Community Consultation

Dec 17, 20243 min read

Building Health Equity – the Role of the Property Sector in Improving Health

It wasn’t long ago that these words would look out of place in the same sentence. Why should property developers care about health, or...

Infrastructure is more than bricks & mortar

Dec 5, 20243 min read

Community Engagement

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...

World Toilet Day: Launching the London Loo Alliance

Nov 21, 20243 min read

Community Engagement

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...

Planning is messy – but reducing it to binary choices will not give us the sustainable places we need

Aug 14, 20244 min read

Community Engagement

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,...

Where health meets planning – lessons from Wales

Jul 29, 20244 min read

Community Engagement

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...

Jun 27, 20244 min read

Community Engagement

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...

Jun 13, 20244 min read

Regeneration

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...

May 17, 20243 min read

Community Engagement

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...

Can local initiatives increase the life expectancy of residents?

Mar 26, 20244 min read

Healthy Ageing

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...

Feb 16, 20244 min read

Community Engagement

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 7, 20245 min read

Public Health

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...

Planning across space, time and specialism: an interview with Michael Edwards

Jan 26, 20246 min read

Community Engagement

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...

Keeping the glass half full: a Christmas wish for the Stag Brewery

Dec 21, 20233 min read

Community Engagement

Keeping the glass half full: a Christmas wish for the Stag Brewery

A friend came to visit last weekend and, as we set off on a walk along the Thames towpath from Mortlake, SW London, she asked what was...

GLA Committee explores Community Consultation

Nov 29, 20233 min read

Community Engagement

GLA Committee explores Community Consultation

Last Thursday, 23rd November, I joined a panel of “experts” to answer questions from the GLA Oversight Committee about best practice when...

Be part of a community-led approach to assessing health impact

Nov 21, 20234 min read

Community Engagement

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...

Grasping the low-hanging fruit that will make our places happier & healthier

Oct 26, 20234 min read

Community Engagement

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...

Connecting generations through houses & places

Sep 29, 20234 min read

Community Engagement

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...

Aug 9, 20232 min read

Regeneration

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...

The Stag Brewery regeneration –a planning test for our time?

Jul 26, 20235 min read

Community Engagement

The Stag Brewery regeneration –a planning test for our time?

A planning application to redevelop the Stag Brewery in Mortlake was approved by Richmond Council last week. The largest regeneration...

Jun 23, 20234 min read

Community Engagement

The coalitions are coming

Just when I thought it wasn’t possible, not one but two coalitions of Built Environment organisations have announced their arrival in the...

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