Lindhout, Nika (2021) Reducing the Health Inequality Gap: Design Thinking to Create Healthier Neighborhoods for People with a Low Socioeconomic Status. Master thesis.
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Abstract
A discrepancy in health has become visible between people with a low and high socioeconomic status. As our health depends partially on the places we live and work in, it is important to create healthy neighborhoods, especially for the most vulnerable. Over the last century, the discourse on planning has evolved from using top-down methods to giving way to collaborative approaches that involve residents and other stakeholders in spatial decision-making. However, these collaborative approaches have proven to be ineffective in dealing with complex urban problems and have been prone to powerful actors dominating the planning process. In this thesis, it is studied how ‘Design Thinking’ – a creative and innovative approach towards problem-solving that is often used in product design and related industries – may improve the spatial decision-making process on how to collaboratively create healthier neighborhoods and, therefore, reduce the health inequality gap. Based on a comparative case study analysis, the results show that through design thinking’s human-centered focus the wishes and needs of residents are taken more into account and a deeper understanding of the problem is realized. In addition, barriers to collaboration are overcome by using innovative tools in the process. Furthermore, in contrast to the premise of the collaborative rationale, this research shows that planners taking the lead may actually be beneficial when dealing with complex urban problems like health inequality. We conclude that design thinking enriches collaborative spatial decision-making, particularly when working with people with a low socioeconomic status.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Degree programme: | Spatial Sciences (Research) |
| Supervisor: | Niekerk, F. |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Sep 2021 08:58 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Sep 2021 08:58 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3680 |
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