Housing, Health and Happiness

HOUSING, HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

Stephen Marshall & Parisa Kanabar

"A happy city, a healthy city and a sustainable city are all the same place"

Charles Montgomery

All across the country tower cranes break the skyline. The UK is reflecting the global trend towards urbanisation, which will see two thirds of the world’s population living in cities by 2050. A multitude of factors is fuelling the UK’s housing crisis, chief among them availability, affordability, quality and adaptability. In our haste to satisfy the demands of the housing market, accelerating construction and increasing density, designers must not forget our responsibility to create homes that respect people; the families and communities who will live there.

It is a well-documented fact that the country needs more homes - and better homes - but crucial to their success is how they respond to their environment. The picture is complex and multi-faceted; so too must be the solutions. The demand for growth across all areas of the housing market must drive innovation and variety. Advancements are taking place, in the form of dense, urban co-living schemes, compact family homes and new models for the elderly, located close to amenities, even in city centres. We must unlock the potential for design to ‘disrupt’ what is arguably the most conservative element of the UK’s construction industry.

As we are propelled towards rapid urbanisation, architects, engineers, planners and designers are mindful of the impact of the built environment on mental health. The choices we make can be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Our collaboration with Nottingham Trent University considered the principles of health and wellbeing in the planning and design of new city centre apartments. The research examined how apartment design could be improved by investigating the attitudes of residents towards health and wellbeing within their home. A survey asked whether they believed the design of their apartment had an impact on their health and wellbeing, and what they wanted from their home in order to foster a healthy lifestyle.

Langworthy, Salford; reinventing the terraced street to promote neighbourhood interaction

Langworthy, Salford; reinventing the terraced street to promote neighbourhood interaction

It reveals that the most successful designs prioritise characteristics to promote and protect health and wellbeing such as space, light and views. Access to green space is important but so too are our relationships with others and the need for meaningful social interaction. To nurture a healthy, happy lifestyle it is clear that designs must consider wellbeing from the macroscale of the masterplan to the microscale of the individual building; to create an environment which enables and encourages positive social interaction.

At Lowfield in York we are designing an intergenerational development, comprising starter homes, a cooperative housing scheme, a care home, apartments designed for the elderly and a public services building with opportunities for self-build, all arranged around a new community green with play space, fruit trees and a community kitchen garden.

A design which promotes neighbourhood social interaction is at the heart of the high density contemporary housing in Langworthy Salford, for Salix Homes and Step Places. The project will deliver 161 new homes, featuring an innovative mix of back to back, terraced and low rise apartments. The big idea is to green the streets and hide the cars, creating landscaped places for people to meet, chat and play; to recreate the original purpose of the terraced street as a space for community not a car park.

At Grand Union in west London, a new community centre sits at the heart of the design. An allotment-style herb and vegetable garden and fully accessible community kitchen will form an important focus for social activity, providing facilities for children’s parties and healthy cooking classes.

Existing legislation stops short of safeguarding the mental and physical health of occupants of new homes and so it falls to us as responsible designers to encourage our clients and to advocate for ways to ensure that homes of the future can positively impact on health and wellbeing. After all, as the Native American proverb says, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”

The demand for growth across all areas of the housing market is an opportunity to drive innovation and encourage diversification

Gorton Street in Salford integrates a hotel, food and leisure facilities with co-living bedrooms, alongside the redevelopment of seven disused railway arches repurposed as new public space

Grand Union London, a new canalside neighbourhood with landscaped gardens, cafes, crèche and community centre

Grand Union London, a new canalside neighbourhood with landscaped gardens, cafes, crèche and community centre