Abstract
In 2015, the UK government created a new Cross-Government Prosperity Fund worth £1.3 billion from 2016-2021, to help promote economic growth in emerging economies. The Programme supports the broad-based and inclusive growth needed to build prosperity and reduce poverty, but also make development overall more sustainable through the strengthening of institutions and improvement of the global business environment. The Global Future Cities Programme (GFCP) Programme aims to carry out targeted interventions to encourage sustainable urban development and increase prosperity. It builds upon three integrated pillars (urban planning, transport and resilience), that will address key barriers to prosperity, in selected 30 cities in 19 countries. Arup is the delivery partner of GFCP Turkey, including 5 interventions in 3 cities and 4 municipalities. Among them, one intervention is directly related with “healthy and wellbeing” concerns. Çankaya Healthy Streets Project aims at enhancing the public participation within the municipality through the “Healthy Streets” approach, which promises a better-quality and sustainable environment in neighbourhoods for the integration of well-being of people in urban environments. Çankaya is the central service-sector district of Ankara, the capital of Turkey. With its 1 million residents and 2 million daily users, it is one of the largest districts of the country. And this project intends to upgrade the district’s public spaces but mainly streets, which will be more accessible and inclusive for vulnerable groups, especially women with children, elderly, disabled and children, who suffer most from the physical obstacles of streets in their daily life. Arup is working as delivery partner to provide the outputs as listed below; • Strategic plan of “healthy streets” for streets rehabilitation and identification of potential areas for implementation within Çankaya district boundaries • An urban design project for one selected pilot area • A manual for pilot area urban design project implementation • Design standards adapted to municipality regulatory framework • Design manual for streets (which will be a handbook ready to be shared to start promoting Çankaya Healthy Streets project in Turkey and abroad) • Increased capacity of CM decision-makers and technical personnel for developing healthy street projects in Çankaya • Increased awareness of citizens and decision makers of the benefits of improving quality of streets. This case study report will focus on the first output, the Healthy Streets Strategic Plan, which coincided with the outbreak of coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The project team had to adapt the strategic plan framework accordingly and defined new domains, like pandemics and recovery, beside the previously defined ones, climate and mobility. The presentation will explain the 4 goals, 12 actions and 36 sub-actions of this Strategic Plan, in relation to newly created domains-framework: Climate, mobility, pandemics and recovery. This will give insight to the new urban concepts concerning health and well-being, following the current pandemic.
