Valuation of the urban environment by its potential impact on human health: a modelling study for the UPSTREAM project

Abstract

BackgroundUrban environments are placing an increasing burden on our life support systems. Research is needed further upstream in urban governance and on the role of economic valuation in critical decision-making. The three-year pilot study, Moving Health Upstream in Urban Development (UPSTREAM), funded by Wellcome, has made a small, but important contribution to research in this area. We report here on the results of the workstream to quantify the scale of the impact that the built environment has on health in monetary terms. MethodsFollowing a systematic literature review carried out by University of the West of England, observed health impacts associated with different characteristics of the environment were applied to a hypothetical population of 1000 people. Unit values for the societal cost of around 60 health outcomes were defined using existing valuation evidence. Reference values were established for the intervals between worst-case and best-case scenarios in the UK new build housing context. FindingsWe estimated the societal value of health impacts arising from 26 characteristics of the built environment, including green space, air quality, noise, overheating and proximity to a main road. It is possible to use these findings to compare the relative importance of each feature. InterpretationEven in the context of a well-regulated sector, the UK new build environment shows potential for significant differences in health impacts between the best and worst quality of design. Although interior conditions such as thermal comfort are important, it is the wider environmental context such as green space and air quality where the largest impacts occur. We have shown that this potential for change can be monetised in terms of the impact on health, using a metric that might be useful for social planners. FundingThe Wellcome Trust.