Publish a neighbourhood health map: walkability, green space, air quality and clinic access

The problem: health depends on where people live, yet information about local conditions is scattered across agencies and rarely shown in a way that residents or planners can use.

The proposal: for each district of a city, publish a simple map and scorecard covering things known to affect health: access to safe walking routes, green space, air quality, noise, access to a clinic or pharmacy, healthy food outlets and public transport. Update it at least yearly and show changes over time.

Who acts: the city planning and public-health offices combine existing data; a university checks the method; community groups can add local knowledge.

Costs and trade-offs: most of the data already exists, so the cost is integration and presentation. The risks are stigmatising districts that score poorly and oversimplifying, so the map should show strengths as well as gaps and be used to direct investment, not to rank neighbourhoods.

First step: build a prototype for three districts and test it with residents. It supports the idea, set out by the World Health Organization, that the social determinants of health are shaped by place.