Urban planning is deeply implicated in both the planetary crisis of climate change and the personal crises of unhealthy lifestyles. Worldwide health issues such as obesity, mental illness, growing health inequalities and climate vulnerability cannot be solved solely by medicines but also by tackling the social, economic and environmental determinants. In a time when unhealthy and unsustainable conditions are being built into the physical fabric of cities, a new awareness and strategy is urgently needed to putting health and well-being at the heart of planning.

The Routledge Handbook of Planning for Health and Well-being authoritatively and comprehensively integrates health into planning, strengthening the hands of those who argue and plan for healthy environments. With contributions from international leaders in the field, the Handbook of Planning for Health and Well-being provides context, philosophy, research, processes, and tools of experienced practitioners through case studies from four continents.

Planning is deeply implicated in both the planetary crisis of climate change and the personal crises of unhealthy lifestyles. The two issues are closely linked, and central to future priorities for planning settlements. Town (or urban) planning can and should be a positive force for change in the 21st century, placing concern for people's health and well-being - and for global health - at its heart. For many years study of urban planning has emphasised process, not outcomes. This Handbook sets out an interdisciplinary agenda that grapples with the increasingly complex interplay between people, place and environment. Aimed at a diverse professional and academic audience, it combines core insights into the activity of planning, underpinned by the values of health, well-being and sustainable development. The focus is on town planning as a generic activity - not about the legal systems and procedures which are distinct in each country, but the spatial planning insights, understandings and skills which apply irrespective of the institutional or geographic context. The book takes as its starting point the belief that the purpose of planning is to create healthy places - places that support both the health of all inhabitants and the environment itself. Researchers and scholars of the art and science of planning have recognised that if this challenge is to be tackled effectively then new ways of working together, across professional and sectoral interests, devising co-ordinated strategies, are essential. The book will offer the most comprehensive account available of how to plan towns and cities that offer humane, inclusive, liveable and ecologically sustainable environments for all. The Handbook of Healthy City Planning is a series of specially commissioned chapters from some of the most experienced and innovative practitioners and researchers in planning from across the globe.