In Australia, sedentary lifestyles are significantly contributing to an increase in preventable chronic diseases. There is considerable evidence that health inequality is experienced by the socioeconomically disadvantaged (Marmot 2006), with a strong correlation between the environment where people live and health status i.e. physical space and healthy populations. In addition, the impact of deaths with respect to heatwaves is correlated to maximum ambient temperature thresholds and contributed to by the urban heat island effect. Retaining stormwater in the built environment creates better quality greenspace for communities which can facilitate increased physical activity. This has the potential to reduce obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and improve mental health. Greenspace can also assist in reducing the urban heat island effect in built environments, subsequently reducing extreme temperatures and mortality during heatwaves. In recent times vast urbanisation has taken place around the world and ‘demographers estimate that by 2030 approximately two-thirds of all people will live in large towns or cities’ (McMichael 2000). Whilst modern ‘westernisation’ has doubled our life expectancy, it has also created disparities between ancient and present ways of living which has paved the way for the emergence and prevalence of lifestyle related diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease (Pryor 2006). ‘Australia is a highly urbanised country, with approximately 90% of the population now residing in towns or cities, thus the experience and contact that the majority of Australian’s have with nature is more likely to occur in an urban rather than a rural setting’ (Barnett et al. 2006). The importance of creating supportive environments for health was recognised in the Ottawa Charter in 1986 (World Health Organisation 1986) and as established by the World Health Organisation, the physical environment is one of the major determinants of health, which dictates the health and wellbeing of individuals and a community. Many factors combine together to affect the health of individuals and populations and whether people are healthy or not is determined by their circumstances and environment. ‘The context of people’s lives determine their health, and so blaming individuals for having poor health or crediting them for good health is inappropriate' (World Health Organisation 2010). Increasing urbanisation, combined with a spatial planning policy of densification, will mean that more people face the prospect of living in residential environments with limited greenspace (Maas 2006). ‘There is evidence that poorer socioeconomic groups tend to have poorer nutrition, less physical activity in leisure time, greater prevalence of smoking and more damaging patterns of alcohol use’ (Victorian Government Department of Health 2010). Research has also shown that in metropolitan Melbourne, public open space that supports physical activity are more likely to be situated in higher socioeconomic status neighbourhoods than in low socioeconomic status neighbourhoods (Crawford et al. 2008), therefore ensuring the environment which people live in is supportive will act to increase the health of individuals - especially people from low socioeconomic groups without resources to move to greener areas (Maas 2006). ‘Australia has one of the most variable rainfall climates in the world’ (Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology 2011). Stormwater offers an alternative water source to drinking water which is especially valuable during sustained periods of drought. Utilising stormwater harvesting can also reduce the volume and speed of flow of water in the drainage system and reduce the amount of pollution reaching our waterways during periods of heavy rainfall (Melbourne Water 2011). This project developed a health planning tool that supports the identified link between community health and wellbeing and the planning, placement and improvement of green infrastructure. The tool provides a planning mechanism to identify disadvantaged communities and populations at risk of chronic illness and heatwaves. Targeting disadvantaged populations and implementing projects that retain stormwater in the built environment in these communities can create quality greenspace to: facilitate an increase in physical activity to reduce obesity and lifestyle-related diseases; improve mental health; reduce the heat island effect and morbidity and mortality during heatwaves; reduce the level of health disparity between communities.