The Commission believes that in designing and constructing the environments in which people live and work, architects and planners are necessarily involved in influencing human behaviour. The inquiry will seek to discover and showcase case studies and best practice examples of how infrastructure can be used to design for ‘good’ behaviours and how design-led planning policy can create environments in which individuals and communities thrive. 

The inquiry’s final report will be launched in late 2015 and will make a series of key recommendations designed to stimulate new thinking in planning policy across central and local government.

The Commission has issued a call for evidence (download here), calling for insights on the relationship between behaviour and the built environment, as well as case studies of how behavioural change has been brought about through changes to local infrastructure.

The Commission argues there exists a long-standing thread of recognition that the way people live their lives is directly linked to the designed environments in which they live. While welcoming recent government use of nudge theory principles in policy making decisions, the Commission identifies a need to further develop and reinvigorate thinking in the field.

The Inquiry will be Co-Chaired by Baroness Janet Whitaker and Professor Alan Penn, Dean of the Bartlett, UCL.

The Steering Group is comprised of Sarah Wigglesworth, Daisy Froud, Robin Nicholson, Jeremy Myerson, Alice Black and Richard Simmons. 

The report is currently due to be launched in November 2016.