Projects per year
Abstract
Background
Urban environments impact negatively on the risks of non-communicable diseases and perpetuate health inequalities. Against this, law could play a critical role, notably through implementing and securing visions of health and well-being, and evidence-based interventions.
Methods
Seven teams conducted 123 interviews with 132 actors in urban planning in England. Teams had expertise in urban planning, transport, real estate, public health, public policy, administration, and management. An additional team with expertise in law analysed data from all interviews to explore how the law is perceived and used to promote health in urban planning.
Results
Six issues were identified as preventing actors from using the law to improve health in urban planning: (i) density and complexity of the law; (ii) weak and outdated regulatory standards; (iii) absence of health from legal requirements in the decision-making process; (iv) inconsistent interpretations by actors with competing interests; (v) lack of strong health evidence-based local planning policies; and (vi) inertia of the law.
Conclusions
The legal determinants of health listed in the Lancet-O’Neill Commission’s report need to be strengthened at the local level to effectively deploy law in English urban development. The findings call for strong, evidence-based local planning policies and decision-making frameworks, placing health as (one of the) core value(s) of urban planning and showing what types of development benefit health, i.e., prevent NCDs risks and reduce health inequalities on the long term. The legal capacity of local government should be strengthened to empower decision-makers in shaping urban development that promotes health for everyone.
Urban environments impact negatively on the risks of non-communicable diseases and perpetuate health inequalities. Against this, law could play a critical role, notably through implementing and securing visions of health and well-being, and evidence-based interventions.
Methods
Seven teams conducted 123 interviews with 132 actors in urban planning in England. Teams had expertise in urban planning, transport, real estate, public health, public policy, administration, and management. An additional team with expertise in law analysed data from all interviews to explore how the law is perceived and used to promote health in urban planning.
Results
Six issues were identified as preventing actors from using the law to improve health in urban planning: (i) density and complexity of the law; (ii) weak and outdated regulatory standards; (iii) absence of health from legal requirements in the decision-making process; (iv) inconsistent interpretations by actors with competing interests; (v) lack of strong health evidence-based local planning policies; and (vi) inertia of the law.
Conclusions
The legal determinants of health listed in the Lancet-O’Neill Commission’s report need to be strengthened at the local level to effectively deploy law in English urban development. The findings call for strong, evidence-based local planning policies and decision-making frameworks, placing health as (one of the) core value(s) of urban planning and showing what types of development benefit health, i.e., prevent NCDs risks and reduce health inequalities on the long term. The legal capacity of local government should be strengthened to empower decision-makers in shaping urban development that promotes health for everyone.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 310 |
| Journal | BMC Public Health |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 11 Feb 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was made possible by the Tackling Root Causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development consortium, award reference: MR/S037586/1, supported by the UK Prevention Research Partnership, which is funded by the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Economic and Social Research Council, Health and Social Care Research and Development Division (Welsh Government), Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, Natural Environment Research Council, Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland), The Health Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.
Funding Information:
I am grateful to all interview teams from the TRUUD project ‘Tackling Root Causes Upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development’ for asking the law question on my behalf and for granting access to the data that they collected: Sarah Ayres, Andrew Barnfield, Geoff Bates, Daniel Black, Krista Bondy, Rosalie Callway, Md Nazmul Hasan, Caglar Koksal, Heeseo Rain Kwon, Anna Le Gouais, Kathy Pain, Sian Peake-Jones, Nick Pearce, and Cecilia Wong. I am also extremely grateful to colleagues who commented on earlier drafts of this article: Geoff Bates, Krista Bondy, Rosalie Callway, John Coggon, Edward Kirton-Darling, and Anna Le Gouais.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
Research Groups and Themes
- Centre for Health, Law and Society
Keywords
- Legal Determinants of Health
- urban planning
- urban development
- Health Inequalities
- Local governance
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Truud - Tackling the root causes upstream of unhealthy urban decision m
Ayres, S. A. (Principal Investigator), Kirton-Darling, E. I. (Researcher), Williams, D. (Manager), Bain, H. C. (Administrator), Carhart, N. J. (Principal Investigator), Le Gouais, A. (Principal Investigator), Rosenberg, G. (Principal Investigator), Walton, J. (Principal Investigator), Chang, M. (Principal Investigator), Newberry, P. (Principal Investigator), Papastavrou Brooks, C. (Principal Investigator), Black, D. (Principal Investigator), Kidger, J. L. (Principal Investigator), Hanss, K. L. (Principal Investigator) & Turnbull, S. L. (Principal Investigator)
1/10/19 → 30/09/24
Project: Research