How can we build the healthy home of the future?

‘Creative Perspectives on the Health of the Public’ is a seminar series, open to UCL academics and PhD students, which aims to engage with and showcase the breadth of health of the public expertise across UCL, and encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Our first event will be a chance to explore - ‘How can we build the healthy home of the future?’

Event information

We know that our health and wellbeing are profoundly influenced by the environment around us. Known drivers in the environment include climate change, access to green space, housing quality, urban heat, and air pollution, to name a few. There is growing emphasis and research on how our built environment impacts our health, with housing as central to what can both promote and detriment our health.

While good progress has been made working towards net zero emissions, away from fossil fuels and embracing renewable energy sources, the Academy of Medical Sciences report ‘Health of the Public 2040’ points to the existing evidence gaps that we need to address in this area in order to live healthy lives. For example, the net changes likely to result from climate change, such as a possible reduction in excess winter deaths but an increase in heat stress. This includes the ‘heat island’ effect, created by buildings, as well as the effects of both the indoor and outdoor pollution they generate.

In addition, more evidence is needed on how we should design our cities and what policies are required in different settings to advance health for all.

Agenda

Join us virtually at 3pm on Thursday 22 July to hear from colleagues about their research and explore ways in which we can work together on this challenge to address how to design ‘healthy buildings’ of the future.

• 15.00-15.05 - Welcome

• 15.05-15:30 – Presentations from:

• Dr Helen Pineo, Lecturer in Sustainable and Healthy Built Environments, UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering
• Dr Clare Heaviside, NERC Independent Research Fellow (Associate Professor), Bartlett School Env, Energy & Resources
• Dr Ian Hamilton, Reader in Energy Epidemiology, Energy Institute
• Dr Anna Mavrogianni, Associate Professor in Sustainable Building and Urban Design, UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering

•15:30-16.00 – Q&A and discussion