COmprehensive evaluation of CREATING PUBLIC open spaces for enhancing HEALTH in local communities (CO-CREATING PUBLIC HEALTH)

The research project provides new knowledge on the impact of municipal public health initiatives by studying the establishment and use of meeting places for activity in local communities. The project tracks the development of these places from concept to completion in six municipalities in Eastern Norway. The project is led by the Department of Public Health Science at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, in collaboration with Tverga, Asplan Viak, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and the University of Southern Denmark. The project has three focus areas. The first is to examine the processes involved in creating these meeting places for activity in the municipalities, including planning, public participation, and co-creation. We conducted group interviews with 56 participants representing various stakeholders in the municipal co-creation processes. We found that the stakeholders face three key trade-offs: iteration versus solution, innovation versus convention, and flexibility versus planning. Being aware of these trade-offs is crucial for the success and outcome of the project. We also analysed data from group interviews with municipal project groups to explore their experiences with public participation. The result showed that project groups found that residents were a great source of inspiration and the most important knowledge source. By creating good frameworks and facilitating public participation, the project groups found involving residents to be rewarding and beneficial for the final result. Additionally, we compared what youth and planners consider important for using these meeting places. The results showed that accessibility, inclusion, and social factors were important for both groups. However, planners’ assessments did not always reflect what youth considered most important. To ensure the places are used, municipalities must focus on the value of youth participating and ensure they contribute from concept to completion. In this focus area, we are also developing a needs assessment tool for municipalities and other stakeholders to use when creating new meeting places. The tool is based on systematized research and expert knowledge about factors that promote the use of meeting places among different target groups. The tool will be a resource for municipal planners to design places that meet the needs of their target groups. The second focus area is the use of the meeting places after completion. We will map who uses the places and how they are used. We will also study the impact of the design and layout of the places, as well as the surrounding neighbourhood factors that influence usage. We are testing a new monitoring system at two newly established places to study long-term use. The monitoring is done with cameras equipped with AI solutions that quantify moving objects directly from video streams. The data is analysed for monthly, daily, and hourly usage, as well as which facilities are more or less used. Monitoring will continue until the end of the project, and so far, we have analysed data over a 98-day period at one of the places. Although a longer observation period is needed to understand usage patterns, the results show that the space is visited before and during lunchtime on weekends, and seasonal variations affect usage. In the long run, this can be a useful tool for understanding activity patterns and informing future municipal planning and priorities. The third focus area aims to provide knowledge about the importance of establishing such places for community residents and public health. The impact of the places on children’s and youths’s physical activity, social contact, and well-being will be mapped before and after the places open. Data has been collected from children and youth in grades 5-10 at selected schools in all six municipalities before the places opened, with a total of 1,153 pupils participating. Analysis of data from one municipality showed that girls who perceived their neighbourhood as very safe were more likely to be physically active in their neighbourhood compared to girls who perceived it as less safe or unsafe. Additionally, increasing distance between school and home was related to less use of active transport to school. There was also a tendency for higher walkability to be associated with more use of active transport to leisure activities. Analysis of data from five municipalities showed that better access to neighbourhood facilities was associated with a higher likelihood of being physically active five or more times a week. Having schools in the neighbourhood increased the likelihood of youth being physically active five or more times a week by 70%.

The overall aim of this project is to obtain new knowledge and competence on the processes and implications of health-promoting neighborhood public open spaces (POS) for physical and social activities for inhabitants across generations and backgrounds. The research project will follow the development of POS, from ideas until one to two years after opening, in 6-8 Norwegian municipalities. The proposed research project will address the need for more research-based knowledge of the impact of municipal public health measures. The project will contribute to fill research gaps and impact political prioritized means by examining the planning, needs assessment, co-creation, implementation, and maintenance processes of POS in local communities (WP1). Further, the project will investigate neighborhood context, design elements and content qualities of the POS (WP2), assess by whom and how the POS are used, and whether neighborhood contextual and individual factors are associated with use (WP2/WP3). Also, the impact of creating POS on the inhabitants’ neighborhood satisfaction, cohesion, safety, physical activity, social interactions and support, life-satisfaction, and well-being/quality of life will be assessed (WP3). Lastly, evidence-based tools for further use by to local authorities on mapping inhabitants needs, for monitoring long-term use, and for assessing impact in the local community will be developed and tested. Five partners join forces in this collaborative project. The partners include a group of researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (the project leader), Norwegian Institute of Public Health and University of Southern Denmark, and stakeholders representing the public and the private sector from Tverga and Asplan Viak. The project will also actively involve local stakeholders from different sectors in the municipalities that are planning and implementing the new POS.