Mollema, A.H. (Heleen) (2021) How does your type of neighbourhood influence your health? A quantitative study of the influence of Dutch neighbourhood types on local physical and mental health. Master thesis.
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Abstract
Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases have become the number one cause of death worldwide as well as the main cause of the global disease burden. The loss of healthy life years is largely preventable, in part through neighbourhood planning and design. In the Netherlands knowledge on healthy neighbourhoods is almost exclusively practice- based. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) has set out a survey among 250 professionals to find what constitutes a healthy neighbourhood. The conclusion was a Vinex-style neighbourhood. This raised the question: What is the influence of neighbourhood typology on local physical and mental health? A review of academic literature helped to identify three categories of health determinants (greenery, environmental hygiene and complete & compact city) and the mechanisms they use to influence health. It also became clear that health is an unambiguous concept that can be approached from different angles. Different Dutch neighbourhood types were identified that all feature these categories in different compositions. Through multiple linear regression analysis neighbourhoods, the relationship between neighbourhood type and health has been investigated in neighbourhoods in Groningen and Nijmegen (N=103). As a variable for local physical and mental the Global Activity Limitation Indicator (GALI) was used. A separate model was used to test the relationship between the health determinant variables and GALI. Due to unexpected results for the walkability index, an additional model was tested with the three variables underlying the walkability index. Statistical analysis showed that the relationship between neighbourhood types and health is minor. All three health determinants had a result opposite of what was expected based on the literature review. Decreases in the green space ratio and walkability index led to worse health outcomes. Reversely, increases in average noise exposure led to better health outcomes. When further exploring the elements of the walkability index, it became clear that increases in land-use mix and street connectivity do not lead to better health outcomes, as would be expected based on academic literature. Only increases in population density lead to better health outcomes. Possible explanations include the Dutch tradition of compact city policies where more increases in walkability no longer improve health outcomes. It can be concluded that neighbourhood type is not very relevant when it comes to planning healthy neighbourhoods. The only statistically significant outcome of the analysis shows some benefits of Vinex-neighbourhoods but that can likely be attributed to variables that were not included in the analysis.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Degree programme: | Environmental & Infrastructure Planning |
| Supervisor: | Ramezani, S. |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Aug 2021 11:53 |
| Last Modified: | 05 Aug 2021 11:53 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3639 |
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