NEWS
Analysis { RTPI NATHANIEL LICHFIELD LECTURE 2020
Lichfield Lecture: Planners can lead the way in transforming public health By Simon Wicks More than any other event in living memory, perhaps, Covid-19 has reminded us of the relationship between health and the homes and neighbourhoods we inhabit. This is by no means a new relationship, however, as Professor Georgia Butina Watson (right) explained in the 2020 RTPI Nathaniel Lichfield Lecture. In ‘Health and Placemaking’, the research director of urban design at Oxford Brookes University observed that human settlements globally faced “common issues” predating Covid-19. High rates of obesity, hypertension and respiratory complaints could be linked to our lifestyles and the way we have shaped our living environments around them. If poorly planned living environments generate poor health, can well planned places promote good health? Yes, Butina Watson insisted, pointing out positive benefits to good ‘placemaking’ that include cognitive improvements, improved community engagement and more physical exercise. “As planners and urban designers we have tried to tackle this issue at all kinds
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of morphological levels, s, from citywide down to individual idual houses and neighbourhoods,” she explained, outlining how ow different neighbourhoods ods were embedding good health into their overall design. sign. Utrecht in the e Netherlands, for example, was as underpinning ng growth with h streets that were pollution-free and people-friendly. “They are turning grey infrastructure into green spaces and corridors, but also engaging residents to say what they want to see in their city and asking how health and planning can be combined,” she reported. In South Islington, London, streetscape improvement was being evaluated in terms of health outcomes, with striking results. Here, Butina Watson explained, green chains connecting estates with streets and open spaces, combined with traffic calming, had made the streets more attractive, safer and less polluted. Residents had previously reported high levels of anxiety and car use. Now, they said they felt safer on the streets, spent more time outside, with neighbours and
“WE NEED TO LEARN TO WORK MORE CLOSELY ACROSS PROFESSIONS”
were more active. Children were even performing better at school. The Healthy Towns Programme, where a variety of healthy planning tools were being used, was also providing planners with a bank of useful data and approaches to planning. “Compact and connected urban forms”, active travel infrastructure, space for play, “wayfinding” and homes designed with health in mind, were emerging as features of
healthy environments. Such interventions built “stronger and more diverse communities”, which were also safer, more healthy, more economically active and more connected with nature. In a post-pandemic world, beset also by climate change, the need to create healthy places had become more urgent. Planners, she contended, needed to play their part, but “strong leadership is required from experts and politicians. We need to learn to work more closely across professions”. We needed to rethink our values, Butina Watson concluded. “Different models of developing cities should not only be based on economic value but the value should also be on life support.”
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08/12/2020 16:04
