Built environment design and planning practitioners have reported a number of barriers to implementing healthy urban environments. A 2018 Design Council report found that UK practitioners see healthy placemaking as being in competition with other development objectives and too costly to implement.

 

Methods: A scoping review was conducted to identify existing healthy placemaking resources. Searches were conducted using University College London’s electronic library search engine and Google Advanced Search. Search terms related to: the urban environment; health and related concepts; and framework terms. Data about the resources were logged in Excel, and included: scale; geography; scope; inclusion of monitoring recommendation; producer; evidence base; and publication date.

 

Results: The scoping review produced 30 resources published in the UK, USA, Australia and Canada between 2007 and 2019. The resources covered strategic principles and detailed design measures, including discussion of synergies between health, sustainability, inclusive design and equity. Most resources suggested monitoring and reviewing built environment health impacts.

 

Implications: Separation of healthy placemaking guidance from other urban planning objectives may contribute to a view that health is in competition with other policy objectives during the process of implementation. Furthermore, although monitoring indicators were frequently provided, research has demonstrated that these are rarely measured or used by built environment practitioners. The literature demonstrates that guidance about addressing urban environmental health determinants should highlight the health impacts of climate change, biodiversity losses, and resource depletion alongside social issues, such as widening income inequalities.

 

A healthy environment is sustainable, equitable and inclusive – yet current guidance doesn’t provide built environment practitioners with integrated resources for these pressing health challenges. New resources should not assume that practitioners will be able to monitor the built environment and health (eg, through indicators). The literature review informed the development of a preliminary framework that will be tested through participatory workshops.