Covid - An Alternative Inquiry: Putting Health at the Heart of a Green Recovery Strategy

This is a very good argument, with impressive detail, clear structure, and vehement commitment.

(M. McEldowney, Emeritus Professor of Planning)

This book provides a post-Covid recovery strategy for the UK that is based on all aspects of health, but also addresses the ever-greater threat from global warming. Health and sustainability are interlocked.

More than other European nations, we favour libertarian values over social equity, privatized public services and lower taxes that reduce those services. From fair-minded pragmatism, we have descended into dogma, incompetence and intolerance.

Using the government’s 5 guiding principles for a sustainable future, the book suggests how to improve distinct aspects of health:

• personal health through more preventive medicine;
• environmental health with lower transport and household emissions;
• economic health through local (rather than global) production of goods and services;
• social health by reducing gross health and wealth inequalities; and
• political health through strategic commitment, fair taxes (a bedroom tax just on the poor?) and real devolution to local councils.

We need to think local, act local and act now.

David Williams (B Sc(Hons), MCD) has spent many happy years in planning, economic development and regeneration. After Liverpool and Bexley councils, and the Civic Trust Regeneration Unit, he set up Tellus 42 in 1997. This community planning consultancy was the RTPI’s Sole Practitioner of the Year in 2004. He is also the author of Civilizing Cities (2021).