Design research Eindhoven
An exploration of the relationship between city and health

This advisory report addresses the question of how the living environment can contribute to the health of the city’s inhabitants.
Assignment
Design research into the spatial implementation of health-promoting interventions in Dutch cities.
Result
Advice on how the living environment can contribute to the health of the city’s inhabitants, for the advisory report ‘The city as a healthy living environment’.
Location
Eindhoven
Client
Raad voor de Leefomgeving en Infrastructuur (RLI)
Collaboration
Municipality Eindhoven, GGD Brabant-Southeast, Rijkswaterstaat, RIVM
Periode
2017
Marco Broekman, Floris van der Zee, Ginevra Melazzi, Joske Bruijns
Eindhoven takes care
The Eindhoven project is the result of two creative work sessions organised in September 2017 by the Council for the Living Environment and Infrastructure (RLI). The RLI is preparing an advisory report on ‘The city as a healthy living environment’. This advisory report addresses the question of how the living environment can contribute to the health of the city’s inhabitants. In the context of this advice, BURA has been asked to investigate the city of Eindhoven by means of research by design. Together with the municipality of Eindhoven, GGD Brabant-Zuidoost, RIVM and Rijkswaterstaat Zuid-Nederland, Eindhoven has served as a case study for exploring the relationship between city and health.

The advice examines the spatial opportunities in the context of socio-economic problems, the physical structure of the city and the interdependence of health with other urgent spatial challenges.
A health-promoting approach
Based on the idea of a health-promoting approach, an inventory of spatial interventions has been developed for the following three themes:
- Healthy and resilient neighbourhoods
- Healthy mobility and connections
- Healthy and inclusive urban densification
These themes address the spatial opportunities in the context of socio-economic problems, the physical structure of the city and the interdependence of health with other urgent spatial challenges, such as urbanisation, energy transition and climate change.
