Presented by Meridith Sones Simon Fraser University Using cutting-edge technology and tools, INTERACT is conducting natural experiment studies on major changes in urban form in four Canadian cities (a multiuse greenway in Vancouver, a sustainable development plan in Montreal, a bicycle network in Victoria, and Bus Rapid Transit in Saskatoon). Applying an integrated knowledge translation approach in each city, INTERACT aims to: (1) understand context of urban interventions; (2) measure change in urban form; (3) analyze impact of interventions on health, wellbeing, and social inequalities; (4) mobilize knowledge to guide future decision making on urban change. Kestens Y, Fuller D, Winters M, Bell S, Cantinotti M, Datta G, Lewis P, Lord S, McKay H, Morency C, Muhajarine N, Nelson T, Sims-Gould J, Stanley K, Wasfi R, Shareck M, Berscheid J, Gough M, Laberee K, Ottoni C, Poirier Stephens Z, Pugh C, Sones M, Brondeel R, Thigpen C, Luan H. Monitoring The Impact of Urban Form Changes on Health and Inequality: The INTERACT Methodology. Poster presentation at: Active Living Research Conference; February 2018; Banff, AB. (First prize for poster presentation)

1. Let’s INTERACT:
Mobilizing data, cities, and citizens for
healthy and equitable cities.
Interventions, Research, and Action in Cities Team
4TH INTERNATIONAL FUSE CONFERENCE

2. Healthy, equitable,
and sustainable cities
by design.

3. Using INTERACT’s scalable toolkit and
integrated approach to knowledge
mobilization, scientists and society are
joining forces to co-produce a research
agenda and contextual evidence on the
effectiveness of urban form interventions
implemented across geographic settings
and populations.

4. 81% of Canadians live
in cities.
Source: Maclean’s, 2017

5. Our postal code
is a powerful
predictor of our
health.
Photograph: Jean-Pierre Lescourret/Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images. Source: The Guardian, 2017

6. The Canadian government is promising to
spend over $180 billion on infrastructure
over 12 years. What impact will these
investments have on population health and
health equity?

7. “The shift to a focus on the impact of the built
environment on healthy living has taken time. Making
widespread changes is difficult and often starts as
smaller changes at the community level. Evidence is
important, but so is context. Evidence needs to match a
community’s needs, situation and characteristics to be
considered relevant.”
Dr. Theresa Tam, CPHO
Designing Healthy Living: Report on the State of Public
Health in Canada 2017

9. In partnership with cities and citizens, we harness big
data to deliver timely public health intelligence on
the influence of real world urban form interventions
on health, wellbeing, and social inequalities—
generating local evidence and action to advance the
design of smart, sustainable, and healthier cities for
all.

10. FOUR CITIES.
FOUR NATURAL EXPERIMENT STUDIES.
1
3
4
2 Arbutus Greenway
Vancouver, BC
All ages and abilities (AAA) Cycling Network
Victoria, BC
Bus Rapid Transit
Saskatoon, SK
Community Sustainability Plan
Montreal, QC

12. AIMS
1. Understand context of
urban interventions.
2. Measure change in urban
form, activity, mobility,
social interactions.
3. Analyze impact of
interventions on health,
wellbeing, and related
inequities.
4. Mobilize knowledge to
guide future decision-
making.

13. Lebel et al. (2011)
Whether an urban form
intervention is perceived as
a success or failure
depends on context.
Concept mapping can help
to uncover context,
highlighting the diverse
perspectives of
stakeholders, and refining
implementation and
research design.

14. Prompting question (E.g. “From your perspective, factors that impact the success or
failure of [name intervention] are…..“)
14
Statement
Generation
Research
Question
Ideas
Statement sorting and
rating
Sorting in
groups
Ranking items by importance,
feasibility.
Data analysis
Multidimensional
scaling
Cluster analysis
Visualization Focus groups
Interpreting the
map
Participants
INTERACT CONCEPT MAPPING PROCESS
Researchers
In partnership
Participants

15. Participants: 22 researchers,
10 knowledge users
Prompt: “Identify major real-
world issues or research
questions that you would
like to see addressed, as
well as relevant methods
you think could/should be
used in order to generate
strong evidence and guide
future interventions
changing environments…”
RESULTS: CONCEPT MAPPING DURING GRANT DEVELOPMENT

16. 16Monitoring and evaluation
Network characteristics and design
RESULTS: CONCEPT MAPPING - BIKE NETWORK IN VICTORIA, BC
Communications, promotions, public engagement
Political leadership and support
Stakeholder engagement and support
Participants:
8 community organizations
8 policy makers/government
10 private sector
3 citizen representatives
Prompt: “From your
perspective, factors that
impact the success or failure
of the bike network are…. ”

17. During concept mapping, individual items are rated by importance
and feasibility to identify those in the “Go Zone”…

18. “Go-zone” items - both important and feasible
Continued
commitment of
leaders to the vision
Careful planning at
intersections
Completeness/
connectivity of the
network
Sufficient funding for
the network
Invest in bike racks,
particularly at
destinations
Political Leadership Network Characteristics and Design
Evaluate ridership
pre/post installation
(counts and
perceptions)
Monitoring and Evaluation

19. Concept mapping clusters, ranked by importance.
Saskatoon Victoria
1. Reliability and Ease of Use
2. Funding
3. Overall Urban Design
Friendliness
4. Stakeholder Engagement
5. Costs
1. Political leadership and
support
2. Network characteristics
3. Monitoring and evaluation
4. Communication,
promotions and public
engagement
5. Stakeholder engagement
19
DIFFERENT CITY, DIFFERENT CONTEXT

20. BENEFITS OF CONCEPT MAPPING WITH PARTNERS
• Helps to inform research agendas with ‘real world’ needs
• Reaches a large spectrum of stakeholders and perspectives.
• Identifies convergent and divergent perspectives.
• Synthesizes local, contextual knowledge that is mutually beneficial.
• More systematic than a coffee date!

21. Concept mapping
isn’t always technical
or quantitative.
E.g. Arts-based
concept mapping in
Bahia, Brazil

22. Using INTERACT’s scalable toolkit and
integrated approach to knowledge
mobilization, scientists and society are
joining forces to co-produce a research
agenda and contextual evidence on the
effectiveness of urban form interventions
implemented across geographic settings
and populations.

23. Thanks!

24. Knowledge is
knowing a
tomato is a
fruit; wisdom is
not putting it in
a fruit salad.”
- Miles Kington

25. LET’S REIMAGINE OUR CITIES TO BE
HEALTHIER PLACES FOR EVERYONE.
#LETSINTERACT
WWW.TEAMINTERACT.CA
@TEAMINTERACT.CA
@TEAMINTERACTCA