Healthy urban development checklist

With an increasing recognition of the influence of the built environment on health, health services across NSW have been exploring ways to more actively engage in the urban planning and development process.

SSWAHS and NSW Health have recognised the need to develop their capacity to influence healthy urban design and development and to more actively participate in, and influence, urban planning and development processes.

What we are doing
The Healthy Urban Development Checklist was developed by SSWAHS and NSW Health as a tool to assist health professionals to provide advice on urban development policies, plans and proposals. It is intended to ensure that the advice provided is both comprehensive and consistent.

The checklist helps to:

• Standardise and inform feedback and advice from Health services
• Evaluate the health aspects of development
• Support engagement in the early stages of planning
• Inform others about factors to consider in healthy urban development.

Questions in the checklist are grouped under 10 key characteristics of healthy urban development: healthy food, physical activity, housing, transport and physical connectivity, quality employment, community safety and security, public open space, social infrastructure, social cohesion and social connectivity, and environment and health.

Evaluation
The checklist contains a user feedback form which users are asked to complete and return to SSWAHS Population Health. This will provide useful feedback about usability of the tool and ideas for improvement.

Partners and funding
The development of the Healthy Urban Development Checklist was jointly funded by SSSWAHS and NSW Health.

The interactive online version
Healthy Urban Development Checklist
This format allows users to complete the Checklist online and to save their responses. Users can complete the entire Checklist or select only those healthy urban development characteristics (for instance physical activity, public transport, food availability, safety, employment opportunities, open space) that are particularly relevant to the policy, plan or proposal they are considering. The website also provides information on healthy urban development, the relationship between health and urban development and planning systems of NSW and other Australian jurisdictions.

More information
Contact Peter Sainsbury on 96120709 and sainsburyp@email.cs.nsw.gov.au, or Mark Thornell on 9612 0704 and Mark.Thornell@sswahs.nsw.gov.au