Tackling root causes upstream of unhealthy urban development (TRUUD): Protocol of a five-year prevention research consortium

Black, Daniel; Ayres, Sarah; Bondy, Krista; Brierley, Rachel; Campbell, Rona; Carhart, Neil; Coggon, John; Eaton, Eleanor; Fichera, Eleonora; Gibson, Andy; Hatleskog, Eli; Hickman, Matthew; Hicks, Ben; Hunt, Alistair; Pain, Kathy; Pearce, Nick; Pilkington, Paul; Rosenberg, Ges; Scally, Gabriel

Abstract

Poor quality urban environments substantially increase non-communicable disease. Responsibility for associated decision-making is dispersed across multiple agents and systems: fast growing urban authorities are the primary gatekeepers of new development and change in the UK, yet the driving forces are remote private sector interests supported by a political economy focused on short-termism and consumption-based growth. Economic valuation of externalities is widely thought to be fundamental, yet evidence on how to value and integrate it into urban development decision-making is limited, and it forms only a part of the decision-making landscape. Researchers must find new ways of integrating socio-environmental costs at numerous key leverage points across multiple complex systems. This mixed-methods study comprises of six highly integrated work packages. It aims to develop and test a multi-action intervention in two urban areas: one on large-scale mixed-use development, the other on major transport. The core intervention is the co-production with key stakeholders through interviews, workshops, and participatory action research, of three areas of evidence: economic valuations of changed health outcomes; community-led media on health inequalities; and routes to potential impact mapped through co-production with key decision-makers, advisors and the lay public. This will be achieved by: mapping system of actors and processes involved in each case study; developing, testing and refining the combined intervention; evaluating the extent to which policy and practice changes amongst our target users, and the likelihood of impact on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) downstream. The integration of such diverse disciplines and sectors presents multiple practical/operational issues. The programme is testing new approaches to research, notably with regards practitioner-researcher integration and transdisciplinary research co-leadership. Other critical risks relate to urban development timescales, uncertainties in upstream-downstream causality, and the demonstration of impact.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 5, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jul 8, 2022
• Publication Date: Jul 25, 2022
• Deposit Date: Oct 20, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 21, 2022
• Journal: Wellcome Open Research
• Electronic ISSN: 2398-502X
• Publisher: F1000Research
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Pages: 30
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16382.2
• Keywords: Commercial determinants of health, Decision-making, Upstream, Risk, Non-communicable disease, Power, Inequality, Valuation, Urban environments, Public involvement, Planetary health, Co-production, Short-termism
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9906443
• Publisher URL: https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/6-30/v2