Shaping Neighbourhoods

This guide is concerned with enhancing the quality of neighbourhoods as places to live, work and play. The three basic goals of health, sustainability and vitality provide the starting points for planning and design policy.

Neighbourhoods are the localities in which people live. Aspirations for neighbourhoods are surprisingly consistent amongst people with very different lifestyles.

We all want neighbourhoods that are attractive, safe, healthy and unpolluted, with high quality local facilities, access to green spaces, and excellent connections to other areas. For some people - particularly the old and young and those who are home-based throughout the day - the neighbourhood is vitally important for health and well-being.

This neighbourhood guide is designed as a desktop manual for planners, designers, developers and community groups. It provides an integrated picture of sustainable, healthy neighbourhoods, with a wealth of specific detail that can help local decision-makers, and people who are concerned about those decisions, get to grips with the issues.