World Toilet Day: Launching the London Loo Alliance
On Tuesday this week, World Toilet Day was celebrated across the world – laugh if you want, but it’s a long-established event led by...
top of page
Nov 1210 min read
Connecting the arts to local health
Since my return last month from Uganda and my blog about how participation in music making has impacted the health of local communities...
107
Oct 263 min read
Health and Housing – are we at an inflection point?
Earlier this month the British Medical Journal published results of a survey by the Royal College of GPs on time spent on non-clinical...
123
Oct 134 min read
Designing local initiatives for health impact – lessons from Uganda
As preventative health features prominently in the government’s agenda and in particular as a focus for improving the NHS , I’m...
141
Sep 233 min read
Two easy wins for healthier places
In the wake of Lord Darzi’s report on the NHS , the IPPR report on the nation’s health , and the government’s renewed focus on...
84
Sep 103 min read
Changing Places: the Life Sciences industry in London
The Life Sciences industry is comprised of companies and organisations that research, develop and manufacture pharmaceuticals,...
110
Aug 144 min read
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,...
84
Jul 294 min read
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...
67
Jul 165 min read
Private finance, public infrastructure
Our new government has pledged to limit tax rises while at the same time promising to invest in our NHS, education and energy...
78
Jun 274 min read
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...
184
Jun 134 min read
CIL, health and health equity
Over the last year I’ve seen more and more reports of the tensions in local communities created by new housing development and the...
91
May 293 min read
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...
55
May 173 min read
The cost of adversarial practice
Earlier this month, the Home Builders Federation revealed that over the last three years, more than £50 million of taxpayer money was...
135
Apr 253 min read
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...
44
Apr 125 min read
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...
84
Mar 264 min read
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...
21
Mar 44 min read
Notes from a Blue Zone
I spent last week in Singapore which, along with many other accolades, has been designated the world’s sixth Blue Zone, and the world’s...
113
Feb 164 min read
Life in a parallel universe
A parallel universe, also known as an alternate universe, parallel world, parallel dimension, or alternate reality, is a hypothetical...
68
Feb 75 min read
Toilets are the talk of the town
2024 is starting off with a bang for London’s public toilet campaigners. As conversations came to a head (!) toward the end of last year...
166
Jan 266 min read
Planning across space, time and specialism: an interview with Michael Edwards
I first met Michael Edwards in 2021 through Just Space, a network of London-based community organisations which he and others set up in...
45
Blog
bottom of page