Fat in the system

The planning stystem grew from the realisation that the built environment – the size and proximity of houses and their relation to sources of pollution – affects public health.

Watching ‘the hospital’ last night brought home the epidemic we’re facing as our children become increasingly obese; and the impact this is having on the NHS – the increased workload on staff who are tasked with helping. But there are hidden implications too – hospitals are having to plan to build wider doors and stronger beds and hoists to deal with the new field of bariatrics - the science of obesity. Despite the pressures for apparently easy fixes the NHS cannot offer a gastric band to everyone – and many of us would not want to live out our lives without a proper meal – so can planning help us out of this public health problem too?

Well the way we’ve built our towns – with suburbs a car’s drive from anywhere – has clearly been a significant contributor to this growing problem. We now have to have special initiatives to encourage children to walk to school, where once it was the obvious and probably only option. We need special festivals to reclaim the streets and change a traffic island into a place to meet and socialise. Once children would have played there daily...

How we build is a reflection of how we want to live. It influences - for better or worse - how we feel about ourselves and the life choices we feel are open to us. Our built environment is again determining how well, and how long, we live. But don’t take my word for it – the Chief Medical Officer for Scotland, Dr Harry Burns, has called on the development industry to tackle these issues and be the “vaccine for the 21st century” .