"I fell asleep at school" – The impact of overcrowding

One of three in a mini-series commissioned by TRUUD, this film features Samuel and his two young sons who live in a 15^th floor cramped one-bedroom flat. The family sleep in the same bed and Samuel struggles to find places for his sons to play. The boys feel tired at primary school and can have problems with their behaviour. Samuel has taken medication for depression. The series of films documents four families and the toll of living conditions on their physical and mental health.

Tackling Root causes upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development (TRUUD) is a research programme based at the University of Bristol, that aims to reduce non-communicable disease (such as cancers, diabetes, obesity, mental ill-health and respiratory illness) and health inequalities linked to the quality of urban planning and development. It brings together experts from academia, industry and government to recommend and create new tools and processes for healthier cities. The TRUUD consortium includes the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Reading, Manchester, Stirling and the University of the West of England across disciplines of public health, law, psychology, management, engineering and economics.

TRUUD has created an economic valuation model – Health Appraisal of Urban Systems, or HAUS for short – that allows developers or planners to consider and adjust a range of health factors. HAUS provides unit costs for more than 70 health outcomes, disaggregated so that they can be attributed across multiple agencies from a societal perspective.

Using evidence gathered through TRUUD research and its HAUS economic modelling tool, the films detail first-hand experiences and the impacts of overcrowding, lack of green space, damp, noisy or polluted environments on respiratory illnesses, mental health, child behaviour and quality of life. The purpose is to raise awareness of the links between the built environment and health.

University of the West of England researcher Dr Jo White, who led the commissioning of the films, said “Our films show the real and varied health impacts on families of living in unhealthy places. They provide powerful insight into the links between urban planning and development decisions and health. 

“Using lived experience evidence is an important part of our work on TRUUD and I’d like to thank all our film participants for telling their stories. They did so, hoping this will promote change in how urban spaces are designed. The films will be used as part of our TRUUD interventions with government and industry.”

The films are all available on the TRUUD website and were made by Drummer TV.