Healthy Cities
How do you know you are perfectly healthy if you don’t have a regular and comprehensive medical checkup? How often do you check your:
- Cholesterol level
- Blood pressure level
- Body Mass Index
- Diabetes risks level
Through a regular check up you only know how healthy is your body.
The city is analogous to a body. The intertwined roads with junctions and traffic lights are similar to our blood vessels that carry oxygen to the brain. No one wants a clogged blood vessel, right?
Pollutions from the car, factories, open burning are as unhealthy as any smokers. Vandalism, drugs, crime, are similar to what unhealthy foods that we eat. If we don’t control what we eat, the food will eventually “kill” you.
The above are some examples, how our human bodies have the similar features and functions like the cities. Cities will be sustainable, healthy and livable if the we take good care of them. And how are we going to do that?
Any medical examination mentioned above (cholesterol, blood pressure, BMI, Diabetes, etc.) requires accurate measurements via specific devices or sensors. All results will then be consulted via experienced doctors to determine how healthy or any prescriptions required.
Thus, how do we measure our cities “healthiness”, “happiness”, “livable”, “safety” index? How do we measure “sustainability”? How do we compare these city indicators with all cities around the world? What kind of sensors required to capture the relevant data?
Thus, it’s important for us to have a regular and full “health” check up of our cities like what we did for ourselves.