Written by:
Sophia de Sousa
On 17 March, we were in London, for The Healthy City, the third in-person WEdesign event in this year’s series, Sharing Place. This event, in collaboration with tutors and students from the Bartlett School of Planning at UCL and kindly hosted by the Alan Baxter Gallery, explored what health citizenship means in today’s landscape and how community-led actions and effective governance can help us create a more holistic approach to health and well being in our placemaking.
We had a great mix of people in the room, representing a broad spectrum of experiences, backgrounds and spanning generations. It was interesting to see the many interests represented, from personal to professional, and the combination of those stepping into our WEdesign event with curiosity for a new area of exploration, and others bringing years of professional experience and/or passion for the event theme.
Once we had invited people to take their seats and welcomed them to the evening’s discussion, we introduced the Healthy City theme. Our longtime partner Dr. Lucy Natarajan from UCL Bartlett also spoke about how the theme links to her own research and to the work she is doing with her students through teaching. She noted a growing interest in the convergence of health policy and placemaking, and that we all have something to contribute to a discussion about the connection between our places and both our individual and collective wellbeing.
Following this provocation, we asked our participants seated at four tables to explore the theme of The Healthy City through the lenses of community, ecology, policy, and practice. Each table was tasked with working together to co-design propositions for how we might do things differently in placemaking to shape healthier cities. They were then to co-create models to represent their ideas. What follows is a glimpse at what they came up with.
Building the Tapestry of the Healthy City
The Practice group began their conversation exploring both the professional and personal practices, or ways of doing things, that lead to a healthy lifestyle within a city. This led to a conversation about the spaces we occupy, move through, and would perhaps like more of within the fabric of a city. They consider how each of these contributes to our health and wellbeing as well as providing the infrastructure for collective living. Building on the urbanist notion of “urban fabric” they made the case for a complex “tapestry” of both physical spaces and practices that come together to support health and well-being.
Their complex model integrated crucial elements of healthy places such as public green spaces and community gardens, primary schools and youth centres, to name just a few. They stressed that we cannot look at the components in isolation, and instead argued for a more holistic approach to the healthy city, in which the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.
“The fabric of the city should be made healthy by us, but it should also encourage us in our routines to be healthy.”
Connecting with and through Nature
The Ecology group explored our relationship with nature, and the impact this has on the health of people, cities and the planet. On the one hand, we must design with nature in mind, for example, taking note of and enabling the crucial role of soil in biodiversity. However, we should also consider the power of natural environments for our individual and collective wellbeing, and create new routes to people connecting with the ecology around them.
Their model illustrated a variety of different experiences that could be created by built structures that interact sensitively with the natural environment around them. They proposed that such spaces could invite people to connect with nature, with their own health and spirituality, and with each other.
“Enjoy nature: slow…time…down… and meditate.”
Planning for Seven Generations
The Policy group had a discussion on the impact of policy on our health, exploring shifts in policy that might support healthier cities. The group pitched the idea of designing and planning for seven generations. They noted that too much placemaking responds to short-term objectives and funding streams, and this leads to short-sighted decision-making. They argued that if we were planning for seven generations at the same time, we would think more holistically about how places will evolve to cater for people in the future as well as the broad spectrum of people who inhabit our places and their varied and complex needs today.
The Policy group’s model illustrated not only the seven generations we should be planning for, but through this approach, the evolution of ideas and places that would come with it over time. They saw this approach having a cumulative effect on shaping healthier places.
“We should be building for generations ahead.”
Building Bridges
The Community group began their conversation exploring what affects health within communities, identifying a series of barriers to our well-being such as systems, accessibility, culture and language. They stressed the importance of connection with the things we need, like access to amenities and healthcare, but also of forging connections with each other. They argued that better connectivity and collaboration is good for our physical and mental wellbeing and essential to building community.
In a first for our WEdesign events, the Community group opted to share their idea through a performance piece. While at first we were presented with a construction illustrating a wall and signposting barriers, the group collectively sprang into action, breaking down the wall and raising a bridge. They stressed that the bridge required the hands of many both to build it, and to keep it strong.
“There are many barriers to creating communities and it will take all of us to dismantle them.”
Key Themes & Takeaways
When we regathered to talk about the ideas that we had co-created and shared with each other, it was clear that people had been inspired and moved by what they had heard. Above all, it appeared that we all seemed to be craving better places and opportunities to connect, whether purposely or opportunistically. Here are some of the key points that emerged through our joined up discussion and through people’s parting contributions:
- Ecology is more than the green, the blue and the brown. It is also about the connection between people and nature and with each other. We are all parts of the ecosystem.
- Each place is a complex tapestry of people and the physical and natural spaces we inhabit and shape. We need to look at places holistically, and to consider how their various elements can best weave together to form a healthy collective.
- We need to build more bridges. Some might bridge the gap between people and the amenities and services they need. Others might cross real or perceived barriers between different communities. Above all, we need to create spaces for connection. One of our youngest participants in the room, a teenager, referenced something that he had heard that had stuck with him, “Build longer tables, not higher walls.”
- We need to think more strategically about the generations that will follow us and to plan more thoughtfully for the future of our communities, cities and our planet.
- We all have a role to play in creating healthy places. While it is our right as individuals, it is also our collective responsibility.
Before we closed the event, we asked participants to note down one key takeaway or point of action that they would take away from this event. As one of our student facilitators put it, “Everyone left with interesting questions on their minds.” However, some of the takeaway message expressed simple hopeful messages that we felt expressed the power of inclusive, collaborative and creative spaces for connection that we hope our WEdesign events create:
In closing, we would like to thank our partner UCL Bartlett, Lucy Natarajan and Martha Mingay, our talented student facilitators and our wonderful mix of participants. We are also hugely grateful to the Alan Baxter Gallery for kindly hosting our event. The Glass-House team left the event feeling inspired, energised and grateful for our wonderful community of champions for more collaborative placemaking.