Abstract
The prevalence of childhood asthma has been rising throughout the world, arguably in urban areas due to increased air pollution emanating from variety of sources like traffic, and industrial and construction areas. Little is known about which physical environmental variables are associated with this chronic disease. This research examines the relationship between various meso-scale urban form variables such as building density, land use mix, neighbourhood greenness and street connectivity and children’s asthma. It is assumed that such urban form variables affect the concentration of either air pollutants or pollens in the places where children live, learn and play, which in turn affect their respiratory health. By focusing on the case of Ankara, Turkey, our research design proceeded in four steps: first, determination of children’s residential addresses and doctor-diagnosed asthma status from an ISAAC questionnaire which was filled out by the parents of children between the ages of 7 and 14; second, coding of this data in ArcGIS and SPSS; third, conducting urban form analysis in ArcGIS; and fourth conducting a logistic regression analysis to understand the relationship between the examined variables. Our findings are based on data obtained from 681 parents. It is believed that the findings of this study would help urban planners and designers better understand the link between built environment and childhood asthma and may serve as a basis for future similar research with different methodological approaches. This study is supported by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey). Project number: 219K243.
Presenters
Aybüke Balahun ÇobanResearch Assistant, City and Regional Planning, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey Yucel Severcan
Associate Professor, Dr., Department of City and Regional Planning, Middle East Technical University, Turkey Ezgi Ulusoy Severcan
Medicine doctor, Pediatric Immunology and Allergy, Ankara Etlik City Hospital, Turkey Goksun Yildirim
Research Assistant, City and Regional Planning, Middle East Technical University, Turkey Nese Aydin
Assistant Professor, City and Regional Planning, Suleyman Demirel University, Turkey
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Childhood asthma, Urban form, Built Environment, Geographic information systems
