Wellesley Institute

Wellesley Institute works in research and policy to improve health and health equity in the GTA through action on the social determinants of health.

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Seeking Higher Ground Towards Healthier City-Building: Part One

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Gradual changes in our physical environments, including the dominance of low-density, car-oriented sprawling suburban neighbourhoods in North America, have facilitated more sedentary lifestyles and contributed to a significant rise in chronic illnesses like heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. Municipal governments, local community agencies, and non-governmental organizations are increasingly working to better understand the built environment’s role in […]

Continue ReadingSeeking Higher Ground Towards Healthier City-Building: Part One  Download PublicationGetting To Know The Built Environment As A Complex System

Between Health And Place: Understanding The Built Environment

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Despite the long history shared by city-building and health, one particularly important and interesting piece of the urban puzzle, the built environment, remains an abstract concept outside of academic and policy circles. This presents us with an opportunity to broaden the city-building debate beyond piecemeal conversations about road tolls, bike lanes and condominium developments, to […]

Continue ReadingBetween Health And Place: Understanding The Built Environment  Download PublicationBetween Health And Place: Understanding The Built Environment

Acknowledgement of Traditional Land

We wish to acknowledge this land on which the Wellesley Institute operates. For thousands of years, it has been the traditional land of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit. Today, this meeting place is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.

Revised by the Ceremonial Committee at the University of Toronto Office of Indigenous Initiatives in April 2021.