Designing healthcare systems that serve the wellbeing of Integral City 2.0 begins with remembering “health” comes from the same root as the word “whole”. Healthcare in the human hive is based on the principles of Life and Evolution .
Wholistic healthcare systems are rooted in natural science and embody values and cultural intentions. Principles that contribute to appropriate healthcare systems include:
- Aligning the purpose of healthcare systems with the vision and purpose of the city
- Understanding how citizens define health – recognizing the multiple definitions that connect to food, energy, information and spirit
- Integrating, educating and supporting a variety of healthcare modalities to match citizen preferences
- Designing healthcare from a systems-thinking perspective for optimizing flex and flow of city and citi-zen resourcefulness
- Understanding demographics of the city so healthcare design serves the lifecycles of the citi-zens
- Embracing the wholistic realities of the bio-psycho-cultural-structural health needs of the city
- Mapping existing health facilities and human resources to improve access and grow capacity to serve across the whole city
- Considering the spectrum of cultural sub-populations and their specialized needs based on life practices
- Benchmarking healthcare with vital signs monitors to track and improve wellbeing measures
- Adapting healthcare to the life conditions of the city in all kinds of “change weather” – stable, troubled, turbulent or promising
Most of the major cities of the world are now melting pots of East and West. As such our healthcare systems can learn from the intelligences and wisdoms across the spectrum of major healthcare traditions. Wellbeing in the city demands that we pay attention to how we value and manage the patterns, processes and structures of our city as a living system – the human hive.
Reference
Hamilton, M. (2008). Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligences for the Human Hive. Gabriola Island BC: New Society Publishers. Chapter 6
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