Background: A common vision for healthy cities will help implement successful interventions. Sustainable development plan Montréal durable 2016-2020 relies on City and partner actions to implement urban design, transportation, and greening interventions in Montreal. We used parallel concept mapping activities to contrast citizens’ desired urban changes with contextual factors that influence implementation, as viewed by stakeholders.
Methods: Question prompts were developed for both citizens and stakeholders with representatives of local NGOs and municipal governments. For citizens, a segment of the INTERACT cohort was asked about neighbourhood built environment interventions they felt would improve their quality of life. Stakeholders were asked about factors that influenced successful implementation of built environment interventions. After item generation, participants sorted a subset of items into groups, and rated them on importance and feasibility. Concept maps were produced using multi-dimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis. Citizen and stakeholder clusters were used to produce an analytical grid to inform healthy cities intervention planning.
Results: Twenty-two citizens generated 72 items which were reduced to 40 items. Item sorting and analysis resulted in 6 clusters: strengthen transit, develop quality cycling infrastructure, reduce space dedicated to cars, greening the city, fostering local sociability, and improve pedestrian accessibility. The 26 stakeholders generated 70 items which were reduced to 40 items. Sorting and analysis resulted in 6 clusters: tools to act, common vision of the future, sensitivity to context, continual integration and evaluation, and citizen engagement. In the citizen group, items that were ranked as most important were also seen as the least feasible. The citizens’ and the stakeholders’ identified themes provide a strategic analysis grid for the evaluation of current and future healthy cities interventions.
Conclusion: Concept mapping can integrate the diverse perspectives of stakeholders and citizens, so as to refine implementation. Results can be used at multiple scales for consultation and decision making.
