Action in a wide range of policy areas outside of the healthcare system has the potential to have significant benefits for the health of the population. One example is the development of urban spaces, where a wide range of factors such as housing density, air quality, and cycling and walking infrastructure can protect, improve, or damage public health.
Currently however, policies shaping urban development in the United Kingdom (UK) are not delivering healthy places to work and live. In centralised systems like the UK, national government policy sets the context that urban development takes places in at the local level.
