GCHU: Can community-led planning make cities more adaptive and healthier?

In a world increasingly affected by the climate emergency it is imperative that we have coherent strategies in place to make our cities climate resilient and adaptive. We also face a public health crisis as both climate change (for example, extreme heat and air pollution) and socio-economic factors impact on people’s health in cities and create further health inequalities. Initiatives such as ‘Marmot Places’, which recognise the links between the social determinants of health and the impact of climate change in specific urban areas, offer one way of tackling these problems, and the emergence of participatory (or people-led) approaches to decision-making through ‘citizen assemblies’ provides a possible way of helping rebuild people’s trust in the urban planning process. This seminar brings together four experts to explore these themes through short provocations:

• What really determines the outcomes for people’s health in the climate emergency at city level?
• What is the role of urban planning in developing adaptation strategies that help tackle both climate change and public health issues?
• What are citizen assemblies, and can they help in planning for healthy and adaptive cities?
• Do we need new and stronger policies to resolve health-climate planning issues at national and sub-national levels?

There will also be time for interactive discussion as part of the audience Q & A.

Speakers:

• Professor Adam Briggs -University of Southampton and Oxfordshire County Council
• Dr Audrey de Nazelle -Imperial College
• Lucy Bush - Demos
• Dr Rosalie Callway - Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA)

Chair: Timothy J. Dixon

Emeritus Professor, School of the Built Environment, University of Reading and Visiting Fellow/Research Associate, Kellogg College/Global Centre on Healthcare and Urbanisation (GCHU), University of Oxford