Conceptual framework in the domain of healthy cities: meaning, purposes and formative elements

Abstract

Many recent researches and studies have pointed out the necessity of developing comprehensive conceptual frameworks for healthy cities. Accordingly, this study aims to explain the conceptual framework for healthy cities research, planning, and design by identifying its meaning, purpose and formative elements. The research was conducted through qualitative techniques, such as conceptual, thematic and content analysis of the relevant literature and case studies. Results show that the conceptual framework contains voluminous conceptual knowledge about healthy cities and suggest that conceptual framework on healthy cities can include elements such as: 1) a subject, problems, methods, research questions, 2) theories, models, empirical data and practice data, concepts and relations among these concepts, principles; 3) the visual presentation of its contents, and a manual for its usage and development; authors’ values, beliefs and thinking. A conceptual framework, based on the elements mentioned above, serves to systematically explain the healthy cities and to support the research, planning and design in the process of its developing. These findings can help to advance knowledge and scientific understanding of conceptual frameworks of contemporary cities in the domain of health, planning, designing and research. Also, the presented findings can serve as a basis for developing a comprehensive conceptual framework for healthy cities in the future. For example, existing conceptual frameworks could be analysed and new ones developed according to the proposed elements and purposes. In these cases, the proposed elements and purposes would be a unique criterion for the analysis and development of the conceptual frameworks.

Mnoga nedavna istraživanja i studije su ukazivale na neophodnost razvoja sveobuhvatnih konceptualnih okvira za zdrave gradove. Shodno tome, ova studija teži da objasni konceptualni okvir za istraživanje, planiranje i projektovanje zdravih gradova određujući njegovo značnje, svrhu i formativne elemente. Istraživanje je sprovedeno kroz kvalitativne tehnike, kao što su konceptualna, tematska i analiza sadržaja relevantne literature i studija slučaja. Rezultati pokazuju da konceptualni okvir sadrži obimno konceptualno znanje o zdravim gradovim i sugerišu da konceptualni okvir o zdravim gradovima treba da sadrži elemente kao što su: 1) predmet, problemi, metode, istraživačka pitanja, 2) teorije, modeli, empirijski podaci i praktični podaci, pojmovi i odnosi između ovih pojmova, principa; 3) vizuelni prikaz njegovog sadržaja i priručnik za njegovu upotrebu i izradu; vrednosti, uverenja i razmišljanja autora. Konceptualni okvir zasnovan na prethodno navedenim elementima služi da podrži istraživanje, planiranje i projektovanje u procesu razvoja zdravih gradova. Ovi nalazi mogu pomoći da se unapredi znanje i naučno razumevanje konceptualnih okvira o savremenim zdravim gradovima u domenu zdravlja, planiranja, projektovanja i istraživanja. Takođe, prikazani nalazi mogu da posluže kao osnova za razvoj sveobuhvatnog konceptualnog okvira za zdrave gradove u budućnosti. Na primer, postojeći konceptualni okviri bi mogli da se analizirju kao i da se razviju novi prema predloženim elementima i svrsi. U navedenim slučajevima, predloženi elementi i svrhe bi bili jedinstveni kriterijum za analizu postojećih i razvoj novih konceptualnih okivira.