31.B. Workshop: Public health and urban design: an interdisciplinary approach to promote autism friendly environments Organised by: EUPHA Public mental health section Chair persons: Jutta Lindert – EUPHA-PMH, Valentina Talu - Italy Contact: jutta.lindert@hs-emden-leer.de Autism is a set of heterogeneous neurodevelopmental condi- tions, characterised by early-onset difficulties in social com- munication and restricted, repetitive behaviour and interests. The worldwide population prevalence is about 1% with an increasing incidence and prevalence rates. Autism affects more male than female individuals, and comorbidity is common (>70% have concurrent conditions). Determinants of these changes in incidence and prevalence rates may also be related to exposure to environmental factors and to modifications in diagnostic concepts and criteria. In spite of the uncertainty in determinants of incidence of autisms, there is evidence that environmental characteristics play a significant role both as autism risk factors and as potential obstacles that influence the capabilities of autonomously and fully ‘‘using’’ everyday spaces. The workshop aims to provide a framework on risk factors of autism and explore the relationship with the built environ- ment, focusing on the quality of the everyday spaces and projecting the effects that it could have in the long term on achieving a desirable level of quality of life. The 11th Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations ‘‘Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’’ underlines the necessity of designing policies and projects acting to enhance and promote healthy cities and communities by addressing the needs of the most vulnerable groups of inhabitants. Herewith we bring together the discipline of Public Health and Urban Design to promote an interdisciplinary debate on a little explored topic investigating how the approaches adopted during childhood to promote the wellbeing of people with ASD can be related or strengthen by focusing also on built environment design intervention to pursue and reach the same objectives even during adulthood. The workshop will consist of four presentations. The first focuses on giving an overview on current knowledge of intervention for people with autism, presenting also criteria for evidence-based interventions. The second explores the rela- tionship between autism and built environment by providing an exhaustive framework of the available research literature in order to identify a first set of spatial requirements for autism friendly cities. The third examines the impact of built environment on ASD users with the aim of developing a specific evaluation tool for healthcare spaces and best practices formulation according to the specific sensorial hypo- or hyper- activation of people with autism. Finally, the fourth reports the results of a two years Research & Development project called ‘‘GAP REDUCE’’ finalized at developing an Assistive Technology tool to support people with ASD, adult and high-functioning, to plan urban itineraries towards daily destinations. Key messages:  World’s incidence of autism is about 1% with an increasing incidence whose determining rates may also be related to environmental factors and to modifications in diagnostic concepts and criteria.  Environmental characteristics play a significant role also as potential obstacles that influence the capabilities of people with autism of autonomously and fully ‘‘using’’ everyday spaces. Determinants of autism – an update on knowledge and open questions Jutta Lindert J Lindert 1 , G Tola 2 1 Department of Social Work and Health, University of Applied Science Emden/Leer, Emden, Germany 2 Department of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sassari, Alghero, Italy Contact: jutta.lindert@hs-emden-leer.de Background: Early intervention is a critical component to any autism service system. Despite the increasing prevalence of autism, many children do not receive early intervention due to delayed diagnoses and various other factors. Community-based autism early interventions can better identify children and provide interventions in more naturalistic environments for young children and their families. In this talk, we will investigate barriers and potential opportunities facing the dissemination and uptake of community-based early autism interventions. Methods: We aim to provide an overview on results of intervention and support models for children and their parents with autism based on a narrative review. Results: The approaches identified in the literature were classified into six complementary categories (Comprehensive approaches, structured teaching, targeted skills-based intervention, targeted behavioural intervention for anxiety and aggression, changes in the built environment). Conclusions: To respond to need of children, youth and adults with autism, effective interventions for the whole lifespan need to be established. Key environmental factors that interact with the complex pathology of autism need to be identified. Furthermore, how autism affects individuals in different environmental contexts needs to be understood. Finally, built and social environments should be made more autism friendly. Built environment and autism: towards a set of spatial requirements for autism friendly cities Giulia Tola G Tola 1 , V Talu 1 , J Lindert 2 1 Department of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sassari, Alghero, Italy 2 Department of Social Work and Health, University of Applied Science Emden/Leer, Emden, Germany Contact: giuliatola.20@gmail.com Background: The opportunity for people functioning in an atypical way to autonomously and fully interact with the city is often compromised or denied, due to the gap between their specific spatial needs and the physical and functional organization of the urban environment. The need to reconsider the living environments taking into account the vast diversity of people gained an increasing importance in the overall debate and specifically in the field of urban planning and design. The research aims at investigating the relationship between the urban environment and people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Methods: A scoping review of current available original studies research exploring the relationship between autism and built environ- ment was conducted. PubMed, Scopus, PsychInfo and Web Of Science where searched. Studies included provided spatial requirements for designing autism friendly environment. v510 European Journal of Public Health, Volume 30 Supplement 5, 2020 Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/eurpub/article/30/Supplement_5/ckaa165.1393/5915831 by guest on 20 November 2020