Can we plan for a healthier future by intervening in the built environment? Prof Tim Townshend certainly believes it is possible in his new book Healthier Cities? Design for Well-being - which advocates putting health back at the heart of planning decision making. An example of where health and planning are already working together is the development of planning regulations that have been used to manage the over-proliferation of hot food takeaways and encourage healthier food environments. The covid19 pandemic has had significant direct negative health effects but also increasing the toxicity of high streets with many businesses ceasing to trade, and hot, fast, food becoming more plentiful. The Government’s new Levelling Up agenda seeks to counteract these effects, and planning / policy will have a significant part to play in this. This half day session will present perspectives on this topic from academics, practitioners and policy makers and will ask attendees to consider how we can effectively use planning to deliver a healthier future, and what the priorities and practicalities should be going forward. 

This half day hybrid event will present perspectives on this topic from academics, practitioners and policy makers and will ask attendees to consider how we can effectively use planning to deliver a healthier future, and what the priorities and practicalities should be going forward. 

Who should attend? 

Anyone with an interest in creating healthier places in the future including planners, public health teams, policy makers community and campaigning groups, and members of the public involved in creating healthier environments 

Confirmed Speakers 

Professor Tim Townshend, Urban Design for Health, Newcastle University 
Professor Heather Brown, Professor of Public Health and Health Inequalities, Lancaster University
Mr Michael Chang, Programme Manager for Planning and Health, Healthy Places and Communities, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID)
Dr Nick Gray, Research Associate, Evaluation and Impact Team / Centre for Social Innovation, Teesside University

Event Programme - 18 May 2022

The recording of this event is now on the Fuse Youtube channel https://youtu.be/OJIxRPqXnOA

‌Follow Fuse @fuse_online