Ontological foundations of urban health policy ideas: the case of planning Sydney’s Western Parkland City

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map of the Western Parkland City.

Source: Western Parkland City Authority (WPCA)

Table 1. Summary of the key urban health policy ideas in the Western Parkland City.

	Urban health policy ideas in the Western Parkland City
	Creating jobs and education opportunities	Improving access to amenities and services	Investing in health infrastructure	Creating and designing healthy spaces	Conserving the natural environment	Managing and building resilience to impacts of climate change	Promoting healthy food environments
Summary	Attracting investment and businesses to the region.	30-minute city, improving connectivity, high density planning, jobs and services closer to home.	Building, upgrading hospitals and health services.	Investing in public spaces, healthy streets, walkability, cycle paths, urban design, shared spaces	Open spaces and parklands, green grid, protecting the environment	Dealing with urban heat, strengthening resilience against hazards (floods, fires), environmental sustainability, carbon neutral	Improving access to healthy food and food security
Link with health	Jobs and skills training opportunities, income, catalyst for economic growth of the region	Living close to home saves commute time for other ‘healthy’ activities (e.g. time spent with family)	Investing in the ‘health’ sector, improving healthcare services, advancing the healthcare industry	Social functions of public spaces, health benefits of active lifestyles, recreation	Health of the ‘environment’ and biodiversity influence human health	Protecting the community from hazards	Providing the community with healthier nutrition and preventing obesity
Examples of initiatives	Economic Development Roadmap, Advanced Manufacturing Research Facility	Delivering a connected City policy goal, cultural and community facilities	Liverpool Innovation Precinct, Multiversity, Objective 21, Health and Education Precincts	Objective 7, Healthy Streets Framework, Healthy Built Environment Checklist	Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan, 50-year vision for Greater Sydney’s open space and parklands, Objective 27	Hawkesbury-Nepean flooding modelling, Turn down the heat plan, Net zero by 2050	Western Sydney Health Alliance Strategic Plan 2022-25

Table 2. Alignment of policy ideas with the four urban health paradigms.

Urban health policy idea	Four urban health paradigms
	Medical-industrial city	Urban health science	Healthy built environment	Health social movements
Creating jobs and education opportunities	+	+	+	–
Improving access to amenities and services	+	+	+	–
Investing in health infrastructure	+	+	+	–
Creating and designing healthy spaces	–	+	+	+
Conserving the natural environment	–	+	+	–
Building resilience to climate hazards	–	+	+	–
Promoting healthy food environments	–	+	+	+

+ indicates alignment of views is present; – No alignment of views.

Table 3. Alignment of policy ideas with the five urban health research traditions.

Urban health policy idea	Five urban health research traditions
	Sustainable urban development	Urban ecosystem services	Urban resilience	Healthy urban planning	Urban green spaces
Creating jobs and education opportunities	+	–	–	+	–
Improving access to amenities and services	+	–	–	+	–
Investing in health infrastructure	–	–	–	–	–
Creating and designing healthy spaces	+	+	–	+	+
Conserving the natural environment	+	+	+	+	+
Building resilience to climate hazards	+	+	+	+	–
Promoting healthy food environments	+	–	–	+	-

+ indicates alignment of views is present; – No alignment of views.

Table 4. Alignment with the outlook on systems, locus of change and scale.

	Systems		Change		Scale
	Complicated	Complex	Structure	Agency	Individual	Community	Region
Creating jobs and education opportunities	+	–	+	–	+	+	–
Improving access to amenities and services	+	–	+	–	+	+	–
Investing in health infrastructure	+	–	+	–	–	+	+
Creating healthy public spaces	+	–	+	+	+	+	–
Conserving natural environments	+	+	+	–	–	–	+
Building resilience to climate hazards	+	–	+	+	–	+	+
Promoting healthy food environments	+	+	+	+	+	+	+

+ indicates alignment of views is present; – No alignment of views.