Population Health and Built Environment

Date: 29 Nov 2024 | Time: 11:00 – 13:10 | Venue: L1-S2

Track Chairs: 
Dr Jowy Seah, Centre for Population Health Research and Implementation, SingHealth;Dr Belinda Yuen, Singapore University of Technology and Design 

This track seeks an exchange of ideas and research on the role and relevance of everyday built environment to the health and wellbeing of residents. Despite growing evidence on the built environment-health benefit connections and that consideration of the built environment in population health strategies can contribute to improved healthcare quality, it remains challenging to include the built environment in healthcare strategies and policy work. This track explores the built environment-health promotion relation from several perspectives, including, but not limited to, the following questions: 

• How is health promotion related to the built environment?  
• What are the distinguishing features of a health-promoting built environment?  
• How does a health-promoting environment support, maintain and improve individual wellbeing, healthy behaviour and health empowerment?  
• What does design for a health-promoting built environment mean and what should it focus on?  

The built environment encompasses all the personal, social and public spaces in home, work, learn and play places, and their neighbourhoods.  

Talk 1: A Space of Our Own: Reclaiming Public Open Spaces for Self-Expression and Community
Dr Ad Maulod, Duke-NUS Medical School  

Talk 2: Enhancing Social Wellbeing and Public Health in Urban Environments: Insights from Singapore Neighbourhoods 
Dr. Rakhi Manohar Mepparambath, Institute of High Performance Computing

Talk 3: Creation of the Nutritional Landscape Index to Examine the Impact of the Food Environment on Physical and Mental Health 
Assistant Professor Borame L Dickens, National University of Singapore 

Talk 4: Activating Community for Health Through Healthy Precinct Framework
Dr Tan Weng Mooi, MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation 

Talk 5: Towards Evidence-Based Methodologies for Improving and Sustaining Urban Space Use for Health and Wellbeing, a Designers Approach
Associate Professor Sam Conrad Joyce, Singapore University of Technology and Design