wellbeing

This document demonstrates that, for people to be healthy, the environment around us must be health-enhancing and provide opportunities for living a healthy life.

It acknowledges that the evidence base is incomplete, but concludes that research findings to date about the health impact of the outdoor environment are sufficient to warrant action. To improve health and reduce health inequalities it is vital to ensure that the natural environment is protected and enhanced, and that communities are built and maintained with activity and sustainability in mind.

A survey commissioned by Play England for Playday, an initiative designed to celebrate the right of children to play outside, highlights that children want and need to play in their local streets.

The research undertaken for this report across six different neighbourhoods suggests that the government’s ambitions to improve the wellbeing of children, and its aim to create sustainable communities, will fall short unless the needs of children and young people in their everyday environment are taken seriously by all those designing, delivering and managing the public realm.

This report, from The Local Wellbeing Project, aims to accelerate understanding of how local authorities can, through their community engagement and neighbourhood working practices, increase the wellbeing of their residents. The Local Wellbeing Project is a unique, three-year initiative to explore how local government can practically improve the happiness and wellbeing of their citizens.