Archivo por meses: abril 2019

DIAGNOSIS RESULTS by students and FEEDBACK from elderly and experts

Hello to everybody!!!

Last monday 8th April we closed this first seminar of UNI-Health, with a public presentation of the DIAGNOSIS of the neighborhood by students to the Elderly Local Forum of Usera, the Direction of different day-care centers and representant of Social Services of Usera district. We counted as well with our guests from Newcastle University, professor Rose Gilroy and Barbara Douglas and the participation of many experts that have been collaborating with us in this first edition.

UNI-Health Directors with Usera representants: Usera District Council, Elderly Local Forum and Direction of Day-Care Centers.

Students presented by topic groups the diagnosis of the neighborhood, showing all the cartographies and main conclusions about different aspects to take into account regarding urban health. Three main topics were presented: a city to walk, green spaces and spaces for convivence and livability.

SWOT analysis, diagnosis and conclussions from students.

The feedback from the different people from the public was very convenient to consider their daily lives in the analysis and complete the diagnosis with relevant information that they have shared. In the next step, we will work on some strategic proposals to address urban health and active ageing from urban design and urban planning.

Representants from the Elderly Forum of Usera showing relevant information about their neighborhood.

Thanks to the students for this big final effort for the presentations and thank to everybody that came to the presentation. It has been such an interesting exchange! We will come back with news and updates for the preparation of the festival next June 20th and 21st in Usera!

Last but not least, thank you to everybody that have been following UNI-Health program during these months!

Barbara Douglas and Rose Gilroy, from Newcastle, commenting their suggestions for the proposals and what could be done to complete the diagnosis.

You can access all the presentations of the course through this Youtube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8bSwVy8_IcO-FGb1rmumD1Y6RFvUh1Jg

Please do not hesitate to share this blog, leave a comment or suggestions and contact us if you would like more information about next editions and Newcastle edition next October!

Letter of Barbara Douglas, member of the Elders Council in UK and member of VOICE:

It has been a real pleasure and a privilege to be involved in this project. 

I was very impressed with the quality of the presentations by the students and the range and depth of data they presented.  Although they came from different perspectives, a number of common themes were emerging which could provide an opportunity for collaboration between the groups as they move towards suggested projects/solutions.  It was great to have the opportunity to go to Usera and see it for ourselves, as it put all the presentations in context.

I appreciate the challenges which you face in accessing health data (e.g. healthy life expectancy; prevalence of diseases) within the timescales of the project.  This must be quite frustrating for you, as if this were coupled with the data the students have collected, it would make a very powerful argument for change and improvement.  I meant to ask whether you can access social care data which would give you information about the numbers of people who need social care support to enable them to live independently?  It would at least give a bit of additional information about the lives of older people living in the area.

I know the older people mentioned the issue of transport across the district given the length of time it takes some of them to walk to health or community facilities, especially given the topography of the area.  I fully appreciate that for people with mobility issues, the lack of transport can be absolutely critical in enabling them to get out about.  However, I also wondered whether, if the walking routes were more pleasant and people had incentives to walk to maintain/improve their health, there might be an opportunity in this for a walking group/programme? This idea probably won’t be popular with the older people, but I am also mindful of the big posters we saw in the Metro about the need for more physical activity!  Would there be any help or investment from the public health department in supporting this?

It was interesting to hear about the large numbers of festivals in the area and how these can provide an opportunity for the different cultures in Usera to come together.  I was wondering whether these might provide an opportunity for creative engagement of the people in the neighbourhood around the issues you have identified?

The exhibition/festival that you are planning sounds really good.  You mentioned inviting local people and holding a session for businesses, however, I wonder whether you will also be engaging local associations and NGOs working in the area as they may also be very helpful partners in taking ideas forward locally.   As Rose mentioned, it would be good to have a few ‘quick wins’ which would help to build the confidence of people living in working in the area that change can happen.

Whilst what you have presented is quite a big challenge, the research and analysis the students have done so far is very rich material for the Municipality and others to use in making arguments for change and improvement.   So it seems to me that you have already created a very valuable resource, as well as giving students a very broad and rich experience.  All the very best for the next stage of the project.

Thank you for your warm hospitality and for all the inspiration.

Thanks to you, Barbara and Rose, for accompanying us in such an interesting session!

UNI-Health Team

uni-health[at]upm.es

Creating cartographies and ARUP’s lab visit

Hello to everybody!

Last monday 1st April we finished our program of scheduled seminars with the participation of Pedro Rico Contreras from ESRI and the visit to ARUP’s lab.

First we started the session both with theory and practical cases and examples of ESRI tools applied to many different projects. They are developing fast on 3D modelling and visualization tools in order to understand our territories better and share information in a easier way.

Many of the examples he had shown is a shared and growing experience with different cities and territories, such as Valencia or Madrid. Also the project StoryMaps is another application very interesting and nearer to citizens, with interactive cartographies.

They are now working on 3D visualising, cartographies for NGOs and local associations and they are attracting more interest for developing citizen participation tools too.

Pedro Rico showing 3D visualisation environments that are developing in different cities and territories.

Group picture in the entry of ARUP’s headquarters in Madrid.

In the afternoon we were welcomed by Susana Saiz in ARUP’s new lab where we experimented different accoustic simulations. They have showed us different study cases they have developed in order to test different projects and the accoustic impacts. They have also introduced us to an inmersive experience of virtual reality environment in different sets and with different options for interaction.

This was the last session of the seminars, but next week 8th April we will be presenting the students’ analysis on urban health issues from the poing of view of active ageing. We will count with the participation of different local agents and our partners from Newcastle.

Virtual Reality experiences tested by students.

Meet you next Monday!

 

UNI-Health Team

SPECIAL DISCUSSION SESSION 8TH APRIL

Dear all,

We would like to invite you to the next session on 8th April in Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid in Sala de Grados B.

The session will present the project UNI-Health and generate a common discussion about the diagnosis. Newcastle Team, experts on Innovation on Ageing, Elderly local agents and local administration will be invited and participate of this common session.

At the end of the session we will collect the contact data from all the interested people that would like to attend to Newcastle edition in the next semester (October 2019)

 

Hope to meet you there!

UNI-Health Team