Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE has lived in Newham all her life. She has worked in the development of interfaith dialogue and campaigned on issues of justice and equality throughout her career. Rokhsana was elected Mayor of Newham in May 2018 on a radical manifesto and is now delivering on this, with a policy agenda underpinned by community wealth building principles. This includes one of the most ambitious affordable housing programmes in London, a whole council approach to facing the climate emergency, an extensive programme to tackle racism and disproportionality and a new council directorate dedicated to making Newham the best place for children and young people to grow up. Under Rokhsana’s leadership, Newham has become the first local authority in the country to make the health, happiness and wellbeing of its residents the key indicator of economic success and she is proud to have established the first standing citizen’s assembly in the country.

The Mayor of Newham is also the portfolio lead for planning and regeneration and the topic of 15 Minute Neighbourhoods. She is pleased that residents have chosen this issue to focus as it brings so many opportunities to build a healthier, more sustainable and prosperous Newham.

Ellie Kuper Thomas is the Planning Policy Manager at the London Borough of Newham. She has worked at Newham for a year and a half and before that worked at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets – just the other side of the river Lea. The Planning Policy Team is responsible for writing and monitoring the policies which shape and manage development in the borough.

Healthy Streets was developed by Lucy Saunders through her research on the interface of urban spaces and human health. She is a unique combination of public health specialist, urbanist and transport planner.

Lucy works with organisations across the world adapting her Healthy Streets Approach to each context. She also collaborates with kind and brilliant people to create exciting new things that help to improve population health.

The success of this Approach is its wide-reaching resonance across political, special interest and professional divides. Lucy uses this Approach to engage, influence and coordinate a wide range of stakeholders around a coherent vision. She is a skilled and engaging presenter and teacher who has inspired and trained hundreds of practitioners, advocates and politicians around the world.

Gemma is the Project and Policy Officer for Healthier Places at the TCPA, where she works to support the TCPA’s work on reuniting health with planning. As part of a collaborative project between the TCPA and Sport England, Gemma promotes and facilitates the implementation of healthy, more active places including 20-Minute Neighbourhoods. Prior to joining the TCPA, Gemma worked as a planner in Milton Keynes. She has Post-grad and Masters qualifications in public health and urban and rural planning from the University of the West of England.

Advisor to the Mayor of Paris – Innovation, Digital, Resident Experience & Participation, Human Rights and 15 Minute Neighbourhoods

The concept of the 15 Minute City came to prominence particularly in Paris as a key priority, inspiring other cities across the world.

Overview of the 15 minute approach by Paris here

Examples of what Paris are doing

Citizen kiosks: a space of reception & expression

Opening up spaces for children & young people

Before and after

Opening up parking spaces

Dan Hill is Director of Strategic Design at Vinnova, the Swedish government’s innovation agency, and Professor at Oslo School of Architecture and Design. A designer and urbanist, his previous design leadership roles include Arup, Future Cities Catapult, Fabrica, SITRA and the BBC, and he has lived and worked in UK, Australia, Finland, Italy and Sweden. He is Visiting Professor at UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, Design Academy Eindhoven, and an Adjunct Professor in Design at RMIT University. He is a founding member of the Council on Urban Initiatives, a joint initiative between UCL, LSE Cities and UN HABITAT. Dan is also a Design Advocate for the Mayor of London, and a Trustee of Participatory City Foundation.