Southwark and Lambeth Councils received funding from Impact on Urban Health (formally Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charity) to use social research methods to understand location-specific needs across three key health themes: social interaction and isolation, obesity and inactivity, and health service provision/access. In 2017, I worked with the council to inform the research methods and translate findings into policy.
The research focused on two key growth areas and my contribution focused on policy for the Old Kent Road in Southwark. I conducted an academic literature review to inform the social research methods. I also led workshops among Southwark Council staff to integrate the findings into draft policy.
Translating community needs
An external team used quantitative and qualitative social research methods to generate robust, location-specific findings across three key health themes: social interaction and isolation, obesity and inactivity, and health service provision/access. The research involved: in-home surveys (453 residents); two resident workshops on social isolation; one focus group with mothers on social interaction; six focus groups with school children on healthy eating and walking; one focus group about health services; and five interviews with primary healthcare professionals. Key findings included residents’ perceptions of: lack of safety in certain areas at night; traffic safety concerns; need for local affordable amenities, including leisure facilities; issues with affordability of locally available fresh food and high number of fast-food outlets; provision of green space; and interest in a community facility combining health services with other offers, such as leisure or training. Several specific built environment characteristics were highlighted by participants as impacting physical activity and social interaction. I worked with the council to translate these findings into policy for Old Kent Road. Our report describes how this was done.
Guidance on healthy planning
We produced a conference paper and a practitioner-facing publication that won a Research Excellence Award from the Royal Town Planning Institute in 2018.
Healthy Planning and Regeneration: innovations in community engagement, policy and monitoring is a summary of best practice related to planning, regeneration, and community engagement about health and place. The report includes: a summary of (evidence-based) health impacts from urban environments (focused on healthy eating, physical activity, social interaction and access to health services); a quick reference guide to built environment health impacts and related planning policy responses; overview of the health impacts of regeneration projects; examples of innovative ways to involve communities in healthy planning; the role of urban health indicators in monitoring policy impact; and further guidance.