthy cities and we conclude that for a urban health, with the backdrop of climate change, we must achieve essential premises to minimize the consumption of space and natural resources, the rationalization and efficient management of urban streams, the health protection of urban population, equal access to resources and services and social and cultural diversity.