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Urban Healthonomics – back to the future of healthy, sustainable and prosperous cities
Martin Prince-Parrott, the author of recently published Urban Healthonomics, is a man on a mission. He’s also a walking contradiction....
Apr 96 min read
92


Embedding health into local planning – it’s all about the data
Last October, before the government’s autumn budget, I wrote a blog making a case that the UK is at an inflection point in housing and...
Mar 217 min read
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Community-led campaigns are needed now more than ever
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” ...
Mar 135 min read
133


Is there a doctor in the house?
Does objecting to a new housing development in your local community, on the basis that no provision is made for new or expanded GP...
Feb 195 min read
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Healthy Happy Places – a collaborative initiative in the Northeast of England
There’s an area in the northeast of England where planners, health providers, arts organisations and local government are collaborating...
Feb 57 min read
129


Building an environment to age well in
With a new year comes a media spotlight on self-improvement, “healthy ageing” and “longevity” feature highly in both social and...
Jan 254 min read
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Build for Health
Happy new year! Here’s hoping that sincere wishes for happiness and prosperity in 2025 are met with acknowledgment of some significant...
Jan 105 min read
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Infrastructure is more than bricks & mortar
On April 15, 2019 the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris was severely damaged in a devastating fire – and this week, five years on, its...
Dec 5, 20243 min read
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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...
Nov 21, 20243 min read
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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...
Oct 26, 20243 min read
148


Changing Places: the Life Sciences industry in London
The Life Sciences industry is comprised of companies and organisations that research, develop and manufacture pharmaceuticals,...
Sep 10, 20243 min read
115


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,...
Aug 14, 20244 min read
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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...
Jul 29, 20244 min read
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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...
Jul 16, 20245 min read
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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...
May 29, 20243 min read
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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...
May 17, 20243 min read
139

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...
Apr 25, 20243 min read
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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...
Apr 12, 20245 min read
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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...
Mar 4, 20244 min read
138


Life in a parallel universe
A parallel universe, also known as an alternate universe, parallel world, parallel dimension, or alternate reality, is a hypothetical...
Feb 16, 20244 min read
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