Health, hope and prosperity: a vision for healthy new towns

The government’s recently announced New Towns Taskforce and consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework offers a unique opportunity not only to explore lasting solutions to the housing crisis but to deliver complete communities that enhance people’s health and wellbeing. According to the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) combining the objectives of the Garden City to secure human flourishing with the power of the New Towns development model offers real hope of transforming how a new generation of high quality and healthy places can be delivered.

This new TCPA briefing sets out the high-level preconditions necessary to create a healthy new town and reflects on some of the key lessons that need to inform future thinking. It outlines the kind of vision for healthy places that will be vital to securing high-quality outcomes in new towns.

Looking at European and UK examples, it touches on some of the key lessons from the past New Towns programme and some headline preconditions for future success. For example, it explores the relationship between the Garden City vision and the post-war New Towns delivery model to demonstrate how these visions became practically deliverable.

If you found this of interest, check out the range of other resources curated by the Housing LIN on our dedicated Healthy New Towns webpage.

The Housing LIN is also a signatory to the TCPA’s Healthy Homes Pledge.