Archinect - News

Urbanism as a public health issue: Oklahoma City's battle with obesity

2015-10-19T18:11:00-04:00

For [Oklahoma City] is one of the nation’s most spread-out urban environments, covering 620 square miles, which means its 600,000 residents rely on cars [...] [Mayor Mick Cornett] began to look afresh at the culture and infrastructure of his city, realising how the extent of reliance on cars had alienated human beings from enjoying and using their own urban environments. [...] [Cornett] wanted to remake his huge metropolis by remoulding it around people in place of cars.

More at the intersection of urban planning and public health:

Architects Issue Report Documenting the Connection Between Design and Public Health, Press Releases

2012-12-11T12:33:00-05:00

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) today issued a report: Local Leaders: Healthier Communities Through Design that provides a roadmap for towns and cities looking to help their populations stay healthy by employing design techniques that encourage residents to increase their physical activity.

The report, which was released today at Governing Magazine’s “Summit on Healthy Living,” demonstrates how active lifestyles aided by positive design choices lead to a healthier population. Individuals who live in livable, mixed use communities, with options for transit - weigh less, are more physically active, and experience less chronic disease.

“Architects play a key role in designing healthy environments,” said AIA CEO Robert Ivy, FAIA. “This report shows the benefits our profession can bring to establishing a built environment that encourages exercise and discourages a sedentary lifestyle.”

Key barometers of health suggest America is heading in the wrong direction, namely toward physical inactivity, obesity, and chronic disease. Studies, highlighted in the report, demonstrate that the median improvement in some aspect of physical activity for livable urban communities can be over 160 percent. Studies also show that a community designed for exercise can prevent 90 percent o...

Active design - using architecture to help reduce obesity

2012-11-01T18:30:00-04:00

"If exercise and everyday activity is the mantra, how do you, through design, get people to exercise? ... There is a direct relation between the built environment and people's lifestyles." History has proved it. Architecture played a major role in defeating infectious diseases such as cholera and tuberculosis in the 19th and 20th centuries by designing better buildings, streets, clean-water systems and parks.