Abstract
BackgroundThere is a dearth of evidence regarding the impact of urban regeneration projects on public health, particularly the nature and degree to which urban regeneration impacts upon health-related behaviour change. Natural experiment methodology enables comprehensive large-scale evaluations of such interventions. The Connswater Community Greenway in Belfast is a major urban regeneration project involving the development of a 9 km linear park, including the provision of new cycle paths and walkways. In addition to the environmental improvements, this complex intervention involves a number of programmes to promote physical activity in the regenerated area. The project affords a unique opportunity to investigate the public health impact of urban regeneration.Methods/DesignThe evaluation framework was informed by the socio-ecological model and guided by the RE-AIM Framework. Key components include: (1) a quasi-experimental before-and-after survey of the Greenway population (repeated cross-sectional design), in tandem with data from a parallel Northern Ireland-wide survey for comparison; (2) an assessment of changes in the local built environment and of walkability using geographic information systems; (3) semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of survey respondents, and a range of community stakeholders, before and after the regeneration project; and (4) a cost-effectiveness analysis. The primary outcome is change in proportion of individuals identified as being regularly physically active, according to the current UK recommendations. The RE-AIM Framework will be used to make an overall assessment of the impact of the Greenway on the physical activity behaviour of local residents.DiscussionThe Connswater Community Greenway provides a significant opportunity to achieve long-term, population level behaviour change. We argue that urban regeneration may be conceptualised meaningfully as a complex intervention comprising multiple components with the potential, individually and interactively, to affect the behaviour of a diverse population. The development and implementation of our comprehensive evaluation framework reflects this complexity and illuminates an approach to the empirical, rigorous evaluation of urban regeneration. More specifically, this study will add to the much needed evidence-base about the impact of urban regeneration on public health as well as having important implications for the development of natural experiment methodology.
Highlights
There is a dearth of evidence regarding the impact of urban regeneration projects on public health, the nature and degree to which urban regeneration impacts upon health-related behaviour change
We argue that urban regeneration may be conceptualised meaningfully as a complex intervention comprising multiple components with the potential, individually and interactively, to affect the behaviour of a diverse population
The potential of the built environment to influence population levels of physical activity was recognised by the World Health Organization [3], and subsequently in the UK Foresight report [4]
Summary
There is a dearth of evidence regarding the impact of urban regeneration projects on public health, the nature and degree to which urban regeneration impacts upon health-related behaviour change. In addition to the environmental improvements, this complex intervention involves a number of programmes to promote physical activity in the regenerated area. The project affords a unique opportunity to investigate the public health impact of urban regeneration. The UK Foresight report highlighted the need for evidence of the effectiveness of environmental interventions to help to sustain behaviour changes [4]. A review of gaps in the evidence for physical activity promotion highlighted a need for socio-ecological studies of community interventions [6]. A systematic review of walking to promote physical activity further emphasised the need to study the effects of larger scale community interventions [7]. There is a gap in the evidence investigating the public health impact of community-wide, environmental change interventions
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