Geneva in 2061
Children in Geneva learn how their bodies work, how to cook fresh food, how to move, breathe, rest and handle stress, just as they learn to read and count. Adults keep learning in neighbourhood health centres built around a swimming pool, a kitchen and a garden. Everyone knows the difference between a symptom and its underlying cause, and takes responsibility for their own health, with doctors as advisers rather than the only authority.
And people are so nice and friendly, smiling all the time. And they look very healthy as well.Grooters, Book 1, Part 16 "2061"
Geneva today
Nearly half of the Swiss population often struggles with health information
According to the Federal Office of Public Health, nearly half of the population reports frequent difficulties in finding, understanding, assessing and using health information. The main problems are judging whether information is reliable, finding one’s way in the health system, and handling digital health information.
Source: Federal Office of Public Health, Health Literacy Survey Switzerland 2019–2021
- These difficulties particularly affect people in a precarious financial situation, with little social support, a low level of education, or difficulties with the local language (same source).
- Raising the population’s health literacy is one of the goals of the Federal Council’s Health2030 strategy (same source).
Where it is already done
- Japan passed the Basic Act on Shokuiku (food and nutrition education) in 2005. School lunches serve as a “living textbook”: food and nutrition teachers plan seasonal menus and work with families, and children set up the classroom as a dining room and serve each other. In 2021, 56% of the food bought by participating schools was locally produced.
- The Pioneer Health Centre in Peckham (London) was founded by two doctors in 1926, and moved into a purpose-built centre in 1935, to study health rather than illness. Local families joined together, had regular health checks, and used a swimming pool, a gymnasium, a nursery and a cafeteria serving organic food from the centre’s own farm. It closed in 1950, shortly after the creation of the National Health Service.
A Pattern Language
Related patterns from the book A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander and colleagues (1977), a classic of architecture and town planning.
- 47 Health Center: Alexander and his colleagues argue that a community needs places devoted to staying healthy rather than to treating illness. Inspired by the Peckham Experiment, they describe health centres built around a swimming pool, sports and social life, where families come regularly and medical care is only a small part of what happens.
How far along
Done somewhere A city or country already does it. Geneva only needs to adapt it.
The path to 2061
Milestones proposed for discussion.
- 2027Geneva sets a target for health literacy and measures it regularly, with a separate figure for the canton.
- 2031Health becomes a school subject from primary school onwards: how the body works, cooking with fresh local food, movement, sleep, breathing and handling stress.
- 2041Every neighbourhood has a health centre in the spirit of Peckham, open to whole families, with a pool, a kitchen and courses for all ages.
- 2051Most adults know how to look for the underlying cause of a health problem; visits to the doctor for minor complaints have fallen sharply.
- 2061As Verity notices, people look very healthy, because they have learned how to stay that way.
What moves it
Human needs it serves
Open questions
- What should every child know about health by the end of compulsory school, and who should teach it?
- How can reliable health information reach the people who need it most, including those who do not speak French well?
- How can AI health assistants help people understand their own health without spreading false information?