Covenant 'Building a Healthy Neighbourhood' signed by a broad coalition of parties for long-term monitoring of health and well-being in area development Cartesius Utrecht
A broad coalition of parties including science, business and government have joined forces to measure how an area development can contribute to better health. The Cartesius consortium, consisting of area developers Ballast Nedam Development and MRP, together with the Municipality of Utrecht, NS Stations, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht University, housing corporation Portaal, Achmea Real Estate and CBRE Investment Management, signed the 'Covenant Building a Healthy Neighbourhood'. The covenant lays the foundation for a collaboration to measure interventions in the built environment and innovations in healthcare to positively influence the health of residents.
Rising healthcare costs force change
To respond to rising healthcare costs, the great pressure on healthcare and the increasing focus on preventive care, the 'Covenant Building a Healthy Neighbourhood' was established. This covenant concerns an integral collaboration of knowledge parties to design a nationally applicable monitoring programme, aimed at investigating links between the design of the (living) environment, primary care and health, with the aim of gaining insight into which interventions in the physical and care environment contribute positively to the health and well-being of residents.
International first
Cartesius Utrecht will be the first area development where, together with science, health will be measured. This will be done through an integrated approach with knowledge partners, local government, companies and healthcare institutions and in alignment with the agenda of the HealthHUB Utrecht and the Data and Knowledge Hub Healthy Urban Living. The World Health Organization (WHO), during the Economic Board Utrecht (EBU) trade mission in Copenhagen, agreed to include Cartesius Utrecht as a project in the programme 'Health in the Well-Being Economy' as part of 'WHO Healthy Cities'*.
Measuring interventions for better health in area development
Over the next 5 to 10 years, interventions will be implemented in the Cartesius Utrecht area development to measure the health and social well-being of residents. The effects of those interventions will be measured to determine which actions work best. Among other things, the aim is to learn from it, to share knowledge gained in order to make even better and more careful care and design innovations widely applicable and to set up targeted health interventions. The parties' ambition is to scale up the monitoring programme to more locations in the Netherlands.
Living longer healthy and happy lives in Utrecht 'The Heart of Health'
Utrecht is an international testing ground for longer healthy and happy living. Thus, a healthy area development like Cartesius Utrecht actively contributes to Utrecht's international 'Heart of Health' regional positioning. Utrecht is the beating heart of the healthy society. Its mission as a region is to bring about sustainable, positive change. The vision includes a world where people can live a better life, with more satisfaction and in a living environment that promotes their well-being. Cartesius Utrecht supports and contributes positively to this vision in word and deed and was recently renamed Heart of Health area development.
Read here the Dutch press release.
