Planning is messy – but reducing it to binary choices will not give us the sustainable places we need
Earlier this year I visited Singapore and wrote about how government interventions have led to some remarkable outcomes on housing,...
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- Jul 29
- 4 min
Where health meets planning – lessons from Wales
As the new government tries to reconcile how to grow the economy by accelerating investment in new housing with a commitment to public...
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- Jun 27
- 4 min
Making London more swimmable
There’s an ad going round social media this week by the city of Oslo, presented with irony by a droll Norwegian who asks if Oslo is “even...
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- May 29
- 3 min
Supermarkets and Healthy Placemaking
Earlier this month, Asda unveiled plans for a “transformational Mixed-Use Redevelopment of its ten-acre Park Royal site in North West...
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- Apr 25
- 3 min
Vulnerable in the city
“Vulnerability” comes from the Latin word for wound – vulnis. It’s the state of being open to injury, or appearing as if you are. Feeling...
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- Apr 12
- 5 min
Infrastructure First
Along with wet weather, April came in with a blast of Nimby v Yimby hot air. So far this month, we’ve learned that Keir Starmer has...
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- Mar 26
- 4 min
Can local initiatives increase the life expectancy of residents?
A report came out last week from the Kings Fund and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation giving new evidence to the link between areas of...
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- Dec 8, 2023
- 4 min
Improving Health through the Built Environment – panel discussion at the NHS ICS/ICB Congress
The GIANT Health event, now in its tenth year, took place earlier this week, and I was invited to convene a panel for the NHS ICS/ICB...
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- Nov 21, 2023
- 4 min
Be part of a community-led approach to assessing health impact
I’m delighted to share this blog from Josh Artus at Centric Lab. What they’re doing in rethinking and redesigning Health Impact...
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- Nov 7, 2023
- 3 min
Developers, health and place – connecting the dots
At a time when evidence is fast increasing on how the built environment impacts our individual and collective health, it is regrettable...
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- Oct 26, 2023
- 4 min
Grasping the low-hanging fruit that will make our places happier & healthier
“Low hanging fruit”, when not in an orchard setting, refers to tasks or projects that can be easily and quickly completed before moving...
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- Oct 12, 2023
- 4 min
Borrow some medical practice to build healthy homes and places
This past year has seen real progress in demonstrating how our built environment - the homes & places where we live – impacts our...
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- Sep 29, 2023
- 4 min
Connecting generations through houses & places
Earlier this week I came home to find on my doormat a “special invitation” from Audley Villages to visit a newly developed “luxury...
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- Sep 7, 2023
- 3 min
We all deserve to live in a Blue Zone
A new docuseries dropped on Netflix last week called “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones”. The series is conceived, produced, and...
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- Aug 24, 2023
- 3 min
We need to talk about Toilets
When I wrote over a year ago about the need to rethink public toilets, a journalist I know told me that the issue would not attract wider...
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- Aug 9, 2023
- 2 min
First, do no harm
Anyone involved in medicine and the provision of healthcare will recognise this phrase and its origins in Hippocrates – it embodies the...
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- Jul 16, 2023
- 3 min
Homes, Places and the Peckham Experiment
Last year I interviewed Lord Nigel Crisp about housing and its impact on our individual and collective health, and how the scale of this...
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- May 3, 2023
- 5 min
How do we sustain multigenerational communities in London?
“We often hear about stepping outside ourselves, but rarely about stepping outside our generation.” ― Criss Jami, Killosophy...
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- Apr 6, 2023
- 4 min
Health services must be prioritised in communities undergoing regeneration
Some recent events in Kent illustrate a disconnect between planning for new housing development and providing essential health services...
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- Mar 7, 2023
- 4 min
Everybody’s talking about planning
“There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about”, said Oscar Wilde, “and that is not being talked about”. Events in the...
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