Healthy Environments, Healthy People Polly Turton, Senior Public Affairs Advisor, CABE Landscape Institute / Natural England conference Bristol, 25 April 2008
Outline of today s seminar Overview of CABE s work and thinking around role of public space planning, design and management in contributing to the interconnected issues of: Health and well-being environmental, physical and mental Sustainable development 3 pillars, 5 principles Climate change mitigation and adaptation win / win Opportunity for discussion and debate on how to best to put this thinking into practice in the real world 2
CABE The government s advisor on architecture, urban design and public space. Set up in 1999, CABE Space set up in 2003. Sponsored by Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) and joint funded by Communities and Local Government (CLG) 3
CABE Corporate Strategy themes 08/09 Placemaking Sustainable design Capacity building Health and well-being Think Learn Do Homes and neighbourhoods Public space Schools and education Olympics Inspiring Influencing Integrating Improving 4
Determinants of health Barton & Grant (2006) 5
Determinants of obesity 6
Tackling Obesities: Future Choices Foresight, Government Office for Science (2007) The obesity epidemic cannot be prevented by individual action alone and demands a societal approach. Tackling obesity requires far greater change than anything tried so far, and at multiple levels: personal, family, community and national. Preventing obesity is a societal challenge, similar to climate change. It requires partnership between government, science, business and civil society. 7
Principles of sustainable development UK Sustainable Development Strategy (2005) 8
The cost of ill health Health and social care Wider economy Total Mental ill health 12 billion/annum 64 billion/annum 76 billion/annum Obesity > 1 billion/annum > 2.3 billion/annum 3.3-3.7 billion/annum Diabetes 1.3 billion/annum Unknown > 1.3 billion/annum 9
Natural spaces People with access to nearby nature are generally healthier than those without Contact with nature impacts positively on blood pressure, cholesterol, outlook on life, stress reduction and child development The more greenspace there is in a person s residential area, the more healthy they are likely to be 10
Air pollution and road traffic Increasing the number of people cycling and walking improves road safety Perceptions of road safety can influence levels of physical activity Adverse health effects of air pollution include: mortality, asthma, rhinitis, cardiovascular disease, cancer and lowering of male fertility In 2006, over 250,000 people were killed or injured in road accidents in the UK Air pollution reduces life expectancy by 7-8 months and costs up to 20.2 billion/annum 11
Health, place and nature SDC (2008) 12
The urban area as eco-system Seeing people as a species within the urban eco-system and public spaces as habitats 13
Indicator species Concept of indicator species plant or animal whose presence or absence in an area indicates certain environmental conditions Pedestrians, especially children and older people, as the human version Urban environments designed with them in mind tend to be good quality environments for all 14
The active travel / climate change equation Energy imbalance between food in and physical activity out Energy imbalance between fossil fuel in and carbon emissions out Low fossil fuel energy input + high calorific energy output = low carbon, sustainable, healthy places 15
What is a place for healthy, low carbon lives? Planned, designed and managed to encourage active travel and use of public transport - is also a place which reduces carbon emissions. Has local shops, public transport, schools, health centres, play, leisure and sports facilities within walking distance from people s homes. Provides and enables more sustainable lifestyles, behaviours, systems and services. 16
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NOT PEDESTRIAN / CLIMATE FRIENDLY 20
PEDESTRIAN / CLIMATE FRIENDLY 21
NOT PEDESTRIAN / CLIMATE FRIENDLY 22
PEDESTRIAN / CLIMATE FRIENDLY 23
NOT PEDESTRIAN / CLIMATE FRIENDLY 24
PEDESTRIAN / CLIMATE FRIENDLY 25
Building Health by National Heart Forum, Living Streets, CABE (2007) 65 recommendations aimed at policymakers and built environment professionals in the UK Strategic planning 5 Urban planning 6 Streets and the public realm 9 Walking and cycling - 15 Urban green space - 9 Outdoor playing space - 12 Building design - 9 26
Context for Building Health Climate change and public health interrelated The policy-action gap translation of theory into reality The funding gap investment in built environment Shifting perceptions a necessity not a luxury The tipping point seizing opportunities Health inequalities environmental and social justice Joined up policies (or the policy-policy gap) not just health Public Service Agreements cross Governmental working 27
Key recommendations from Building Health (3 out of 65) 1. Applying a health check on every investment programme, which include assessing the impact on levels of physical activity. 2. Strengthening guidelines for key strategic planning documents such as Community Strategies, Local Transport Plans, Regional and Sub- Regional Spatial Strategies, Local Development Frameworks and Sustainability Appraisals to make health and physical activity a key goal alongside sustainable development. 3. Integrating health promotion principles into the training of built environment professionals such as highways and transport engineers and town planners. 28
Eco-towns / fit towns legacy? 'Fit towns' plan to tackle child obesity The government is planning to tackle the growing obesity epidemic in Britain by broadening its plans for eco towns and turning them into healthy or fit towns, the Guardian can reveal. The health secretary, Alan Johnson, is convinced that two great challenges facing Britain - climate change and obesity - are linked. He believes it makes sense that 10 eco towns already being planned by the government should now be built and designed to confront the UK's obesity crisis The Guardian, 1 November 2007 29
Cross-Departmental Obesity Programme Delivery Reference Group (!) Set up to incorporate recommendations from Foresight report into Government policies and practice Will try and incorporate recommendations from Building Health report Has recently set up the Healthy Towns Steering Group CABE working to ensure this is linked into Eco-towns 30
European Heatwave August 2003 High social costs Excess mortality, across all ages: 30,000 across Europe 2,091 across England 31
Heatwave impact on London The Urban Heat Island Effect 32
Impact of heatwave on public space 33
Cooling effect of green space 34
Importance of the green and blue spaces in cities Two thirds of London s surface area is green space or open water 35
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Surface water management 40
Flooding in Sheffield Summer 2007 impact on public space 41
SuDS Sustainable (urban) drainage systems Upton, Northamptonshire, England Rieselfeld, Freiburg, Germany 42
Good design can incorporate functional with aesthetics / social use Hofstraat, Appeldorn, Holland Sutcliffe Park, Lewisham, London 43
How not to do it 44
Public space and climate change adaptation CABE will use its remit as an advocate for well-planned, designed and managed public spaces to be more explicit and demanding about their role in sustainable design and place-making. Cities and the urban public realm key to taking climate action, but tools are needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Summer 2008 CABE will publish web based case studies and resources on public space adaptation to climate change Aimed at local decision-makers dealing with the planning, design and management of cities and the urban public realm 45
The public space adaptation case studies River Quaggy flood alleviation scheme - borough wide adaptations to flood risk using parks as the key alleviation mechanism whilst improving quality overall Cleveleys coastal protection - scheme designed to protect the people of Cleveleys from coastal flooding through enhancing the promenade Chiswick Park, London an example of urban heat island mitigation in a commercial development providing outdoor space with shade Milton Keynes Floodplain Forest the restoration of a lost ecosystem in Britain created following gravel extraction Bristol Business Park use of permeable paving, swales and ponds. City of Salford flood risk assessment - shows those parts of the city that may be at risk of flooding under a range of scenarios including scale and severity 12th Avenue Green Street project (Portland) - manages street storm water runoff onsite using a landscape approach Augustenborg, Malmo (Sweden) - programme to make neighbourhood more socially, economically and environmentally sustainable neighbourhood. Olympic Park, Sydney (Australia) - park has been recognised internationally with awards for environmental design, engineering, construction and management. 46
www.sustainablecities.org.uk Climate change adaptation casestudies part of CABE s on-line resource called sustainablecities.org.uk, work in progress. How sustainable urban design and management can help cities adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. It will address what cities can control and influence through strategic urban design and management to make the city (region) environment better able to respond to climate change. It will also embrace the social and economic dimensions of creating sustainable cities. 47
www.sustainablecities.org.uk Aim is to help decision-makers prioritise effective spatial policies and actions across different scales and issues, in response to climate change. The structure is being developed using a two dimensional matrix set: A geo-physical/spatial scale (from global to atomic) A range of cross-cutting themes relating to sustainable urban design Cross-cutting themes is to promote users to think and perceive issues outside of their normal silo-based/professional perspectives. 48
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Multi-functional public spaces and green (blue and grey too) infrastructure 56
Future Urban Landscapes Campaign 2008 Imagine a campaign run jointly by CABE and the LI Overarching aim to raise awareness of important role of urban landscapes in tackling health and climate change to key decision makers, now and in the future Urban landscapes incorporates streets, parks, squares, green, blue, grey infrastructure, ground level, roof level, subterranean, vertical, horizontal Spatial scale = urban area / neighbourhood Time scale = 5-10 years (2016 +) 57
Who would the Future Urban Landscapes campaign be aimed at? Central Government Departments? Regional Government? Local Government? Public sector? Professional bodies? Private sector? What s the ask? What needs to change to ensure our urban landscapes help to deliver health and well-being, and mitigate and adapt to climate change? What are the levers? How can we work the system we re in to ensure healthy, sustainable, low carbon urban landscapes? How can landscape architects best contribute to this campaign? What form would campaign take? How would it link into other LI work? 58
Thank you. Polly Turton pturton@cabe.org.uk www.cabe.org.uk