The GREENH-City interventional research protocol on health in all policies

Abstract

BackgroundThis paper presents the research protocol of the GoveRnance for Equity, EnviroNment and Health in the City (GREENH-City) project funded by the National Institute for Cancer (Subvention N°2017–003-INCA). In France, health inequities have tended to increase since the late 1980s. Numerous studies show the influence of social, economic, geographic and political determinants on health inequities across the life course. Exposure to environmental factors is uneven across the population and may impact on health and health inequities. In cities, green spaces contribute to creating healthy settings which may help tackle health inequities. Health in All Policies (HiAP) represents one of the key strategies for addressing social and environmental determinants of health inequities. The objective of this research is to identify the most promising interventions to operationalize the HiAP approaches at the city level to tackle health inequities through urban green spaces. It is a participatory interventional research to analyze public policy in real life setting (WHO Healthy Cities).Method/designIt is a mixed method systemic study with a quantitative approach for the 80 cities and a comparative qualitative multiple case-studies of 6 cities. The research combines 3 different lens: 1/a political analysis of how municipalities apply HiAP to reduce social inequities of health through green space policies and interventions 2/a geographical and topological characterization of green spaces and 3/ on-site observations of the use of green spaces by the inhabitants.ResultsCity profiles will be identified regarding their HiAP approaches and the extent to which these cities address social inequities in health as part of their green space policy action. The analysis of the transferability of the results will inform policy recommendations in the rest of the Health City Network and widely for the French municipalities.Discussion/conclusionThe study will help identify factors enabling the implementation of the HiAP approach at a municipal level, promoting the development of green spaces policies in urban areas in order to tackle the social inequities in health.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-017-4812-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

From intervention to interventional system: towards greater theorization in population health intervention research

“…The GoveRnance for Equity ENvironment and Health in the City (GREENH-City) project illustrates this. It aims to address the conditions in which green areas could contribute to reducing health inequality by intervening on individual, political, organizational or geographical factors [ 34 ]. The researchers combined evidence, theories, frameworks and multidisciplinary expertise to hypothesize the potential action mechanisms of green areas on health inequalities.…”

Relationship between Urban Green Spaces and Cancer: A Scoping Review

“…In order to gain a more precise vision of the nature of the research on links between green spaces and cancer and to identify the knowledge needs on the effects of green spaces on cancer, we conducted a scoping review whose protocol was published in 2018 [28]. This review takes place within the framework of the GoveRnance for Equity EnviroNment and Health in the City (GREENH-City) research project [29].…”

Temporalités et appropriations des connaissances dans une démarche de recherche partenariale : les décalages à l’œuvre dans le projet GREENH-City

“…Dans un premier temps, nous cherchons à décrire puis à situer dans le temps le processus de recherche et les différentes activités menées par l’équipe académique et par le RfVS. Pour ce faire, nous nous basons à la fois sur le protocole de recherche publié (11) et sur les données expérientielles recueillies par le RfVS tout au long du projet et regroupées dans un tableau de bord.…”

“…Ces degrés dans le partenariat impactent la manière dont se déroule la recherche, la nature des résultats produits et leur appropriation par les acteurs de terrain (10). Le projet GREENH-City (GoveRnance for Equity, ENvironment and Health in the City) (11) sur lequel s’appuie cet article permet d’interroger les effets d’une forme hybride de design de recherche associant une intervention de type expérimentation naturelle à la participation d’un acteur de terrain dans le processus de recherche. Projet interdisciplinaire et intersectoriel, il associe en effet des chercheur.e.s en santé publique, environnement et géographie de la santé avec un acteur opérationnel : le Réseau français des Villes-Santé de l’OMS (RfVS).…”