Healthy buildings for a healthy city: Is the public health evidence base informing current building policies?

Autor: Emily Prestwood, Aleksandra Michalec, Ben Williams, Janet Ige, Laurence Carmichael, Paul Pilkington, Rachael Marsh, Eleanor Eaton
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Psychological intervention
The WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Urban Environment
PHE
Public Health England
010501 environmental sciences
CSH
Code for Sustainable Homes
DEFRA
Department for Food and Rural Affairs
Sustainability & Climate Change
01 natural sciences
NPPG
National Planning Policy Guidance
Waste Management and Disposal
media_common
Public economics
Climate resilience
English planning
Pollution
Evidence base
Health
HES
Mortality and Hospital Episode Statistics
ODPM
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
medicine.medical_specialty
Environmental Engineering
BRE
Building Research Establishment
media_common.quotation_subject
HHSRS
Healthy Housing Safety Rating System
Article
BSI
British Standards Institution
CISBE
Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers
medicine
Environmental Chemistry
Quality (business)
DoH
Department of Health
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Sustainable development
Building regulations
NPPF
National Planning Policy Framework
Public health
HSE
Health and Safety Executive
Hazards
MHCLG
Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government
HMSO
Her Majesty's Stationery Office
Mental health
Intervention (law)
DCLG
Department for Communities and Local Government
SDGs
Sustainable Development Goals
EHS
English Housing Survey
Carbon footprint
BTO
Building Technologies Office
Housing
Health & Wellbeing
Business
BREAAM
Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method
Zdroj: The Science of the Total Environment
ISSN: 1879-1026
0048-9697
Popis: Research has demonstrated that housing quality is a key urban intervention in reducing health risks and improving climate resilience, addressing a key ambition of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Yet housing quality remains a problem even in high income countries such as England. In particular, hazards such as excess cold, excess heat and lack of ventilation leading to damp and mould have been identified as a major issue in homes. Research shows that these hazards can lead to a range of health conditions, such as respiratory and cardiovascular disease, infections and mental health problems. This article explores the use of public health research and evidence in policy to regulate new buildings in England to deliver improved public health, climate resilience and a reduced carbon footprint, in particular exploring the policy drivers and awareness of the public health evidence. Findings show that public health evidence is hardly referenced in policy and that the focus on other evidence bases such as on climate mitigation in building regulations results in both positive and negative impacts on health. This reflects a lack of a systems approach around urban interventions leading to weaknesses in standards regulating the private development sector. In conclusion, this paper recommends: 1. the consideration of health impact in future building regulations; 2. the integration and coordination of key policies covering various scales and phases of the development processes and 3. the better education of residents to understand advances in new energy performance technologies.
Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image
Highlights • Review of English building policies and regulations revealed gaps in evidence use. • Building policy in England focuses on climate mitigation rather than public health. • Research found that building policy uses public health evidence in a patchy way. • Lack of systems thinking has led to building standards ignoring health. • A single policy regime must regulate different phases and scales of urban development.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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