• Co-director of He Kāinga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme
  • Director of New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities
  • Professor of Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington
  • Director of Board of Kāinga Ora - homes and communities
  • Chair of the ISC Scientific Committee for Health & Wellbeing in the Changing Urban Environment: a systems approach
    Philippa Howden-Chapman is a professor of public health at the University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand, where she teaches public policy. She is the director of He Kāinga Oranga - Housing and Health Research Programme and the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities. She has conducted a number of randomised community housing trials in partnership with local communities, which have had a major influence on housing, health and energy policy. She has a strong interest in reducing inequalities in the determinants of health and has published widely in this area, receiving a number of awards for her work. In 2014, Philippa and her research team were awarded the Prime Minister’s Science Prize. She was the first woman and the first social scientist to win the prize. She is currently the chair of the WHO Housing and Health Guideline Development Group and was a member of the Children’s Commissioner’s Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 

Key publications

  1. The impact of transitions from emergency housing to public housing in Aotearoa New Zealand.
    Discover Public Health,
    21, 189.
    Fasoro, A., Yu, C., Bierema, S. et al. The Impacts of transitions from emergency to public housing in Aotearoa NZ.
  2. Housing Tenure and Subjective Wellbeing: The Importance of Public Housing.
    Applied Research in Quality of Life,
  3. Blaschke, P. Pedersen Zari, M. Perry, M. Glyde, E.
    Multiple Roles of Green Space in the Resilience, Sustainability and Equity of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Cities
  4. Jiang, T. Nelson, J. McMinn, C. Hawkes, K. Atatoa Carr, P. Pehi, T. Schick, K.
    Five-Year Post-Housing Outcomes for a Housing First Cohort in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
    International Journal on Homelessness, 2024, 4(1): page 1-17
    4(1), 1-17.
  5. A Whakawhanaungatanga Māori wellbeing model for housing and urban environments.
    Kotuitui: NZ Journal of Social Sciences Online,
    A Whakawhanaungatanga Māori wellbeing model for housing and urban environments.pdf
  6. New Zealand: Aotearoa New Zealand Cities Under Covid-19 - A Systems Perspective
    In P Howden-Chapman, F Gatzweiler, R Cooper & I Luginaah (Eds.), Cities Under COVID-19: A Systems Perspective.
    (pp.179-190). Springer Nature & Zhejiang University Press.
  7. Gatzweiler, F. Cooper, R. Luginaah, I.
    Cities Under COVID-19: A Systems Perspective.
  8. Micro-geography and public housing tenant wellbeing
    Motu Working Paper 23-08. Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. Wellington, New Zealand.
  9. Public Housing in an Urban Setting an inclusive wellbeing framework
    Policy Quarterly
    19,(3).
    Public Housing in an Urban Setting an inclusive wellbeing framework, pdf
  10. Framing home injury: opportunities and barriers to regulating for safer rental housing in Aotearoa/New Zealand
  11. Housing and urban regeneration in Aotearoa New Zealand.
    Public Health Communication Centre,
    Public Health Priority Series 21 February 2023.
  12. He Kāinga Oranga: reflections on 25 years of measuring the improved health, wellbeing and sustainability of healthier housing.
    Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand,
    Online.
  13. Placemaking and public housing: the state of knowledge and research priorities.
    Housing Studies,
  14. Housing: the key infrastructure to achieving health and wellbeing in urban environments.
    Oxford Open Infrastructure and Health,
    ouad001.
  15. Gatzweiler, F.
    A New Interdisciplinary Science Plan for Urban Health and Wellbeing in an Age of Increasing Complexity.
    Bulletin of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
    36(2), 21—26.
  16. Does the proportion of public housing tenants in a community affect their wellbeing? Results from New Zealand: A retrospective cohort study using linked administrative data
  17. Berghan, J. Thompson-Fawcet, M. Ivory, V. Witten, K. Duncan, S. Ka'ai, T. Yates, A. Hinckson, E.
    Inclusive and collective urban home spaces: The future of housing in Aotearoa New Zealand.
    Wellbeing, Space and Society,
    3, 100080.
  18. Robertson, O. Nathan, K. Baker, M. Atatoa Carr, P.
    Residential mobility for a national cohort of New Zealand- born children by area socioeconomic deprivation level and ethnic group.
    BMJ Open
    11(1):e039706.
  19. Towards dwelling energy certification for New Zealand: normalisation issues.
    Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online
    .
  20. Improving Buildings, Cutting Carbon.
    Wellington, New Zealand: Steele Roberts, Aotearoa
  21. Baum, F. Freeman, T. Musolino, C. Abramovitz, M. De Ceukelaire, W. Flavel, J. Friel, S. Giugliani, C. Huong, N.T. London, L. McKee, M. Popay, J. Serag, H. Vilar, E.
    Explaining covid-19 performance: what factors might predict national responses?
  22. What is a Mixed-tenure Community? Views from New Zealand Practitioners and Implications for Researchers.
    Urban Policy and Research,
    39(1), 33-47.
  23. Does reframing urban policy around wellbeing support carbon mitigation?
    Buildings and Cities, 2(1).
  24. TE TAPEKE FAIR FUTURES IN AOTEAROA
    Royal Society Te Apārangi; ISBN (digital): 978-1-877264-48-1, ISBN (print): 978-1-877264-49-8
  25. Hinckson, E. Duncan, S. Ka’ai, K. Ivory, V. Yates, A.
    Submission on Government Policy Statement on Housing and Urban Development (GPS-HUD).
    NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities, AUT, Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities National Science Challenge, Wellington
  26. Submission on Government Policy Statement on Housing and Urban Development (GPS-HUD).
    New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities, Wellington
  27. Housing that lacks basic amenities in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2018 A supplement to the 2018 Census Estimate of Severe Housing Deprivation
    He Kāinga Oranga - Housing and Health Research Programme, University of Otago, Wellington
  28. Gyde, E. Pedersen Zari, M. Perry, M.
    Current and future green space supply and demand in central Wellington City, New Zealand.
  29. The effects of housing on health and well-being in Aotearoa New Zealand.
    New Zealand Population Review,
    47, 16-32.
  30. Noy, S. Devlin, M.
    Housing, Health and the Well-being of Children.
    Ministry of Social Development. Wellington, New Zealand
  31. Tupara, H. Wilkie, M. Cunningham, C.
    Home modifications to prevent home fall injuries in houses with Māori occupants (MHIPI): A randomised controlled trial.
    Lancet Public Health,
    6(9), e631-e640.
  32. Environmental burden of disease from unsafe and substandard housing, New Zealand, 2010-2017.
    Bulletin of the World Health Organization
    99, 259-270.
  33. Submission by the NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities on Our City Tomorrow: Wellington’s Draft Spatial Plan.
  34. Submission on Transforming transport and cities in NZ: a note for the Climate Change Commission’s engagements on transport and urban form.
    New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities.
    Wellington, New Zealand.
  35. Transforming Transport and Cities in NZ: A Note for the Climate Change Commission’s Engagements on Transport and Urban Form.
    New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities, Wellington.
  36. Submission on the draft Government Policy Statement on land transport 2021.
  37. Submission by the NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities on the RMA Issues and Options Paper, ‘Opportunities for Change’.
    Wellington, NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities
  38. Association between home insulation and hospital admission rates: A retrospective cohort study using linked data from a national intervention programme.
  39. Rivera-Muñoz, G.
    Structural Adjustment and Community Resilience: The Case of Postdisaster Housing Recovery After the Canterbury Earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.
    Health Educ Behav.
    47(6):805-815.
  40. Perceived benefits and risks of developing mixed communities in New Zealand: Implementer perspectives.
    Urban Research & Practice.
    Advance online publication.
  41. Beyond home: Exploring energy poverty among youth in four diverse Pacific island states.
    Energy Research & Social Science
    70, 101638.
  42. Evaluating natural experiments to measure the co-benefits of urban policy interventions to reduce carbon emissions in New Zealand.
  43. Response to Call for evidence on Options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the period 2022-2035.
    Submission to the Interim Climate Change Commission. Wellington: New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities
  44. Submission to the Ministry for the Environment on National Policy Statement on Urban Development.
    Wellington, NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities
    Download document
  45. Submission to the Environment Select Committee on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill.
    Wellington: New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities
  46. Bennett, M.
    Scope for building performance provisions to advance building sustainability and environmental performance in New Zealand.
    Working Paper for the National Science Challenge 11, Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities
  47. Te Ang Maitoro: Cooling Kiribati and Samoa
    He Kāinga Oranga/Housing and Health Research Programme University of Otago, Wellington
    New Zealand Institute for Pacific Research.
  48. Effect of an electricity voucher on electricity use.
    Energy Policy,
    134, 110985
  49. Robertson, O. Nathan, K. Baker, M. Atatoa Carr, P.
    Residential mobility and socioemotional and behavioural difficulties in a preschool population cohort of New Zealand children.
    BMJ of Epidemiology and Community Health
    73(10).
  50. Gyde, E. Pedersen Zari, M. Perry, M.
    Green Space in Wellington’s Central City: current provision, and design for future wellbeing.
    Report to Wellington City Council
  51. Ingham, T. Jones, B. Aldridge, D. Latimer, M. Dowell, A. Draper, J. Bailey, L. Stanley, T. Leadbitter, P.
    Damp mouldy housing and early childhood hospital admissions for acute respiratory infection: a case control study.
    Thorax
    74, 849-857.
  52. World Health Organization (Eds.).
    WHO Housing and health guidelines - Recommendations to promote healthy housing for a sustainable and equitable future.
    World Health Organization.

    The WHO Housing and health guidelines bring together the most recent evidence to provide practical recommendations to reduce the health burden due to unsafe and substandard housing.

  53. Submission to Ministry for the Environment on ‘Our Climate Your Say: Consultation on the Zero Carbon Bill.
    New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities
  54. Submission to the Tax Working Group on The Future of Tax.
    New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities
  55. Shaw, C. Abrahamse, W.
    Are people who already cycle and walk more responsive to an active travel intervention?
    Journal of Transport & Health
    10, 84-91.
  56. Reductions in carbon dioxide emissions from an intervention to promote cycling and walking: A case study from New Zealand.
    Transportation Research Part D
    65, 687-696.
  57. A cost benefit analysis of an active travel intervention with health and carbon emission reduction benefits.
    International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health
    15(5), 962.
  58. Shaw, C. Macmillan, A. Hosking, J.
    Fairness in Transport Policy: A New Approach to Applying Distributive Justice Theories.
    Sustainability
    12, 10102.
  59. Lessons learned from implementing a programme of home modifications to prevent falls amongst the general population.
    Safety
    4.
  60. Indoor visible mold and mold odour are associated with new‐onset childhood wheeze in a dose dependent manner.
    Indoor Air
    Jan; 28(1):6-15, Aug 4. doi: 10.1111/ina.12413
  61. Policy Changes: Kiribati migration and settlement.
    Policy Quarterly
    13, 2, pp.82-87
  62. Cold New Zealand Council Housing Getting an Upgrade.
    Policy Quarterly
    14, 2, 65-73.
  63. Nilsson, M. Griggs, D. et al.
    Mapping interactions between Sustainable Development Goals: lessons learned and ways forward.
    Sustainability Science
    13, 1489–1503.
  64. Setting Housing Standards to Improve Global Health.
    Int J Environ Res Public Health
    14,12, 1542.
  65. Impact of improved insulation and heating on mortality risk of older cohort members with prior cardiovascular or respiratory hospitalisations.
    BMJ Open
    7(11).
  66. Preval, N.
    How economic analysis can contribute to understanding the links between housing and health.
    Int J Environ Res Public Health
    14, 9.
  67. Sobiecki,L.
    Submission to Wellington City Council on car sharing facilitation.
    NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities
  68. Increased house size can cancel out the effect of improved insulation on overall heating energy requirements.
    Energy Policy,
    107, 248-257.
  69. Housing, energy and health in resilient cities.
    In P. Howden-Chapman, L. Early & J. Ombler (Eds.), Cities in New Zealand: Preferences, patterns and possibilities.
    (pp. 95-106). Wellington, New Zealand: Steele Roberts Aotearoa.
  70. The value of experience: Including young people in energy poverty research.
    In N. Simcock, H. Thomson, S. Petrova & S. Bouzarovski (Eds.), Energy poverty and vulnerability: A global perspective.
    (pp 188-201). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
  71. Cities in New Zealand: Preferences, patterns and possibilities.
  72. Sim, D. Stanley, J. Rowan, R. L. Harris Clark, I. K. Waiopehu College 2015 Research Team.
    Cool? Young people investigate living in cold housing and fuel poverty: A mixed methods action research study.
    SSM Population Health
    3, 66-74.
  73. Why New Zealand transport policy needs to encourage walking and cycling.
    In L Early & P Howden-Chapman (Eds.), Cities in New Zealand: Preferences, patterns and possibilities.
    (pp.107-114). Wellington, New Zealand: Steele Roberts Aotearoa.
  74. Guria, J. Cunningham, C.
    Cost-benefit analysis of fall injuries prevented by a programme of home modifications: a cluster randomised controlled trial.
    Injury Prevention
    23, 1, 22–26
  75. Renting in New Zealand: perspectives from tenant advocates.
    Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences
    Volume 12, 2017 - Issue 1.
  76. Measuring the Effect of Housing Quality Interventions: The Case of the New Zealand "Rental Warrant of Fitness".
    Int J Enviro Res Public Health
    14(11),1352.
  77. Shaw, C. Stanley, J.
    What can fuel price increases tell us about the air pollution health co-benefits of a carbon price?
    Journal of Transport & Health
    Volume 8, March 2018, Pages 81-90.
  78. Capon, A.
    Understanding the systemic nature of cities to improve health and climate change mitigation.
    Environment International
    94, 380-387.
  79. Increasing active travel to work: sub-analyses of a quasi-experimental study of an intervention to encourage walking and cycling.
    New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities.
    Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
  80. Preval, N. Early, L.
    Ministry of Transport’s draft transport research strategy, 2016.
    NZ Centre for Sustainable Cities
  81. Preval, N. Moores, J.
    Streamlining urban housing development: are there environmental sustainability impacts?
  82. The Application of Hirschman's Exit-voice Framework to Housing Studies: A Review and Some Ways Forward.
    Housing, Theory and Society
    Volume 33, 2016 - Issue 4.
  83. Heating practices and self-disconnection among electricity prepayment meter consumers in New Zealand: A follow-up survey.
    Utilities Policy
    41, 139-147.
  84. Towards an agreed quality standard for rental housing: Development of a New Zealand housing WOF tool.
    Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
    40, 5, 405-411.
  85. Child and youth fuel poverty: assessing the known and unknown.
    People, Place, and Policy, Special issue on International Perspectives on Fuel Poverty
    10(1), 77-87
  86. Preval, N. Young, C. Arnold, R. Denne, T.
    Does retrofitted insulation reduce household energy use? Theory and Practice.
    The Energy Journal
    37(4). DOI: 10.5547/01956574.37.4.agri
  87. Examining the role of tenure, household crowding and housing affordability on psychological distress using longitudinal data.
    Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
    70, 10
  88. Abrahamse, W. Muggeridge, D. Beetham, J. Grams, M.
    Increasing active travel: results of a quasi-experimental pre-post study of an intervention to encourage walking and cycling.
    Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
    doi:10.1136/jech-2015-205466
  89. Early, L.
    Drivers of Urban Change.
  90. Early, L. Hamer-Adams, A.
    Introduction.
    In L. Early, P. Howden-Chapman & M. Russell (Eds.), Drivers of urban change.
    (pp. 7-14). Wellington, New Zealand: Steele Roberts Aotearoa.
  91. Abrahamse, A. Muggeridge, D. Beetham, J Grams, M.
    Increasing active travel: aims, methods and baseline measures of a quasi-experimental study.
    BMC Public Health
    2014, 14, 935
  92. The influence of electricity prepayment meter use on household energy behaviour.
    Sustainable Cities & Society
    13, 182-191.
  93. Homes People Can Afford: How to improve housing in New Zealand.
  94. Stuart, K. (Eds.),
    Sizing up the City: Urban form and transport in New Zealand.
    Wellington, New Zealand: Steele Roberts, Aotearoa