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Mar 26, 20244 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...
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Mar 4, 20244 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...
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Feb 16, 20244 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 7, 20245 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 26, 20246 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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Jan 17, 20244 min read
Will 2024 be the Year of the Marmot City?
Happy new year – and what a year 2024 has started out to be, as global, national and local events unfold and impact us all in different...
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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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Dec 8, 20234 min read
Improving Health through the Built Environment – panel discussion at the NHS ICS/ICB Congress
The GIANT Health event, now in its tenth year, took place earlier this week, and I was invited to convene a panel for the NHS ICS/ICB...
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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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Oct 12, 20234 min read
Borrow some medical practice to build healthy homes and places
This past year has seen real progress in demonstrating how our built environment - the homes & places where we live – impacts our...
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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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Sep 7, 20233 min read
We all deserve to live in a Blue Zone
A new docuseries dropped on Netflix last week called “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones”. The series is conceived, produced, and...
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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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Aug 9, 20232 min read
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...
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Jul 26, 20235 min read
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...
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Jul 16, 20233 min read
Homes, Places and the Peckham Experiment
Last year I interviewed Lord Nigel Crisp about housing and its impact on our individual and collective health, and how the scale of this...
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Jun 23, 20234 min read
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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