The English planning system, the built environment and preventative mental healthcare: Identifying gaps in alignment and promoting integration

Abstract

Within the English planning system, there is increasing recognition that the quality of city-spaces and the built environment can have a direct and indirect impact upon the mental health of those who dwell within. It follows that urban planning, regeneration and renewal, and the well-designed places they strive to create, have a central role to play in preventative and rehabilitative mental healthcare. Nevertheless, the integration into planning policy and practice of mental health considerations remains in its infancy. An opportunity, if not an imperative, exists to accelerate and scale the dialogue. In support of this endeavour, this paper identifies the principal ongoing gaps in alignment between the English planning policy, place-making and mental health promotion and care, and signposts priority actions for improved integration.