雷恩

Healthy Urban Planning in Rennes

The École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique (EHESP) research team works closely with local stakeholders in the City of Rennes and Rennes Métropole to identify pathways to translate healthy urban planning from theory into practice.

Since 2010, EHESP has been developing a body of research and expertise on healthy urban planning to understand the multiple co-benefits of urban environment strategies for health and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Among many initiatives to bring the research sector and local authorities closer together and sustain evidence-based decision-making, two important achievements have been the establishment of an interdisciplinary urban planning and health governance body, and testing of a healthy urban planning guideline called ISadOrA in a neighbourhood urban renewal project in Rennes.

The EHESP ISadOra guide was used to identify priority issues for health and wellbeing (active mobility, inclusion, social interaction, exposure to pollutants, the urban heat island), and to support urban development that offers co-benefits for health, environment and climate change. The partnership between institutions, urban planners and scientists has produced summary sheets structured around 12 themes. The sheets are transferable to other urban contexts and are designed to help planners to adopt a healthy urban planning approach.

This work has been facilitated by the establishment of a governance body that brings together local institutions and scientists, enabling exchange of knowledge, development of trust and cross-disciplinary work.

For further information on healthy urban planning in France, check special issue n.459 (2022) of La Santé en Action, edited by Santé Publique France (the French national health agency).