TRUUD (Tackling the Root causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development) is a £6.6M, 5-year project (2019-25) that will investigate how land use allocation and development decisions taken ‘upstream’, bake in adverse public health outcomes ‘downstream’. The study is focused on non-communicable diseases (NCD) and health inequalities, such as heart disease, obesity, poor mental health, cancer and diabetes. These make up the vast majority of illnesses in the UK, accounting for an estimated 89 per cent of all deaths.
Working with senior decision-makers, other stakeholders and advisors at national, regional and city level, the research will identify critical decision-making contexts (e.g. land disposal, procurement, regulation, economics), then develop and test intervention case studies.
The findings will include a systems-wide understanding of urban land use decision-making and how this is factored into public health and well-being with a focus on major new infrastructure and issues of governance (e.g. transport and air pollution, nature in cities). This will be used to diagnose systemic blockages to better health outcomes, design and test system interventions including accountability for public health in urban decision-making, and to deliver health and well-being decision-support tools.
ESDi are contributing systems thinking in two areas:
Group model building workshops and system dynamics modelling: Taking a Critical Systems approach, conceptual models developed from qualitative data are being used to build and then test, in focus group and workshop settings, the multiple understandings (views) stakeholders have of land use decision-making in urban areas and how these impact on public health. Boundary critique, interdependency mapping and system dynamics modelling are some of the methods and tools being used to understand the problem structure, diagnose challenges and support the design of health improvement interventions.
Meta-study of multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder impact-oriented research: Led as a distinct work package, this participatory action research is developing a systems-based framework and toolset, with the aim of improving the effectiveness of TRUUD and its outcomes. The meta-study viewpoint sees TRUUD as multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder, impact-oriented research, and a complex system intervention in its own right. By observing the research processes and providing a scaffold for coproduced reflective practice, the meta-study supports TRUUD participants to learn and improve research practice and deliver impact more effectively. The output from the meta study will be findings from applying systems approaches to multi/inter/transdisciplinary research, a framework for evaluating impact-oriented research and an associated toolset, and case studies in the field of ‘Team Science’.
For more details contact Dr Neil Carhart or Dr Ges Rosenberg.
