Project explores community connections to healthcare in face of advancing climate change

The CAREscape project will see researchers from Plymouth and the Philippines working closely with local communities
Othered Futures_student_2: Underground housing for avoiding extreme heat and with large water catchments and flood resilience features above ground to prepare for both inundation and drought. Group members: John Edsel Gonzalbo, Kervin Paul Manzano, Maria
Artists, architects, geographers and healthcare experts will work alongside local residents in the Philippines as part of an initiative exploring how health and care systems might be reimagined to withstand the effects of future climate change.
The Climate-Adaptive Reimaginings for Enhancing Healthcare Spaces of the Future (CAREscape) project is a collaboration between researchers from the University of Plymouth and the University of the Philippines.
They will in turn work directly with those living in the nation’s capital, Manila, a coastal city that is presently home to almost 15 million people.
The research will explore any ways to rethink healthcare spaces that may become unusable during extreme weather events or other natural disasters.
Researchers will converse with grassroots community members, leaders, and partners and learn about their experiences of climate change and health, and also explore how they envision spaces for care.
This process will use creative tools like mapping and storytelling to gather insights from residents, especially tapping into local knowledge and beliefs, health-seeking habits, social roles, and spatial practices to ensure that any future healthcare designs would match the community’s unique needs.
Based on what they’ve learned from the community, the architects and artists will come together to create potential ideas for new healthcare infrastructures.
These designs will aim to resonate with people’s cultural values and daily lives, and incorporate visuals, sounds and even rituals that reinforce the connections between communities and care spaces.
The project is being funded through an International Collaboration Grant from the British Council, and builds on previous collaborations between the University of Plymouth and the University of the Philippines.

The impacts climate change are increasingly destroying lives and livelihoods all over the world.

They could also lead to situations where facilities, offering everything from emergency medicine to period products, are out of action at the very time people need them the most. If we are to avoid that, we need to think about the best ways to design future healthcare spaces in vulnerable locations so they can be resilient to climate hazards. Through this project, we hope to use our collective expertise to tap into the wisdom and knowledge of communities to begin developing ideas of how that can best be delivered.

Mona NasserProfessor Mona Nasser
Director of the Plymouth Institute of Health and Care Research (PIHR)

More than ever, the global community struggles to contain global warming. Climate disasters in highly exposed and vulnerable countries such as the Philippines will likely strain local health systems and worsen social and health inequities. With its focus on community storytelling, architecture, and art, our Internal Collaboration Grant project is an exciting opportunity to strengthen our collective capacity to aspire, to build on what works, and to imagine new ways of thinking and acting for health and well-being within a climate-adaptive future.

Dr Pamela Cajilig, Professorial Lecturer, University of the Philippines
The project’s results will be showcased in exhibitions in Manila and London, featuring a mix of digital maps, design prototypes, and artistic creations that highlight how communities can adapt healthcare spaces to be both climate-resilient and culturally meaningful.
And while this project focuses on the Philippines, the researchers hope that sharing innovations across borders will spark discussions about similar issues facing other vulnerable areas around the world.
 

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