00:09 Hi,
00:10 everyone.
00:10 I'm Hanji Lee,
00:11 an urban specialist from the World Bank.
00:14 Have you ever wondered
00:16 what a healthy city will look like in a post-COVID world?
00:20 Well,
00:21 we asked Professor Anna Di Ruu two big questions on this very timely topic.
00:26 Anna is Dean and Professor at Burnside
00:28 School of Public Health at Drexel University,
00:31 and she provided very useful insight into this topic.
00:36 So,
00:36 if you're looking to learn more about this topic,
00:38 please connect with us on TDLC's Facebook and Twitter.
00:43 So over to you,
00:44 Anna.
00:50 The main challenges that the
00:52 COVID-19 pandemic has
00:55 revealed about urban health have to do with
00:58 having in place the public health systems,
01:00 not healthcare,
01:01 but public health systems that allow us to appropriately
01:05 track health in cities,
01:07 uh,
01:07 and
01:08 act based on the evidence and the information that we have.
01:13 And the second big challenge has been the challenge of health inequities
01:17 and how social inequities translate into health
01:21 differences
01:22 for COVID,
01:23 but also for all other diseases.
01:26 The main opportunity that the
01:28 pandemic has created is an opportunity to see
01:32 what our cities might look like
01:34 if we had less cars,
01:36 um,
01:37 if we opened up our public spaces and use our public spaces,
01:41 uh,
01:41 differently,
01:42 uh,
01:43 in cities.
01:50 In order to promote,
01:51 uh,
01:51 urban health,
01:52 I think cities should prioritize three things.
01:55 The first thing is equity,
01:57 reducing social inequalities,
01:59 ensuring access to stable
02:02 work and improving conditions at work,
02:04 and
02:05 Improving conditions in neighborhoods,
02:07 reducing
02:08 environmental hazards in,
02:09 in neighborhoods.
02:11 The second thing I think the city should prioritize
02:14 is mobility
02:15 that encourages active transportation,
02:17 public transportation,
02:19 and reduces automobile use.
02:21 And the 3rd thing I think cities should prioritize
02:24 is good governance,
02:25 and that means transparency,
02:27 that means basing policy on evidence,
02:30 and that means true engagement of citizens in
02:34 city governments.
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