Unhealthy urban environments present significant public and planetary health risks around the world, and the causes lie upstream in complex areas of public sector policy-making, governance and private sector control.
By working with a wide range of academic disciplines as well as a large number of stakeholders, we sought to uncover where to intervene to make the most impact, basing the decision on as deep an understanding as possible of the fundamental problems.
In March 2025, Design Codes for Health and Wellbeing was published to fill an important gap in guidance on principles that should be incorporated in health-focused built environments. The publication is a key resource for planning and health authorities, investment funds and developers seeking to embed healthy ways of life in diverse local place settings and contexts.
Senior real estate industry professionals make clear the complex web of decision-makers involved in creating and recreating cityscapes both in the UK and worldwide. The specific objectives of a diverse range of domestic and international UK investor, shareholder, land and property owner, landlord, tenant, and public authority clients they advise and support, are vitally shaped by financial drivers and constraints that are reflected in the built form, environment, and healthiness of urban places.
The need and potential for urban development and planning to combat the rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes and mental depression and spatial health inequities, is clear. In the system of English devolved subnational governance, local planning authorities have substantial powers to control and influence the location, use, height, form, and density of development and the deployment of real estate investment capital in cities.