Commission on Creating Healthy Cities launches report at House of Lords

On Wednesday 13th July members of Kellogg’s Global Centre on Healthcare and Urbanisation, The Prince’s Foundation, local government, policy makers, and practitioners joined Lord Best and colleagues at the House of Lords to launch the report of the Commission on Creating Healthy Cities. Download the report.

The Commission on Creating Healthy Cities, established in 2020 by Kellogg College’s Global Centre on Healthcare and Urbanisation, and co-hosted by the Prince’s Foundation, was born out of a need for better, more integrated cities that enhance the health of those who live there.

Professor Jonathan Michie, President of Kellogg, chaired a panel discussion outlining the report’s key findings, as well as the purpose of the Commission, he explained: “With the outbreak of Covid-19 it was recognised immediately that cities needed to be made healthier, both in the sense of promoting and supporting wellbeing, and being as resilient as possible in the face of such pandemics.”

The Commission gathered a group of international thought leaders involved in healthcare and urbanisation, chaired by Lord Best, who says “We’ve brought together leading academics, business people, and city experts to explore the links between health and wellbeing, and urban design and planning in cities. By working together, we have made recommendations on the best ways to make cities environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable to provide environments that support and sustain the health and wellbeing of their residents.”

A key outcome of the Commission is the Healthy Cities Toolkit, an online resource of evidence summaries for policymakers and practitioners – including local and central government, and all those involved in creating our built environment.

Simon Sadinsky, Executive Director of The Prince’s Foundation, said: “Working alongside a range of partners around the world, The Prince’s Foundation champions the creation of cities which are both healthier and more sustainable. We are proud to have worked with the team at Kellogg College to develop and launch the Healthy Cities Toolkit, which aims to support planners and decision-makers who are striving to engender improved wellbeing among those in urban environments.”

“The Healthy Cities Toolkit is an accessible summary of urban health evidence that will assist practitioners, policy-makers, and the public to improve the health of people living and working in cities,” says Dr Georgia Richards, one of the Post-Doctoral Research Fellows working for the Commission. “The toolkit is a new and exciting way to share information and showcase what solutions may work by systematically grading the impact, resource implications, and the quality of the evidence”. It is now live and can be seen here.

Read the Commission on Creating Healthy Cities report.

The Commission on Creating Healthy Cities would not have happened without the support of our donors; The McCall MacBain Foundation, Dr Ralph Walter, Halley Liu, and The Prince’s Foundation.