I’ve been wearing ‘climate change goggles’ for the last few months. This isn’t nearly as fun as wearing beer goggles, but the consequences are much more constructive. Last week I went to a seminar on using spatial planning to deliver health outcomes. The event was part of the launch of the King’s Fund report on ‘The Health Impacts of Spatial Planning Decisions’ which provides evidence for how planning policy and decisions can affect health outcomes. Viewing the event through the climate change lens allowed me to focus on a few key links between national agendas for health and the environment in the UK.
Climate change and health are cross cutting issues throughout planning policy statements. Work on both climate change mitigation and adaptation have direct effects on health outcomes in the UK. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by collocating services and providing infrastructure for non-car travel will reduce air pollution and ‘obesogenic’ environments, in turn reducing heart and respiratory disease and obesity. Dealing with energy efficiency in new-build and existing housing stock is essential to reduce CO2 emissions but is also vital to address our vulnerability to increasing extreme weather events (e.g. heatwaves like the summer of 2003). Continue reading “Planning for health and climate change in the UK”