Embedding health equity strategically within built environments.

BACKGROUND: Population health approaches are visible among multidisciplinary methods used in urban design and planning, but attention to health equity is not always an explicit focus. Population and Public Health-Saskatoon Health Region recognized the need for frameworks to prioritize, integrate and measure health equity within local built environments.

SETTING: A cross-department healthy built environment (HBE) initiative coordinated activities involving Health Promotion, Environmental Public Health, Public Health Observatory, and Medical Health Officers engaged with municipal, academic and community partners in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

INTERVENTIONS: The HBE team conducted evidence reviews and consulted with partners to identify common health equity issues in built environments and best and leading practices to address them. The HBE team then prioritized and undertook projects to model a health equity approach.

OUTCOMES: Projects included the following: (1) developing a Health Equity in Healthy Built Environment Framework; (2) engaging in a partner campaign highlighting built environment and health equity during a municipal election; (3) producing a Health Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA) report on the City of Saskatoon's growth plan; and (4) developing a monitoring and evaluation framework for health equity outcomes. Other outputs include making new connections between local HBE and poverty reduction efforts and promoting social inclusion guidelines in consultation processes.

IMPLICATIONS: Within a population health approach to HBE, an explicit focus on health equity can be a catalyst for engaging partners in cross-sectoral action for building inclusive physical and social environments.