Devolve more to make us happier and healthier – Lord Rogers

Lord Rogers, as President of the All-Party Design and Innovation Group, has launched a new report by the Design Commission, calling for a focus on local needs to solve a crisis of health and wellbeing and housing. The report, People and Places: Design of the Built Environment, calls for government to give local authorities and city mayors more responsibility over housing, healthcare and transport infrastructure. This would produce better productivity and social cohesion, while improving health and environmental outcomes, the Design Commission says.

Launching the report at the Houses of Parliament, Rogers said all politicians should take note of the new research, but the private sector should lead the way with innovative techniques and design solutions.

"This report is a very valuable contribution to the debate about how we can meet the challenge of making a healthier, happier and more prosperous and sustainable country, through the changes we make in our built environment," Rogers said. "The challenge is all the more demanding because of the harsh economic climate for decision-makers and the impending redefinition of our legal framework when we depart from the European Union.

"The Design Commission has come up with solid evidence in difficult areas about what in our built environment makes our lives better. It has looked at what can make us healthier and happier, what can make communities come together, and what can preserve our air quality and save energy."

Industry-led and including members of both Houses of Parliament and representatives from business and industry, the Design Commission is the research arm of the All-Party Design & Innovation Group. Its latest work is the result of over a year of study and gathering evidence from leading practitioners in architecture and design, supported by the BRE Trust.

The commission argues that the built environment will be easier to live in – better for health and all round happiness – if human needs and behaviour are prioritised in the design process; through the setting of minimum design standards and targets for pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, with regulated health impact assessments included in planning processes. This will lead to a healthier work environment, as well as an uplift in the quality of Britain’s public realm and open spaces; and it should be done by local authorities, the Commission says.

The report, which also addresses the UK's housing shortage, is an attempt to reignite the debate on the impact of the design of the built environment on human health and happiness – a subject which has fallen fropm the public eye since CABE (the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) was scrapped in 2011. Interest in issues of wellbeing is growing, but have needed more research into what is a 'complex and multi-factorial field'.

Further follow-up events are due to be held over the year ahead with local authorities and devolved administrations, said the manager of the All-Party Design Group, the manager of design policy for Policy Connect, Jack Tindale.