De Mulder, Sophie and Goethals, Michel and Verlaek, Mart and Gommé, Liesbeth and De Kempeneer, Niels and Van Hoof, Tine and Mampaey, Maja and Van Haver, Philippe and Teughels, Caroline and Van Haute, Geert and Van Campenhout, Karen (2023) Living and Working in a Healthy Environment: How Sensor Research in Flanders can Help Measure and Monitor Exposure to Certain Environmental Factors. LET IT GROW, LET US PLAN, LET IT GROW. Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable Resilient Smart Green and Blue Cities. Proceedings of REAL CORP 2023, 28th International Conference on Urban Development, Regional Planning and Information Society. pp. 487-496. ISSN 2521-3938
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Abstract
People's daily living environment has an important influence on their physical and mental health. That living environment consists of many different components, as it is both a spatial or physical environment, and the result of many other processes (socio-cultural, economic context and individual characteristics and lifestyles). Overall, the pressure on the physical environment is very high, especially in densely populated and highly urbanised area’s such as Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. In urban environments, for instance, many spatial demands come together (space for housing, economy, mobility, green and blue infrastructures, etc.). The spatial layout of our cities can influence our health (e.g. whether or not we live nearby green spaces or in an environment that promotes active mobility, social contacts, if there are sources that impact the air quality, etc.), and of course our behaviour. The relation between health, living and working environment and spatial planning is complex. Therefore, the Flemish Department of Environment & Spatial Development has prepared a framework in 2019 to better capture that complex relationship, which we will briefly discuss in this paper. Broadly speaking, a policy committed to healthy environments may choose to make interventions that protect people's health from certain external factors (e.g. air pollution or environmental noise) or that enable and promote healthy lifestyles (e.g. physical activity, food,…). Next to that, providing citizens with up to date information is an important task of the government. In this paper, we discuss the research that the Environment and Health research team at the Flemish Department of Environment & Spatial Development conducts in order to measure human exposure to certain factors via sensors. Those particular factors were chosen mainly because they are part of themes around which the Flemish Department can make policy. We will consider three ongoing cases: measuring the quality of the indoor environment in different types of semi-public locations (such as schools, residential care centres, cultural centres,…), measuring radiofrequency radiation from fixed transmitting antennas in urban environments and measuring noise pollution. Partnering with international research & development organizations such as IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) and VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research), they supplied us with innovative and high-quality sensor technology. The sensors can transmit their measurement data in real time and participating parties can track the data on dashboards allowing immediate feedback and action when necessary. The results are intended to feed further research. Although not all case studies are equally advanced, we will conclude each one with possible policy actions.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | exposure, sensor network, living and working environment, real time data, health |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine |
| Depositing User: | REAL CORP Administrator |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Oct 2023 11:29 |
| Last Modified: | 04 Oct 2023 17:37 |
| URI: | http://repository.corp.at/id/eprint/1020 |
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