Glossary - Entorn Urbà i Salut

Glossary

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0-9

• 98th percentile: It indicates that 98% of the values of the variable of a statistical sample are lower than this value and 2% are higher.

A

• Accessibility: Means guaranteeing that all individuals, especially people with reduced mobility and those who do not use motor vehicles, can access areas, facilities and activities in and outside a particular location and/or neighbourhood. This includes people with motor difficulties, with sensory or cognitive functional diversity, the elderly and those temporarily in a condition that makes it difficult for them to get around. The adoption of the concept of “universal design” is important to be able to guarantee accessibility for everyone. In this sense, universal accessibility is a legal right that benefits everyone.
• Abandonment : Empty houses are those that have been permanently abandoned without due cause for a period of longer than two years. Some justified causes are: moves for work, moving due to dependency, the abandoning of a home in a rural area undergoing population loss, and when ownership of the home is subject to a lawsuit pending resolution.
• Accidental damp : Damp caused by the malfunction of water evacuation and supply systems. Possible causes include broken pipes or inappropriate action taken on construction materials and elements.
• Active transport : All forms of non-motorised transport that involve physical activity, like walking or cycling. It also includes long journeys on public transport in which part of the journey is on foot or by bicycle.
• Affordable rent: Rent lower than the going rate applied to housing that has been included in rental pool operations, in protected renovation actions or in protected housing promotions.
• Anthropogenic heat: Heat released into the atmosphere as a result of human activities.
• Autonomy: Being able to access the city and its services without depending on anyone else. Accessibility and security favour autonomy.

B

• Biodiversity: A portmanteau term for “biological diversity” that was coined at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 (the Earth Summit). It refers to all forms of life as a whole and the fabric of biological systems formed by the interaction of their components (genetic, population and ecosystemic). Biodiversity has a functional dimension that consists of endowing ecological systems with certain qualities which result in ecosystem services.
• Biological clock: Innate mechanism that controls the physiological activities of organisms according to a regular cycle related to sunlight and moonlight. The most important one is the circadian rhythm: it lasts 24 hours and is found in all living organisms.
• Blue space: Places in urban areas where water is the central element of a series of environments (rivers, lakes, beaches, fountains, springs, etc.) with the potential for the promotion of well-being and health (Foley and Kistemann, 2015).
• Building record: Document containing the main information about a building, whether it is used for housing or not. It includes details of the identification and construction of the building, any maintenance tasks carried out, any incidents that occur and any renovation or rehabilitation work done.
• Built environment: It is the human-made space in which people live, work and recreate, that is, a space in which people live their everyday lives.

C

• Citizen safety: A broader concept than public safety. In addition to police forces and courts it includes the participation of other social actors: non-governmental organisations, residents' associations and the public. When people are incorporated as active agents in the co-production of safety in cities, the culture of prevention and formal bodies is re-assessed and improvements are made in the fight against criminality and violence.
• Citizenship: The condition and the right of people who belong to a political community within a state and it expresses the link between that state and its members.
• Cleaning: Set of operations to remove dirt stuck to a surface without altering it, involving the use of soaps, detergents and water.
• Climate change: A change in the state of the climate that can be identified (with statistical proof, for example) based on changes to the its statistical properties, principally mean spread, which persists for a prolonged period, normally decades or longer. Climate change may be caused by natural internal processes or external forces, such as modulations of solar cycles, volcanic eruptions or persistent anthropogenic changes to the composition of the atmosphere or the use of land.
  The first article of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) defines climate change as “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods”. This anthropogenic climate change is the form to which environmental policies usually refer. •
• Cold snap: Short phenomenon consisting of a considerable decrease in air temperature caused by the invasion of a mass of cold air.
• Communal elements of buildings: the land, gardens, swimming pools, structures, facades, roofs, lobbies, stairs and lifts, antennas and, in general, installations and services located on the outward facing walls of private elements that are assigned for community use.
• Community space: Communal space whose aim is to strengthen or build a sense of community, that is, a collective space in a building that fosters relationships between people. Examples include roofs, patios, corridors, gardened spaces and terraces, in addition to common rooms, kitchens, study halls and collective dining rooms.
• Compact city: Also called city of short-distances, a city that develops upwards, characterised by a great diversity of territorial uses in a small space (residential, services, economic activity…). The high density of the population facilitates accessibility on foot (it requires less motorised mobility) and improves sustainability from the perspective of land and energy consumption. The expansion of this city model generates a very high environmental impact and favours social cohesion (the high population density enables more direct contact, exchanges and communication between people).
• Composting: A process by which compost, a key ingredient in ecological farming, is obtained. It is made up of organic material (plant remains, food waste, etc.) that has been recycled and decomposed so it can be used as organic fertiliser and soil amendment.
• Comprehensive Renovation Area (ARI): A municipal area in which the aim is to promote the recovery of sites of historic interest, urban centres, deprived areas and rural municipalities in accordance with established limits and subject to financial aid from public administrations.
• Condensation damp: Damp caused when moisture in the air is converted into liquid water when it comes into contact with a cold surface. It usually happens at points where there are heat bridges, that is, the points of walls where thermal insulation is at its lowest. Factors that favour its appearance include deficient ventilation and the accumulation of water vapour over permeable surfaces, such as gypsum and paint.
• Connectivity: Capacity to establish mobility between different geographic points through a physical network, referring to the potentiality of the transport system. It should not be confused with accessibility, which is related to the quality and facility with which people and companies can access the urban mobility system in terms of infrastructure and services.
• Conservation: Set of policies, strategies, plans, projects and specific measures to protect, preserve, maintain, improve, increase, restore or recover biodiversity and natural heritage. Conservation includes the preservation, maintenance, sustainable use, restoration and improvement of the natural environment.
• Contamination (bacterial and fungal): Bacterial contamination is that produced by bacteria (Salmonella, Listeria, Escherichia coli, etc.); fungal contamination is that produced by fungus (Aspergillus, Fusarium, Penicillium, etc.). Both types of contamination serve as indicators of the quality or salubrity of food, water, premises, facilities, etc.
• Cross ventilation: Result of a pressure difference between the facades of a building due to the wind or a temperature difference. It has two effects: it favours the exchange of air with the environment and, therefore, the renewal of interior exhaust air, and facilitates the natural process of cooling by evaporation.

D

• Damp caused by filtrations or capillarity : Damp caused by too much moisture in the ground or in the sanitation system. Water is absorbed by the building envelope accordance to its permeability and porosity, also through building seals, cracks or fissures. The water is absorbed by the materials along with hygroscopic salts that, when they rise, evaporate and impregnate the walls. When a wall cannot store more water, black stains and other problems arising from excessive humidity appear.
• Decibel: (dB) the tenth part of a bel, a unit that measures changes (losses or gains) in signal power, dB = 10 log₁₀ (SL/RL), where SL is signal level and RL is reference level. It does not measure instantaneous values, but variations with respect to a reference level. There are different scales of decibels according to the magnitudes to be measured: voltage, sound pressure, amplifier gain, etc. In the case of sound/noise, there are two reasons to use it. The first is that its scale is exponential, enabling the expression of very significant changes using more manageable figures. So, for example, the loudest sound we can hear without unbearable pain is 10¹² more powerful than the quietest sound (1). This is a variation from 1 to 1,000,000,000,000. Using the decibel, the dynamic range of our hearing can be expressed in the range of 120 dB. The second reason is that our hearing responds to sound in an exponential manner, that is, an exponential change in the power of the signal or of the sound is perceived by our ears as a linear change in volume. The smallest power variation that we can perceive is 3 dB.
• Disinfection: Set of operations designed to remove, destroy or reduce, to a lesser or greater extent, the microbial population through the use of certain physical agents or chemical products called disinfectants.
• Dispersed city: Also known as horizontal city, a city that develops outwards and is characterised by zoning, that is, there is a physical separation between the residential area, commercial areas, offices, sports areas, industry, etc. It is less sustainable as its land and energy consumption is higher and the distances between the various zones in such a city result in a high dependence on private vehicles. The expansion of this city model produces considerable environmental impact. It is close to the natural environment and presents a high level of biodiversity with regard to both plants and animals. Its close connection with the natural environment strengthens the environmental and social services of green spaces and favours activities in the open air and contact with nature. Its low population density generates relatively low atmospheric and noise pollution levels. The means and methods by which it facilitates interpersonal contact and communication are different from those used in a compact city.
  The compact and disperse city models are polar opposites. They are not absolute models, rather they are a simplification that helps us to determine whether a city is closer to one or the other.
• Diverse building (for all): Incorporates social, physical and functional diversity and facilitates variety of people, activities and uses. Diversity can be manifested in the types of dwellings, in multi-functionality within the building or in accesses and forms of tenancy. Not incorporating diversity into apartment buildings means considering a type of resident that is falsely neutral and universal, which means ignoring or not taking into account many people not considered to be normal.
• Diversity: Anything that is of a different nature. Functional, social and typological diversity are terms used in the sphere of housing and its urban integration, for example.
• Domestic accident: An unplanned event that takes place in the home with adverse health consequences that may range from a minor burn to serious bone trauma.
• Domicile: Space where a person lives without being necessarily being subject to social conventions and uses and where they can exercise their most intimate liberty. Legitimately occupied rooms in hotels, guesthouses and other similar establishments legally constitute domiciles.

E

• Ecoefficiency: Tool to enable provision of goods and services at a competitive price, meeting quality of life and human needs and progressively reducing environmental impact.
• Ecosystem service: Benefit contributed by an ecosystem to society by improving people’s health, economy and quality of life. An ecosystem service is based on the functions of the ecosystems. Three types of services are described: those that provide goods, such as water, food and clean air; those that regulate climate, waste or floods or prevent the propagation of diseases; and cultural services that provide recreational values, beauty, inspiration and spirituality.
• Electromagnetic field (EMF): Electromagnetic fields are produced by all devices that consume electrical energy and power lines. Their electromagnetic radiation is classified on the electromagnetic spectrum as non-ionising radiation with a frequency of less than 300 GHz.
• Energy poverty: Inability, or difficulty, to maintain the home in suitable temperature conditions (18ºC in winter and 25ºC in summer) at an affordable price. It is considered that households that spend more than 10% of their income on their energy bills are considered fuel poor.
• Eviction: It is the legal removal of a resident from a property occupied by that resident.
• Empowerment: A social process through which individuals and social groups recover and increase their capacity for decision-making, leadership and influence over other people, institutions or society in relation to their own development and future.

F

• Facilities: Collective facilities are spaces and buildings that provide various services for people (supplies of products, education, cultural enrichment, social relations, health, sport, etc.) with which the community has decided to equip itself.
• Family unit: Set of people who make up a family and have not formed their own independent family unit or been emancipated. It is usually referred to in terms of Law 40/1998, of 9 December, on the income tax of natural persons and other taxation regulations.
• Food safety: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), food safety is the absence of hazards associated with food products susceptible to harming the health of consumers.

G

• Gender: The World Health Organization (WHO) defines gender as the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women. “Male” and “female” are gender categories.
• Global change: The set of environmental changes produced on the planet as a consequence of human activity.
• Governance: A way of governing based on the interrelation of bodies responsible for the political management of a territory and of civil society to grant power, authority and influence over the citizenry when making decisions that directly affect public life.
• Green infrastructure: Network of natural and semi-natural areas and other elements of environmental interest in the territory, planned in a strategic manner and designed and managed for the provision of a wide range of ecosystem services. It includes green spaces, and blue spaces in the case of aquatic ecosystems, with varying degrees of naturalness and other physical elements of terrestrial spaces and coastal areas. It is deployed on various territorial scales and multi-functionality is one of the main characteristics of the elements that comprise it.
• Green space: It refers to all spaces within a city that include natural elements with plant life (parks, gardens, urban trees, urban gardens, pocket parks, corridors, etc.) and facilities for leisure, physical activity and social relations.

H

• Health: Health, rather than just the absence of complaints or diseases, is a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being.
• Health factors: Set of personal, social, economic and environmental factors that determine the health level of individuals or populations.
• Health Impact Assessment (HIA): A methodology that enables the prospective assessment of the health impacts of certain policies, plans and projects in various economic sectors through quantitative, qualitative and participatory techniques. It facilitates decision-making regarding alternatives and improvements to prevent disease and injury and to actively promote health. The World Health Organization (WHO) supports the creation of tools and initiatives to dynamically improve health and well-being in the various sectors.
  This methodology enables the creation of tools that combine different procedures and methods to systematically assess the potential effects of a policy, plan, programme or project on the health of a population.
• Healthy food: It is food that is sufficient, balanced, varied and satisfactory.
• Heat wave: Short phenomenon consisting of a considerable increase in air temperature caused by the invasion of a mass of hot air.
• Homeless: Individuals (or cohabitation units) are homeless when they have a manifest lack of decent and suitable housing. Given that they do not have a home, they live in the street or in a space that according to legislation is not suitable for housing, and they effectively suffer social exclusion due to social barriers or personal difficulties that prevent them from living autonomously. People who have been evicted due to the accredited impossibility of paying their rent are also considered to be homeless.
• Homelessness: The ETHOS (European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion) classification establishes four major blocks:
  • The homeless: people who live in public spaces, in the open air, staying overnight at hostels and/or are forced to spend the rest of the day in public spaces.
  • The houseless: people who live in temporary accommodation, which may be shelters for the homeless, women, immigrants or asylum seekers, or temporarily in residential institutions.
  • Insecure housing: insecure tenancy situations such as illegal occupation (squatting), living under the threat of eviction, or under the threat of family members or partners.
  • Inadequate housing: temporary or non-conventional structures, housing not considered suitable in accordance with legislation (substandard housing) or overcrowded housing (see Overcrowding and Substandard Housing).
• Housing: Fixed constructions, including any common services and spaces and associated annexes, designed to be used as residences for natural persons, in compliance with the legally established habitability conditions. Its social function is to provide the people who reside there with the space, facilities and material resources necessary to meet their ordinary personal habitation needs.
• HOV: High-occupancy vehicle, used in regard to road lanes. The regulations set a minimum number of occupants in a vehicle to be able to use it. It is often referred to as a “BUS-HOV lane”, given that public transport buses also use it.

I

• Indicator: Variable whose purpose is to quantitatively or qualitatively measure collective events, especially biodemographic events, in order to assess programmes and activities. Indicators are necessary to objectify a given situation and make comparisons.
• Infestation: Presence of unusually large numbers of insects or animals that due to their abundance and/or their characteristics may cause sanitation problems, disturbances, damage or economic loss.
• Infrastructure: Physical and organisational structures necessary for the development of an activity or for the operation of an organisation. Urban infrastructure refers to the set of engineering structures and facilities, generally with a long useful life, that form the base for the provision of services considered necessary for the development of productive and social purposes.
• Insalubrious housing: Housing that does not meet suitable hygiene and sanitation standards and may cause health problems for its residents and for the community.
• Integrated pest management: It is a pest control methodology that is based on the integration of preventive measures to sanitise and clear the environment and other factors associated with the appearance of infestations, active physical, mechanical and biological control measures and, where applicable, chemical control measures, minimising the use of chemical pesticides and always ensuring that only the ones least hazardous to people’s health and the environment are applied.
• Integration housing: Housing managed by public administrations or by nonprofit organisations for people with special needs which is rented or comes under other terms of occupancy.

J

K

L

• Land use: The way in which land is used for the location of the various activities in a given geographic area (residential, commercial, industrial, recreational and other uses).
• Landlord harassment: Any action or omission resulting in the abuse of rights with the aim of disturbing the harassed person in the peaceful use of their dwelling and creating a hostile environment for them, which may be in the material, personal or social scopes, with the ultimate aim of forcing them to adopt an unwanted decision in relation to the right that allows them to occupy the dwelling and, in the majority of cases, to force them to move out and/or make more profit from their rented properties (article 45.3.c of Law 18/2007, of 28 December, on Right to Housing).
• Leisure: Activities whose purpose is relaxation, entertainment and fun.
• Lifestyle: In epidemiology, the set of behaviours or attitudes developed by people that may be healthy (physical exercise, diet…) or harmful (smoking, drinking, drugs…). In developed nations, unhealthy lifestyles are what cause the majority of diseases.
• Lighting: Projection of light to be able to see and its effect. There are two types of lighting: natural and artificial.
• Lipoatrophy: Medical term generally referring to the loss of fatty tissue in the skin or in the rest of the body (lipodystrophy).
• Lipoatrophy semicircularis: A specific clinical case of lipoatrophy. It is characterised by a linear depression of the surface of skin and the consequent depression of the adipose tissue. It is normally produced in the thighs, the forearms and the belly and affects those (mainly women) who work in modern or remodelled buildings.
• Local: Location that is close in terms of space and time to social environments, everyday facilities, public transport stops and shops in relation to houses and between houses, in such a way that everyone can carry out their everyday activities on foot.  

M

• Man-made risk : Health risk caused by human activity. Forest fires, the transportation of hazardous goods and the chemical industry may be sources of contaminants. The main sources of the most significant contaminants that are currently measured and their characteristics can be consulted on the website of the Government of Catalonia Ministry of Territory and Sustainability (http://mediambient.gencat.cat/ca/05_ambits_dactuacio/atmosfera/la_contaminacio_atmosferica/principals_contaminants/)
• Masoveria urbana: Catalan term for a form of tenancy involving a contract by virtue of which the owner of a house transfers its use to a tenant for an agreed period in exchange for the undertaking of renovation and maintenance work.
• Mixed land use: Use of land that includes a mix of residential buildings in combination with commercial, service, institutional, leisure and green space activities.
• Mixed use: Diversity of uses of a space and its range of services, with special reference to health, well-being and community services, entertainment, culture and recreational services, physical and sporting infrastructure and open spaces.
• Mobility: Set of trips that people and goods have to make for work, training, educational, health, social, cultural, leisure and other reasons.

N

• Natural risk: Health risk due to natural processes like the wind, the rain, the sun, etc. When natural phenomena exceed certain limits they become risks (hurricanes, floods, earthquakes…).
• Natural surveillance: Group of physical observation characteristics in cities. It is facilitated when the public space is designed in such a way that people can observe without difficulty what is happening around them, for example, increasing vision perspectives, providing lighting and reducing hiding places. It is oriented towards increasing people’s confidence in the public space, discouraging criminal behaviour and improving public safety.
• Nature-based solution (NBS): Sustainable management of nature, planned and designed specifically to respond to the main socio-environmental problems, such as climate change, water availability, food safety, human health and the management of the risks of natural disasters. These solutions may be provided by maintaining and the ecosystems in good condition, applying specific ecosystem management models and mechanisms, restoring ecosystems and creating artificial ones.
• Net density: It is the value that sets the maximum number of houses in one or several buildable plots in relation to their surface area.
• Net residential density: The relationship between the number of inhabitants and the net residential surface area expressed in hectares. Absolute value: inhab./ha. It is used as a demographic indicator.
• Noise: From the health perspective, noise or noise pollution is sound that produces an auditory sensation considered to be uncomfortable or annoying. With regard to traffic noise, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends levels below 53 dB Lden during the entire day (24 hours) and 45 dB Lnight at night, given that higher levels are associated with health problems.
  • Impact noise is produced by solid objects hitting each other and is subsequently propagated through the air and other solid objects. It is the most difficult to eliminate and is found in homes that do not have the capacity to interrupt impact noise from neighbouring homes.
  • Airborne noise originates in the air and is propagated by it directly. It can move from one medium to another. It is transmitted according to the airtightness of the material, the mass of the material and the combination of different materials.

O

• Obesogenic: Tending to cause obesity. Used in reference to environmental conditions that are conducive to people ending up being overweight or obese.
• Obesity and overweight: See «Overweight and obesity»
• Overcrowding: Presence of more people than is desirable. Overcrowded homes are those in which there is an excessive number of people relative to the housing services and the floor space standards per person established in Catalonia, with the exception of cohabitation units linked by family ties, provided the excess occupancy does not lead to manifest non-compliances with the health and hygiene conditions and does not generate serious cohabitation problems with the immediate environment.
• Overweight and obesity: Overweight and obesity are defined as an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat that may be damaging to people’s health.
  The body mass index (BMI) is a simple indicator of the relationship between weight and size that is frequently used to identify overweight and obesity in adults. It is calculated by dividing a person’s weight, expressed in kilograms, by the square of their height, expressed in metres (kg/m2). According to the World Health Organization (WHO):
  • A BMI greater than or equal to 25 determines overweight.
  • A BMI greater than or equal to 30 determines obesity.
  BMI provides the most useful measure of overweight and obesity in the population, given that it is the same for both sexes and for adults of all ages.

P

• PAAS: It is a comprehensive plan to promote health through physical activity and healthy food implemented by the Government of Catalonia.
• Park and ride (P+R) facilities: Also known as “incentive parking” facilities, these car parks are located in the outskirts of cities with the aim of encouraging drivers to leave their vehicles there and use public transport to access the urban centre. They are located close to bus, metro and/or railway stations in order to facilitate connections and act as transport hubs to foster intermodality between private and public transport.
• Perceived safety: Safety felt by people when they are in a place, regardless of whether there is any actual danger. The physical characteristics of spaces are a key factor that affects people’s perception of safety.
• Pet: A domestic animal kept at home to accompany for the people who live there thanks to its presence and attitude. According to the revised text of the Law on the Protection of Animals, dogs, cats and ferrets are always considered to be pets.
• Peri-urban space: Natural, semi-natural or rural space located on the periphery of urban areas that is significantly influenced by them, with the consequent associated pressures and impacts. Thanks to their strategic location, very close to the population, peri-urban spaces are areas that can provide a high number of ecosystem services directly related to the health and well-being of people, if they are suitably planned and managed.
• Permeability: Capacity of the various urban forms when facilitating (or impeding) the movement of people or vehicles in different directions.
• Phenological rhythm: It is the duration of phenological events. Phenology is the relationship between climate factors and the cycles of living beings.
• Physical activity: Activity that involves bodily movement and additional energy expenditure in excess of 1.5 MET (metabolic equivalent of task). As a general rule, it improves people’s health and physical condition. It includes walking, running, sport, dancing, gardening, cooking, etc. It encompasses a wide range of activities that can be classified according to their intensity as light, moderate or vigorous (Tremblay et al., 2017). See also “Sedentary behaviour”.
• Physical exercise: Planned, structured and repetitive physical activity that has the aim of improving or maintaining one or more components of the physical form (physical abilities).
• Physical inactivity: Insufficient level of physical activity according to current recommendations: 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week, 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week, or any combination thereof (World Health Organization, 2010).
• Pocket park: Small park open to the general public. Even though it is too small for physical activities, it contributes a green space where people can sit down or play in the city.
• Pollen: Powder made of up male germinal cells that is formed in the pollen sac of the stamens of seed plants. It consists of minuscule grains, which are more or less egg-shaped with a diameter of no more than a few tenths of a micron. Some people are allergic to pollen.
• Population density: The average number of inhabitants per unit of floor space in a given area.
• POUM: Municipal Urban Development Plan (POUM); the instrument for integrated urban planning of the territory. Its purpose, among other things, is to classify the territory according to the classes of land defined in legislation (urban, developable and non-developable), depending on the development objectives; and to define an urban implementation model (growth needs, building types and location and characteristics of facilities and green spaces) and the determinations for sustainable urban development, with land occupation models that prevent the dispersion of the territory, favour social cohesion and ensure the preservation and improvement of traditional ways of life.
• Public housing: Housing designed to meet the temporary needs of people with emancipation difficulties or that require shelter or residential assistance, such as young people, the elderly, victims of gender violence, immigrants, separated or divorced people who have lost the right to use shared housing, people pending rehousing due to public housing replacement operations or urban planning actions, and the homeless. Public housing may be considered that assigned for short stays for people who need to be accompanied to ensure their social integration, with types and designs that enable their shared used by people without family ties.
• Public participation: Intervention of the public, individually or collectively, in the definition and application of public policies through consultation, deliberation, decision-making, implementation and assessment processes concerning any subject in which the public has a stake.
• Public safety: Safety guaranteed by the services that depend on a monopolistic conception of the state. It is functionally specified in the services provided by the various police forces and courts to mitigate violent behaviours and crimes.
• Public space: Publicly or privately owned space that is designated for community use. They are places where people can socialise and they are characterised by their accessibility. Given that they are multi-functional, they meet different needs, such as commemorating public events. They are also an example of social biodiversity and tourist attractions.
• Public transport: Transport service for people, the price of which is approved by the competent administration. In this type of transport travellers must adapt to the routes, speed and timetables offered by the operator.
• Public works project: Result of civil engineering work undertaken to meet an economic or technical function in order to produce a property, which may be a new build or a transformation, restoration or renovation. In these latter cases, it is a public work project if there is complete or partial intervention and an essential variation is produced.
  The concept of a public works project does not include work or actions that result in a construction or building project or urban development work. The latter are governed by the provisions of urban development legislation.

Q

R

• Recycling:  Process applied to a material so it can be useful again.
• Renewable energy (or clean energy): Energy obtained from natural resources, such as the sun, wind, or water, which are practically inexhaustible.
• Resilience: Capacity of an ecosystem to recover the same specific composition and normal state when affected by disturbances or interferences. In the context of an urban environment or city, it refers to its ability to recover from extreme events and normalise its situation.
• Right of use: Right to have a home or building for an agreed period of time on land that is the property of another party, such as a public administration. This model ensures that a purchased property can be used, as it may be long term, but at a lower cost.
• Rural environment: The environment related or belonging to the countryside, as opposed to the urban environment.

S

• Security: State of protection against potential dangers and includes both the personal feeling of being safe and sound and measures adopted to face risks and threats.
• Sedentary behaviour: Any behaviour throughout the day (not including sleep) that represents an energy expenditure of less than 1.5 MET (metabolic equivalent of task) and is done in a sitting or reclining position. The commonest sedentary behaviours are watching television, using the computer and sitting while travelling (Tremblay et al., 2017).
• Sedentary lifestyle: See “Sedentary behaviour”.
• Self-esteem: The concept an individual has of themselves and the value attached to it. Self-esteem is important because it affects how we think, feel, are and act in the world, and how we relate to others. Most healthy people have a good opinion of themselves, that is, they have healthy and positive self-esteem. Deficient self-esteem is undesirable, but excessive self-esteem is too, given that it may lead to narcissism, abuse of power, violence, tyranny, etc.
• Self-protection plan: System of actions and measures stipulated to prevent and control high-risk and emergency situations in relation to people and establishments. It has the aim of minimising the possibilities of a risk manifesting and of guaranteeing everyone’s safety in an emergency situation.
• Sick building: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a building in which complaints about discomfort and health problems are more frequent than could be reasonably expected. It is a set of problems and conditions caused by poor ventilation, temperature imbalances, ionic and electromagnetic charges, suspended particles, chemical gasses and vapours and bioaerosols, among other causal agents. The problems that these situations produce and stimulate vary and include migraines, nausea, dizziness, persistent colds, and respiratory tract, skin and eye irritations. Allergies play a very important role in these problems.
• Single-parent family: family with one or more children under 18 headed by a parent with no partner on whom they are financially dependent. There is a wide of range of defining and regulatory situations with regard to this and other types of families.
• Social capital: A measure of people’s sense of belonging to a community and of their capacity to collaborate and share objectives. It essentially refers to networks and connections between the people of a community that contribute to social cohesion.
• Social cohesion: The degree of involvement, commitment and participation of the members of a community. From the perspective of housing, it means favouring building and housing allocation conditions that enable social diversity within the territory; it also means combining residential and other urban uses and providing universal accessibility.
• Social exclusion: Inability of an individual or group to fully participate in the life of the community. Often poverty, unemployment, discrimination, stigmatisation and racism are the cause of social exclusion. It is a multidimensional and cumulative problem that threatens the ties that bind people and groups to the rest of the community.
• Social housing: Housing whose type, size and price are regulated by the administration to enable buyers who meet certain requirements in terms of property ownership, family income and other aspects to benefit from certain financial and fiscal advantages.
• Social inclusion: Refers to social factors that favour the opportunity for everyone to fully participate in the cultural, political, social and economic life of the community to which they belong. A socially inclusive society is one that values everyone, in which differences are respected and in which basic needs are guaranteed, enabling everyone to live their life with dignity.
• Sport: Physical exertion undertaken competitively according to a set of rules.
• Squatting: Unlawful occupation of an uninhabited building. It is an insecure type of occupancy, given that it is not subject to any title deed that allows the "cohabitation unit" (squatters) to live in the dwelling.
  • Social squatting. Squatting by vulnerable people or families who are victims of housing exclusions and, in many cases, those who have lost their home.
  • Criminal squatting. Illegal occupancy undertaken by people who carry out unlawful activities in these houses (such as drug dealing). They tend to be conflictive situations that are sometimes linked to criminal activities or landlord harassment. It should be taken into account that people in vulnerable situations may also live in such housing.
  • Ideological squatting. Squatting by people who, despite having enough income to allow them to access housing, opt to squat in order to defend the right to housing.
• Strategic planning: Multidisciplinary process whereby plans to achieve certain goals are designed and implemented. In the context of strategic urban planning, it is the definition of a city project to specify public and private actions and to establish a coherent framework for the mobilisation and cooperation of urban social actors.
• Street trees: Trees planted on public streets with the aim of bringing nature to urban centres, cleaning the air and providing shade.
• Substandard housing: Any property used for housing that does not have a corresponding certificate of occupancy or the conditions to obtain it.
• Suspended particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10): When we breathe we inhale gasses, vapours and suspended particulate matter from the air. These particles may be an extremely varied mix. Their effects on health depend on the place they reach during the breathing process, so they are classified according to size, rather than what they contain. Particles that have an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10 μm (PM10) pass through the throat. Particles that have an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm (PM2.5) go further and may reach the alveoli. There is also ultrafine particulate matter, which with a diameter of less than or equal to 0.1 μm may pass through the alveoli and enter the bloodstream.
• Sustainability: Complex social, economic and ecological concept that links societies and the environment (see Sustainable development). In the context of urban planning it refers to the set of conditions that facilitate a lifestyle that respects the environment and ensures the efficient use and saving of materials, energies and resources with the aim of reducing waste and emissions in the city.
• Sustainable development: Development that meets the needs of the present without endangering the capacity of future generations to meet their own needs.
• Sustainable mobility: Mobility undertaken in a reasonable period of time and at a reasonable cost that minimises negative effects on the environment and people’s quality of life.
• Superblock: It is an urban organisation unit based on which a series of strategies to transform towards a new urban model are based, emphasising the reorganisation of mobility and the public space (Agència d’Ecologia Urbana de Barcelona ).

T

• Transversal work: Transversal work aims to provide organisational responses to the need to incorporate questions, approaches, problems, objectives, etc. into organisational work that do not fit into one single vertical organisational structure. The transversal approach, in contrast to the multi-disciplinary approach, is not a technical concept; and it should not be confused with lateral or interdepartmental coordination, although they are related.

U

• Urban development plan:  Set of rules that govern the permitted uses of land.
• Urban environment: Everything in a city that surrounds us and affects us. It encompasses both the physical space (landscape, urban density…) and the social and cultural values of a place at a given time.
• Urban green corridor: A space with a dominant presence of plant life that runs through urban areas which is used exclusively or preferably by pedestrians and cyclists. The connectivity of green spaces fosters their environmental and social services and enhances people’s quality of life.
• Urban greenery (See Green space)
• Urban integration: From an urban perspective, the integration of housing is the opposite of isolation. Urban integration facilitates contact, exchanges and communication between people. It also enables the majority of citizens to have access to the city’s services without depending on anybody and increases the number of trips made by bicycle or on foot, with the corresponding health benefits. Urban integration prevents the separation between individuals with different income levels and makes it possible for anyone, regardless of social condition, to use the public space and facilities (schools, libraries, sports centres…). For this reason, urban integration is a substantial element for social cohesion and coexistence.
• Urban landscape: Features of an urban area characterised by the aesthetic of the environment, including green cover (amount of green space in the public or private environment) or other natural spaces (blue spaces), places of interest with suitable facilities (lighting, benches, fountains, etc.) and the maintenance of the environment.
• Urban Regeneration Area (ARU): A municipal area in which extensive urban development is planned because the buildings it contains are in very poor condition, do not meet the required habitability conditions and cannot be partially renovated because people live in them. In addition to constructing new buildings, it is necessary to rehouse the people affected and allocate the land resulting from demolition to facilities and green spaces determined by urban planning requirements.
• Urban route: Route through an urban area for various purposes. There are routes of historical, tourism and architectural value, amongst others. There are also healthy urban routes, which are designed to foster physical activity among residents.
• Urban segregation: Separation of urban development areas related to social disparities. It manifests in various housing conditions, accessible green spaces, natural risks, quality infrastructure, and education, health, transport and other services.
• Use transfer cooperative: A cohousing model halfway between renting and buying, where the building is owned by the cooperative and members enjoy indefinitely the right to use the housing in exchange for an initial capital contribution and a monthly fee.

V

• Volatile Organic Compound (VOC):  A toxic chemical substance that is easily converted into vapours or gasses. VOCs are mainly found in petrochemical products. There is a wide variety of consumer products and construction materials that emit this type of substance: paint, varnish, carpets, plastic, aggregates, etc. They are also present in cleaning products and pesticides and in tobacco smoke. 
• Vulnerable group: Group of people who are especially vulnerable to suffering adverse health effects due, for example, to their sex, age or financial position.

W

• Walkability: A measurement that reflects the facility with which a pedestrian can travel through an area. The factors that influence walkability include the presence and quality of paths, pavements and other rights of way, traffic and road conditions, urban use patterns, building accessibility, and safety and security.
• Worm compositing (see also «Composting»): Worm composting is a process in which compost is obtained as an excretory product of earthworms that are fed organic waste to subsequently transform it into a product with a high protein content to fertilise or enrich soil.

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