Healthy and Sustainable Places: Sydney and New York Comparison

This report, titled "Healthy and Sustainable Places," explores the multifaceted impact of climate change on coastal communities and public health. It begins by outlining the various ways climate change affects these regions, including rising sea levels, increased storm intensity, and ocean acidification. The report categorizes the health consequences into primary, secondary, and tertiary effects, providing examples such as heatwaves, vector-borne diseases, and food insecurity. A comparative analysis of Sydney and New York highlights their approaches to health and sustainability, emphasizing Sydney's focus on healthy outdoor culture and sustainable urban development. The report also references key points from the article by Tiat et al. (2014), discussing the broader environmental determinants of health beyond infectious diseases and chemical pollution. The conclusion stresses the need for government policies that address health and sustainability issues, incorporating comprehensive accounting of costs and benefits, and promoting synergies between health and environmental protection. The report utilizes references from Baum (2016), Biehl & Petryna (2013), Martens (2014), Patz et al. (2014), and Tait et al. (2014).

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Running head: HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE PLACES
Healthy and Sustainable Places
Name of student:
Name of university:
Author note:

HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE PLACES
Q1
Given that the coastal areas of different parts of the world are densely populated, the
impact of climate change on coastal communities is noteworthy. Climate change affects these
regions in different ways. Coasts are highly sensitive to rise in sea level and the changes
occurring in the intensity and frequency of storms. In addition, waremer ocean currents make
a drastic impact. Further, rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide lead to oceans
absorbing more amount of gas, thereby becoming acidic. The rising acidity has a significant
impact on the marine and coastal ecosystems, including human health (Biehl & Petryna,
2013). It is to be noted that contrasting impacts can occur at different parts of the world. In
Africa, climate variability has a negative impact on human health. One major example is the
threat of malaria in southern Africa. In contrast, in Arctic and Antarctic region, climate
changes create suitable environment that reduce health issues.
The present and possible future public health impacts of climate change on coastal
communities is an important topic for discussion. The health consequences of climate
variability are interrelated and complex. They are to be divided into three categories; primary,
secondary and tertiary. Primary effects are fairly immediate and observable in a clear manner.
These encompass illness and death resulting straight from an event such as heatwave or
flood. Secondary outcomes have a mediator and these are difficult to observe. For instance,
humidity increases the survival time and feeding rate of disease-carrying mosquito that
transmits potential pathogens such as dengue. Tertiary impacts are more complex and include
food insecurity and physical trauma. A particular climate event like heatwave might bring
along multiple population impacts. For instance, extreme heat might cause direct death as
well as diseases such as asthma. Some other examples of primary health concerns at present
due to climate variability include severe storms and bushfires. Some other secondary health

HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE PLACES
impacts include mental health conditions, vector-borne disease, obesity and chronic disease.
In future it is to be expected that the nature of the diseases that are currently being faced
would change drastically for more negative effects. The capability to counter urgent effects
will be insufficient (Patz et al., 2014).
Q2
Two large cities that would be considered for the present section of the paper are
Sydney and New York. According to Baum (2016), large Asian cities are aggrieved for not
being on the list of top five healthy cities of the world that has Sydney at number five. The
Australian metropolis and Sydney are at the epitome of being healthy and sustainable. The
city is known for embodying the healthy outdoor culture, and many cities such as New York
thrive to foster, but with failure. New York has witnessed negligible success in supporting a
healthy culture that promotes health and wellbeing of its population. While Sydney is reputed
for sports facilities and clubs, beaches and parks that promote physical activity and thus good
health conditions, New York if far away from all these. It is to be mentioned in this regard
that the weather conditions in Sydney are favourable for supporting these initiatives which
are not possible in New York due to unfavourable climate conditions.
Biehl and Petryna (2013) highlighted that mounting evidence suggests that car-reliant,
sprawling and urban development in New York contributed to a sedentary lifestyle. Such a
lifestyle is responsible for contemporary health issues such as type II diabetes, obesity,
cancer, depression and heart diseases. Though Sydney also faces certain issues in respect to
sedentary lifestyle, the statistics denote a less drastic situation. Sydney has the focus on low-
density urban development, and transport through walking and cycling, which are factors
contributing to sustainability and betterment of population. New York is still behind Sydney
in coming up with such strategies and implementing them at a large scale. In addition,

HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE PLACES
Sydney has sharpened its focus on future population. While New York aims at applying non-
conventional ways of addressing the health issue, there is much still to be achieved for
evident results.
It is imperative for the government of the respective countries of these two cities to
come up with policies that are beneficial for addressing the health and sustainability issues.
Major policy decisions are to be guided by consequences on the society and the environment
that are adverse in nature. Complete accounting of health, social and environmental costs and
benefits need to be an integral part of policy-making processes. Synergies between protection
of health and environment are to be considered for positive actions about to be taken in
different domains. Policies must be focused on co-benefits of ecological and health
sustainability, sustainable urban design and green health care options. Policies must also
cover all aspects of modification of human behaviour that ultimately leads to public health
issues and challenges human existence. The contribution of the government is expected in
this regard since policy reforms require funding and allocation of resources (Martens et al.,
2014).
Q3
The key points mentioned in the article by Tiat et al., (2014) are as follows-
• The influence of environment on health conditions extends significantly beyond the
impact of infectious diseases and chemical pollution though these are significant aspects of
public health.
• At present, the extended impact on public health, as implied by biophysical and ecological
systems, are the basic source of provision, support and regulation of human society. There are

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broader implications for the spiritual, cultural and healing amenities as well. The system’s
functioning is guided by depleting and disrupting activities of humans.
Agreeing to the above two statements it is to be stated that for being certain about the
claims made it is necessary to obtain evidence that is based on population data from diverse
regions of the world.

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References
Baum, F. (2016). The new public health (No. Ed. 4). Oxford University Press.
Biehl, J., & Petryna, A. (Eds.). (2013). When people come first: critical studies in global
health. Princeton University Press.
Martens, P. (2014). Health and climate change: modelling the impacts of global warming and
ozone depletion. Routledge.
Patz, J. A., Frumkin, H., Holloway, T., Vimont, D. J., & Haines, A. (2014). Climate change:
challenges and opportunities for global health. Jama, 312(15), 1565-1580.
Tait, P. W., McMichael, A. J. and Hanna, E. G. (2014), Determinants of health: the
contribution of the natural environment. Australian and New Zealand Journal of
Public Health, 38. 104–107. doi:10.1111/1753-6405.12212