Woman having a phone video chat with her son

Reducing social isolation and loneliness

I had the pleasure of chairing the fourth in The Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) series on Healthy Living and Housing.  The focus for this session was on reducing social isolation and loneliness. You can access the session by clicking the link here and registering to watch on demand. Speakers for this session included Smriti Kotiyal, Research […]

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Older man holding a mobile phone

Monitoring vulnerable patients and remote diagnostics

This was the third webinar in the The Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) series on Healthy Living and Housing.  The focus for this session was on monitoring vulnerable patients and remote diagnostics. You can access the session by clicking the link here and registering to watch on demand. Speakers for this session included Jessie Cunnett,

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Older woman taking photo with heading - who is this tribe called the elderly. With thanks to Shirley Ayres for the image.

Community care and care homes

I had the pleasure of chairing the second in a series of webinars for The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) on Healthy Living and Housing.  The focus for this session was on care homes and community care. This built on the first session that focused on the links between our lived environments and our

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Lockdown - impact of housing on health - black and white image of a sign on the side of a shed saying that the playing area is closed.

The impact of housing on health (Part 2)

In the previous article I touched on some of the evidence emerging of the impact of housing on health during lockdown. The issues with poor housing stock are certainly not new and follow years of a lack of investment. This issue has become all the more acute during lockdown and could provide real impetus for

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Impact of housing on health - image of the outside of a large block of flats in London

The impact of housing on health (Part 1)

Our homes and neighbourhoods are critical factors in our health and wellbeing. This has very much come to the fore during lockdown. In this two part series, first I touch on the current and emerging evidence of the impact of housing on health. I then put forward suggestions for where action is needed, now and

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a cityscape

Plantech and the future of planning

Data is critical in urban planning. But are we taking full advantage of it? How could a data informed and digitally enabled planning system benefit citizens, developers, local authorities and government? And what is Plantech? These are important questions. Not only does data about the built environment help us understand how cities work, it provides

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Looking up at a very modern tall building

Smart Buildings: Getting the balance right

In the previous articles on smart buildings and their risks, we’ve explored what we mean by ‘smart buildings’ and outlined what they have to offer to the commercial built environment. We have also touched on why the issue of data in the context of the built environment and ‘smart buildings’ needs serious consideration as emerging

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City at night. Photo by Jannes Glas on Unsplash

Smart buildings and data risks

This is the second of three articles produced collaboratively by Dr Sophie Taysom, an independent consultant at Keyah Consulting, and Dr Sue Chadwick, a Strategic Planning Advisor at Pinsent Masons LLP, on smart buildings and data. In the previous article, Sophie set out some of the opportunities and challenges in the development and maintenance of smart

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Smart buildings - image of City of London at night

Smart Buildings and the ‘problem’ of data

John Browne’s recent book “Make, Think, Imagine” asserts that “human knowledge is cumulative: as more people contribute to a network, more useful insights emerge”.  The digital revolution is disrupting all aspects of our lives with both its scope and impact likely to expand exponentially. It demands new approaches, and new intellectual coalitions. This is the

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