Obesity is a significant health challenge that relates to the built environment. The design of buildings, neighbourhoods and cities can create places where people can balance physical activity with a healthy diet. Being overweight may also be linked to sleep and stress, and the built environment can also help with these areas of our lives.
I was delighted to contribute to the new Obesity Health Alliance report ‘Turning the Tide: A 10-year Healthy Weight Strategy’ as an expert advisor with Julia Thrift and Michael Chang. We reviewed evidence and drafted content for Chapter 6 ‘The environment around us’.
This report provides many clear recommendations for policy-makers and I’m particularly pleased that our point about the purpose of planning being to support public health was included.
Sun Valley is a neighbourhood being redeveloped by the Denver Housing Authority to ‘create a new model of community transformation with equity, environmental justice, and public health as its driving forces.’(1) The redevelopment aims to add 960 mixed income housing units (there were 333 existing public housing units on site); create 30,000 square feet of multi-use office space; redevelop 3.2 acres of industrial use buildings into a mixed-use area; and establish a new light rail station. The Sun Valley Eco-District was established to ensure that this DHA project built successfully on the strong credentials of the Mariposa redevelopment.
Considering health, equity and other social factors has been essential in project planning as the population living in Sun Valley face multiple barriers to healthy living. Over 80% of residents live below the poverty line, a quarter identify as first-generation immigrants, a fifth are refugees, and 94% live in subsidised housing.(1) Although the neighbourhood is centrally located, it is low density and primarily industrial. Denver’s Comprehensive Plan (2014) promotes the development of an equitable, safe, economically vibrant and healthy neighbourhood.
There’s a lot of guidance about designing healthy communities from public health and built environment professionals. For a change, I found it interesting to hear what Lord Richard Best called his ‘Top 10 Tips’ for designing healthy communities. Lord Best is ‘not a fan of major UK housebuilders’ because he feels their level of quality is not up to muster. So his example healthy development, Derwenthorpe, is led by the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, not a private developer.
Derwenthorpe on the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust website
Lord Best has an informed position on designing and planning healthy communities based on his roles as Vice President of the Local Government Association and the Town & Country Planning Association, and co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Housing and Care for Older People. He was also the CEO of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (1988-2006).
Derwenthorpe is a new development of 489 ‘attractive, affordable, eco-friendly family homes in a digitally inclusive, mixed-tenure community’.1 It’s situated on the edge of an existing village, Osbaldwick, outside of York. Here’s what Lord Richard Best thinks makes this development healthy – couched as his ‘Top 10 Tips’:
Top 10 tips for healthy places (not in any order):
Affordable housing – 40% are rented on secure tenancies
Lifetime Homes Specification (fully accessible – good for all ages and conditions)
Residents get a free bus pass for a year or a loan to buy a bicycle
Home zones (shared street space) where pedestrians have the right of way
Substantial play spaces for children
Sustainable Drainage Systems to avoid flooding (and water ingress into homes)
Electric vehicle charging points on each home, one car parking spot per house and a car club
Affordable heating and power – they have a Combined Heating and Power (CHP) system providing low cost energy for residents.
There are more details on the Joseph Rowntree website (below) with other features of this development that contribute to its sustainability and health credentials.
1Derwenthorpe on the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust website: https://www.jrht.org.uk/community/derwenthorpe-york
The King’s Cross Central regeneration project is one of the largest in London and Europe at 67 acres.(1) This exciting development is opening up a part of the city which may be well known to locals but, until recently, was largely hidden to the millions of people who pass through King’s Cross and St Pancras stations weekly. With new homes, jobs, restaurants and public spaces, this development offers multiple ways of improving health and wellbeing in the local community. Continue reading “Health and wellbeing at King’s Cross”
Most of us in the public don’t have the knowledge to rationally respond to consultations on power stations. For that reason, big energy decisions aren’t made through local planning authorities. So why do we spend lots of time and money asking people whether they want certain kinds of energy plants?
We need nuclear power to meet our energy needs. A mix of renewable energy technologies in the right places could also make a difference. Unfortunately, we don’t want nuclear. Until a better technology comes to market we need to get real about our energy problem. Continue reading “When it comes to energy, we don’t know what’s good for us”
For the public sector, putting the wheels in motion to use combined heat and power and develop district energy networks is very difficult. Whose job is it to take on this massive opportunity? In some councils you’ll find a dedicated district energy officer, while in others there may be a spatial planner struggling to look at this alongside other a long list of other responsibilities. With energy prices steadily rising, now is the time to develop decentralised energy. Unfortunately, there seems to be a huge gap between public and private sector skills and knowledge, leaving the public sector way behind the times. Continue reading “Get out of the grid – the trouble with CHP and the public sector”
