INTerventions, Equity, Research and Action in Cities Team (INTERACT)

Major government investments in urban design and transportation infrastructure ("built environment interventions") are shaping Canada's cities. These investments happen outside of the health sector, yet they have an impact on both health and health equity. The INTerventions, Equity, Research, and Action in Cities Team (INTERACT) is a pan-Canadian project assessing health and equity impacts of built environment interventions. In 2017, we launched a population health intervention research program with stakeholders and community groups in Victoria, Vancouver, Saskatoon, and Montreal. Since then, we have recruited over 2200 participants to our cohorts, and done qualitative interviews with over 100 residents living near the interventions. The main goal of INTERACT is to evaluate the impact of built environment interventions on health and health equity. Building on our past work INTERACT will add to the research of healthy cities, with more attention to design, implementation, and equity. We have three objectives: 1) we will describe how health and equity are considered in the design of built environment interventions; 2) Examine the patterns of where built environment interventions are made and for who, over time; and 3) Evaluate impacts of built environment interventions on health outcomes and health equity. We study four built environment interventions, identified with city partners. In Victoria, the All Ages and Abilities Cycling Network; in Vancouver, the City Greenways Plan; in Saskatoon, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT); and in Montreal, ecological transition and resilience policies like greening, place-making, traffic-calming, and transportation interventions. Our proposal is especially relevant in light of the challenges brought on by COVID-19, providing evidence on longer term changes physical activity, well-being, and social connectedness impacts, before and following the pandemic.