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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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,...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Dec 21, 20233 min read
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...
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Nov 29, 20233 min read
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...
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Nov 21, 20234 min read
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...
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Nov 7, 20233 min read
Developers, health and place – connecting the dots
At a time when evidence is fast increasing on how the built environment impacts our individual and collective health, it is regrettable...
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Oct 26, 20234 min read
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...
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Sep 29, 20234 min read
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...
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Aug 24, 20233 min read
We need to talk about Toilets
When I wrote over a year ago about the need to rethink public toilets, a journalist I know told me that the issue would not attract wider...
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