Public Engagement
Promoting public voice through more impactful conversations and exchanges

Testing materials and methods for early, health evidence-informed, deliberative public engagement for Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs).

Drawing on our learning throughout TRUUD about ways of enhancing public engagement in urban design we are testing new methods of communicating with and engaging the public, using the example of LTNs as an entry-point. While LTNs are initiatives intended to improve population health and wellbeing they have proven controversial and divisive in the UK context and have experienced significant backlash from the public.

We are co-designing public-facing communication materials to improve understanding of the rationale behind LTNs and bespoke public engagement activities to change the way in which deliberations with the public around LTNs are framed and organised.

(i) Design of new health evidence visualisations with plain English ‘explainers’ to emphasise current health and well being risks posed by the ‘status quo’, and evidence of positive changes introduced through LTNs. These will be creatively designed around a public health framing for LTNs and will target different demographic groups.

(ii) Production of lived experience evidence through the creation of short films which highlight the individual and familial impact of current urban design and the impact of positive changes introduced by LTNs. Our prior work producing generic short films on the impacts of urban design have demonstrated the potential power of lived experience story-telling.

(iii) Design of reciprocal, deliberative engagement activities to facilitate transparent discussions grounded in evidence, myth-busting, and a space for the public to share their concerns. Outputs from (i) and (ii) will be included in these activities.

We will be testing all three elements in a live example in Bristol, through the South Bristol Liveable Neighbourhoods initiative.

All material outputs and activities will be co-designed with members of the public, including the TRUUD Public Advisory Group, community organisations and creative specialists.

Following the testing phase (January – May 2025) we will produce a toolkit based on our learning, with detailed example of our materials and methods. The lessons shared will not only be relevant to LTNs but to other health-promoting initiatives.

Making meaningful public engagement with digital tools

Using lay knowledge to transform understanding of links between the built environment and health

Four families explain the toll of living conditions on their physical and mental health in a series of films to help change urban planning policy and practice in the UK.

We commissioned a series of films to detail first-hand experiences and the impacts of overcrowding, lack of green space, damp, noisy or polluted environments on respiratory illnesses, mental health, child behaviour and quality of life.

They use evidence gathered through TRUUD research and our HAUS economic modelling tool. See our living in unhealthy places page for the films and data behind them.

Dr Andy Gibson at the University of the West of England

Dr Jo White at the University of the West of England