Promoting urban health and spatial resilience as contributions towards spatial justice

Abstract

Spatial justice has different dimensions and is to a large extent determined by its specific political-administrative context, which guides its development on the local level. In view of the varying living conditions in urban environments I would like to draw attention to the relevance of urban health as a crucial component of spatial justice. The resilience of the population, the spaces they inhabit and the urban infrastructure are closely interlinked as regards sustainability in the face of the current multiple crises. This paper aims to reflect upon the links between urban health and resilience and their contribution to spatial justice, particularly with regard to challenges in  the built urban environment as visualised in the Health Map of Barton and Grant (2006). Referring to the City Resilience Profiling Tool developed by UN-Habitat (2021), my argument addresses the interfaces between urban health and resilience.  Particularly essential to me is the collection and evaluation of data for monitoring spatial development which also forms the basis for public participation in planning procedures to achieve better urban health and spatial resilience. In this endeavour, special attention should be paid to neglected urban neighbourhoods and their populations. This is even more important as the current crisis requires flexible and adaptive goals and processes linked to a learning culture approach. By striving for urban health and spatial resilience in urban structures and processes spatial justice can be achieved via innovative and transformative development paths towards sustainability.