Media release from Public Health Advisory Committee

A range of health problems are linked with the design of our cities and towns, according to the Public Health Advisory Committee (PHAC).

The PHAC, which provides independent public health advice to the Minister of Health, released a report today that highlights the urgency of designing urban areas in ways that promote - not impede - good health.

The report, Healthy Places, Healthy Lives: Urban environments and wellbeing, provides detailed evidence about the strong links between urban design and aspects of poor health that place a large burden on our communities and health services.   

Pauline Barnett, PHAC Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health and General Practice at Otago University, said, "86% of New Zealanders now live in urban areas.  

But in these areas, people are walking less, there are more cycle crashes on our roads, and urban air pollutants are contributing to the increasing burden of respiratory illness."

Healthy Places, Healthy Lives emphasises that all too often it is people from disadvantaged backgrounds or with limited ability to move around urban areas - children, older people and people with disabilities - who suffer the greatest health impacts from poorly planned urban environments.

This only increases health inequalities and demand for health services.  "With the growing burden of health issues like chronic conditions and the permanence of urban infrastructure, we must design our cities and towns to promote health," Barnett explains.   

"Amidst the sobering evidence of negative links between urban form and ill health, the report emphasises that there is also hope," notes Robin Kearns, PHAC member and Professor of Geography at the University of Auckland.  "A growing body of evidence identifies how we can design cities for better health outcomes and in ways that have 'co-benefits' for the environment, society and business."

Healthy Places, Healthy Lives examines this research and gives a number of examples from both New Zealand and overseas about things that are working well.  

"New Zealand is doing some great work, but the country has a long way to go.  If we make more widespread changes, they will provide savings to the health system and create more cohesive communities," Kearns adds.  "There are many opportunities for the health sector to work with local government, urban planners and central government agencies in this endeavour."   

Within our cities and towns, hospitals and health services form a major part of our urban infrastructure and they are major employers.  
The report emphasises that the health sector can lead by example in the way it designs its own health facilities, locating them on public transport routes or making them accessible for pedestrians and cyclists.  

The health sector can also model healthy employment practices. Barnett explains, "If we are trying to prevent ill health through more physical activity, why are we providing parking spaces as incentives to employees?

Why can't employers also provide walking shoes or secure bike facilities as options? There are a lot of things that the health sector could do to change the way we live in our cities."   

Both public health and urban planning share origins in Victorian England over century ago when sanitary reforms were introduced to improve living standards and reduce the spread of infectious diseases.  

Since then, the two disciplines have largely parted ways.  PHAC Chair Pauline Barnett said that "a re-integration of public health and urban planning is required."     

Copies of Healthy Places, Healthy Lives are available on the PHAC's website.