Urban health: an urban planning perspective

Urban planning processes and practices, and their impacts on the health and well being of citizens, are numerous and take many forms. Creating living urban environments that are conducive to health and well being requires an integrated approach between urban planners and health professionals. This article focuses on the almost 100 years of experience of Canada's National Capital Commission (NCC) in developing urban plans (policy plans, master plans) for planning and building Canada's Capital. To address the continuous growing public interest in environmental concerns, the NCC developed in the 1990s an integrated approach using a strategic environmental assessment (SEA). This approach could be easily transferred to various urban-planning contexts worldwide. This paper aims to describe the NCC approach, in order to stimulate discussion on growing environmental health concerns and urban planning.