London, UK –

The World Health Organization (WHO) has underscored the critical link between urban design and respiratory health, releasing a new technical document, “Land use planning: sectoral solutions for air pollution and health”, on October 2, 2025. The guidance emphasizes that global efforts to reduce the devastating health impacts of air pollution will be undermined unless land use planning and effective enforcement are fully integrated into public health strategies. This shift in focus means policymakers must move beyond simply regulating industrial smokestacks and address how residential, commercial, and green spaces are arranged.

Headline Points

 * Core Message: The new WHO guidance asserts that land use decisions are a key determinant of a population’s exposure to air pollution and subsequent health outcomes.

 * Target Audience: The document is aimed at guiding non-health sectors—specifically urban planners, local authorities, and developers—on the health implications of their decisions.

 * Enforcement Focus: The WHO highlights that successful policies require not just the creation of good plans but also the rigorous enforcement of regulations to manage emissions and building specifications.

 * Key Health Outcomes: Proper land use planning is presented as a crucial strategy to mitigate a host of diseases linked to air pollution, including stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic respiratory illnesses.

 * Global Priority: The guidance positions land use planning as a key priority for addressing ambient air pollution across all areas—urban, peri-urban, and rural—worldwide.

The Interconnected Threat: Land Use and Pollutant Exposure

The World Health Organization’s new guidance, part of its Science and Policy Summaries (SPS) on air quality, energy, and health, moves the discussion on air pollution prevention into the planning office. It states plainly that exposure to air pollution is heavily influenced by how land is zoned and developed.

Decisions like placing residential buildings near major traffic arteries or industrial zones, or failing to establish sufficient buffer zones and green infrastructure, directly contribute to localized pollution ‘hotspots’ and increased public health risk. The document serves as an evidence-informed tool, designed to help countries craft legislation and policy that aligns with the ambitious 2021 WHO Global Air Quality Guidelines.

A Call for Sectoral Solutions and Enforcement

The document’s release comes as part of a growing international movement to integrate health concerns across all government sectors. For air quality, this requires the health sector to effectively engage with environment, energy, transport, and land use sectors.

The guidance is likely to recommend a series of planning interventions, including:

 * Separating Polluting Sources from People: Zoning regulations should prevent the co-location of high-emission activities (like heavy industry or major highways) with sensitive receptors such as schools, hospitals, and residential areas.

 * Promoting Mixed-Use, Compact Development: While acknowledging that dense, compact urban forms can create local hotspots if not properly managed, the document encourages designs that reduce the need for private automobile use, promoting public transport, cycling, and walking to lower overall traffic emissions.

 * Mandating Green Infrastructure: The use of urban green spaces, parks, and tree canopies is highlighted not only for its air filtration benefits but also for its broader positive impacts on mental and physical health.

 * Strengthening Building Regulations: Incorporating building designs and ventilation standards that provide a clean-air refuge for residents and workers in areas where pollution is unavoidable.

Crucially, the WHO emphasizes that the mere existence of plans and policies is insufficient. The document stresses the need for robust regulation and enforcement to ensure that development proposals adhere to air quality impact assessments and implement necessary mitigation measures from the earliest design stages.

Public Health: A First-Order Planning Priority

The WHO’s position reinforces that when long-term land-use policies are evaluated—often measured only by economic returns or carbon reduction—the vast and often neglected air quality health effects must be prioritized. Failure to account for pollution exposure leads to poor decision-making that can cost communities millions in healthcare expenses and lost productivity, alongside millions of excess deaths globally.

By issuing this comprehensive guidance, the WHO is equipping city planners and national governments with the scientific mandate to treat the reduction of air pollution exposure as a first-order priority in shaping the environments where people live, work, and breathe.