Health-Promoting Spatial Planning: Approaches for Strengthening Urban Policy Integration

Improving urban population health requires integrated spatial planning to create liveable communities, with affordable housing and daily living destinations accessible via walking, cycling and/or public transport. Integration must occur horizontally across transport, housing, employment, education and social infrastructure sectors, and vertically between levels of government. While horizontal integrated planning is a common urban policy aspiration, there is a lack of clarity on how it can be attained. Using a case study of Melbourne, Australia, this paper draws on interviews with state government policymakers and policy content analysis, to explore barriers and enablers of horizontal integrated planning for health. Key requirements for integrated planning are outlined, to assist policymakers in creating healthy, liveable communities.