Since early 2020, public health has taken on a new dimension. The COVID-19 pandemic has altered not only people’s perceptions of health, but also the ways in which we experience the Built Environment.
For many, the introduction of home working meant that their personal “built environments” became much smaller: for example, a laptop on the kitchen table, rather than an office. The daily commute became a daily walk around the block, a way to stay active rather than to reach a destination.
Developed in collaboration with the St Andrew’s Public Policy Research Group, BECG’s recent research report Building Health: a Report on Health and the Built Environment, presents a research-based explanation for individual experiences: emphasising the importance of parks and green spaces, active commuting, and good air quality. Amongst the findings of the report are some surprising conclusions, and the potential scale of healthy placemaking.
Our aim with the report is to demonstrate the ways in which developers and local authorities can place health outcomes at the centre of planning programmes, and to outline our supporting recommendations.