The year in urban health

By working with our partners in Lambeth and Southwark, we’re collecting more and more insights into how to build healthier urban areas. Over time, those insights can be used as a roadmap for councils, the Government, and businesses, as well as academics, urban planners, and anyone interested in building healthier, more equitable towns and cities.

An important lesson I’ll take from 2024 is the importance of one of our core values, which operates as a kind of North Star for our roadmap: that a healthier, more sustainable future can be – indeed, must be – a more equitable one. For us, that means:

• Children have access to nutritious, healthy, delicious food, regardless of which neighbourhood they come from or the colour of their skin.
• Tenants live in secure, quality accommodation without having the constant threat of eviction looming over them, causing them stress and depression.
• Diesel vans and lorries don’t congest streets, churning out toxic air pollution at huge costs to our health and economy. Instead, businesses use cargo bikes to deliver to centralised pick up and drop off points, found on bustling high streets.
• Every child can thrive because they have a safe, warm home, and the time and space to foster caring relationships.

Our vision for healthier urban areas, developed together with our partners across Lambeth and Southwark, is one where everyone has the same opportunity to live a healthy, happy life. In 2025 and beyond, that’s the change we’ll be working toward.