Health (Indicator)

General

What is the Health indicator?

The Health indicator on the Tygron Platform is an indicator that calculates the effect of the green space on the health of the citizens living in a specific neighborhood and the value of the health effect that green in the selected neighborhoods has on nearby residences. The metric used is the amount of particulate matter which can be caught by the green present in the project area. The net effect is measured in terms of DALY, disability-adjusted life years, which are an expression of (extended) health-span for people.

This indicator is a simplified version of an RIVM calculation model.

Indicator panel

The health indicator

The indicator panel shows the following information:

• The name of the neighborhood
• The effect of green in that neighborhood in the current situation
• The effect of green in that neighborhood in the future (planned) situation
• The value of green in that neighborhood in the current situation
• The value of green in that neighborhood in the future (planned) situation
• The effect of green (in DALY) for the whole project area
• The goal

Calculation

The calculations used in this indicator are based on the RIVM calculations on urban green and health effects.

Effect of green on the health of residents in a selected area

HealthEffectGreen = HealthEffectGreen_1km + HealthEffectGreen_3km
HealthEffectGreen_1km = Green_1km x GREEN_HEALTH_EFFECT_1KM
HealthEffectGreen_3km = Green_3km x GREEN_HEALTH_EFFECT_3KM

Where the variables are:

• HealthEffectGreen: is the effect of green on the health of residents in a selected area.
• HealthEffectGreen_1km: is the effect of green on the health of residents in a selected area with a buffer of 1km.
• HealthEffectGreen_3km: is the effect of green on the health of residents in a selected area with a buffer of 3km.
• Green_1km: amount of green per resident in a buffer of 1km
• Green_3km: amount of green per resident in a buffer of 3km
• GREEN_HEALTH_EFFECT_1KM: global variable that indicates the green effect for 1km
• GREEN_HEALTH_EFFECT_3KM: global variable that indicates the green effect for 3km

Monetary value of the health effect that green has on nearby residences in the selected area

MonetaryValueGreenNearbyResidents = MONETARY_VALUE_DALY x HealthEffectNearbyResidents
HealthEffectNearbyResidents = HealthEffectNearbyResidents_1km + HealthEffectNearbyResidents_3km
HealthEffectNearbyResidents_1km = ( GreenCoreArea x Population_1km x GREEN_HEALTH_EFFECT_1KM ) / AreaSize_1km
HealthEffectNearbyResidents_3km = ( GreenCoreArea x Population_3km x GREEN_HEALTH_EFFECT_3KM ) / AreaSize_3km

Where the variables are:

• MonetaryValueGreenNearbyResidents : is the monetary value of the health effect that green has on nearby residents in the selected areas
• MONETARY_VALUE_DALY: is a global variable that indicates the disability-adjusted life year's monetary value
• HealthEffectNearbyResidents: is the health effect that green in selected areas has on nearby residents
• HealthEffectNearbyResidents_1km: is the green health effect on nearby residents in a buffer of 1km of the selected area
• HealthEffectNearbyResidents_3km: is the green health effect on nearby residents in a buffer of 3km of the selected area
• GreenCoreArea: is the green effect in the core area
• Population_1km: is the number of residents in a buffer of 1km
• Population_3km: is the number of residents in a buffer of 3km
• AreaSize_1km: is the size of the area (m²) in a buffer of 1km
• AreaSize_3km: is the size of the area (m²) in a buffer of 3km
• GREEN_HEALTH_EFFECT_1KM: is a global variable that indicates the effect of green in a radius of 1km
• GREEN_HEALTH_EFFECT_3KM: is a global variable that indicates the effect of green in a radius of 3km

Score

The score is based on the amount of DALY( disability-adjusted life years) realized in the project area due to present green spaces. The additional life years are also assumed to have a monetary value due to avoided healthcare costs. The effect of green on the health of the citizens in the project area is visible as the score of the indicator. For each neighborhood the effect of green on the health of the citizens in that neighborhood is determined and an average of all results is calculated for the final score.

Additional configurations

A set of areas need to be loaded based on the neighborhoods in the project area. The project space is split into three different areas: the core area, the 1km buffer area (a set of areas that should represent the neighborhoods that are buffered with a radius of 1km) and the 3km buffer area (a set of areas that should represent the neighborhoods that are buffered with a radius of 3km).

Add the Attribute

The areas should have the attribute CELL_ID, which has a value of the ID of the neighborhood it was based on.

The indicator also uses the attribute GREEN_M2. This attribute indicates the green space per m2 in a specific area. The functions that use this attribute can be found in the Function Values table by selecting Indicators -> Function Values and selecting Environment in the group filter. The GREEN_M2 attribute can be modified for each function separately according to the needs of the project.

Health (Indicator):

1. Select Geo data and then Neighborhoods in the ribbon header
2. Select the Neighborhood where you want to build in the left panel
3. In the right panel, go to the tab Attributes.
4. Scroll down to the bottom and enter the desired Attribute name with the according value.
5. Click on Save new attribute. The attribute is now added to the the other attributes.

Add the Global

Editor → Current Situation (Ribbon tab) → Globals (Ribbon bar)

The indicator works with several global variables. The following global variables need to be added manually to the project:

• RESIDENTS_PER_HOUSE: This global variable indicates the number of residents in a house per selected project area. The recommended value for this variable is 3 residents per house.
• GREEN_HEALTH_EFFECT_1KM: This global variable indicates the effect that green (public green space, park, garden, public square, etc..) has on the health of citizens in a radius of 1km, in terms of DALY. The recommended value for this variable is 0.000246.
• GREEN_HEALTH_EFFECT_3KM: This global variable indicates the effect that green (public green space, park, garden, public square, etc..) has on the health of citizens in a radius of 3km, in terms of DALY. The recommended value for this variable is 0.000078.
• MONETARY_VALUE_DALY: This global variable indicates the monetary value of a disability-adjusted life year. The recommended value for this variable is 87000. (2007).
• INDICATOR_START_VALUE: This global variable indicates the start value that should be attributed to the initial situation. The recommended value for this variable is 0.5. With this initial value, the target is to double the amount of particulate matter caught by green in the project area.

Note that this is only an example of the values that can be entered for each of the global variables. These values can be modified according to the needs of the project.

Health (Indicator):

1. Click on the add button in the bottom left corner. A new global named VARIABLE will be added to the left panel.
2. Select the global VARIABLE.
3. In the right panel, change VARIABLE to the name of the new global HEAT_REDUCTION.
4. Change the start value to 0.1.
5. Click on the tab Indicators and the button Indicators and choose for Reset to Start values (faster) to update your project.