Integrated Planning: Finding co-benefits for sustainability, resilience, health, and equity.

In the 19th century, cities “built out” diseases such as cholera, the plague, and diphtheria by modifying the built environment. The innovators of these solutions – without which we could not live in cities, the crucibles of modern society – were transdisciplinary teams who took a systems approach to tackle these challenges. Today’s wicked challenges (chronic disease, social and environmental injustices, and climatic change) are the most complex we have ever faced. Yet many processes and decision-making approaches remain siloed.

In this webinar, Dr Logan discussed how modern planning requires an adaptive approach that prioritises people, and spoke about some of the ongoing progress to support informed and integrated decisions.

Some key takeaways:

• We are an interconnected system, and many of our faults and challenges today are in great part because we largely ignore the connections in the system
• The cost of specialisation – we need to step back and see how things fit together
• The fallacy of false choice – councils and government saying ‘it’s either gentrification or ghettos’ – this is a false choice, as it ignores many other possibilities for improvement without gentrification
• The effectiveness of multiple-use areas to revitalise the ‘dance of the streets’ – more and more diverse people and activities result in an increased sense of safety, activity, and social wellbeing with more connection and interactions.

ABOUT DR TOM LOGAN
Dr Tom Logan is a Lecturer in Civil Systems Engineering at the University of Canterbury and Technical Director for Urban Intelligence Ltd. His PhD from the University of Michigan focused on risk and resilience of communities.
Through his work, he looks to adapt our towns and cities to climate change and works to achieve this to enhance co-benefits and synergies to ensure our communities become more resilient, sustainable, healthy, and equitable.

To contact Dr Tom Logan regarding his academi work and collaborative research opportunities at: tom.logan@canterbury.ac.nz

For work-related enquiries: info@urbanintelligence.co.nz  | www.urbanintelligence.co.nz