The Built Environment
Good community design achieved through policy can help improve public health. For example, people are more likely to get exercise in communities that have safe, well-maintained sidewalks, good lighting, walking and biking trails, and public green spaces. Advocates of public health must be at the table with government leaders, community planners and activists as new communities are being planned and old ones revitalized.
Here are some examples of public policies that would make built environments more conducive to healthy eating and physical activity.
- Build safe, clean, and inviting walking and biking trails using old railroad corridors.
- When designing new communities:
- Plan for sidewalks.
- Make access to schools, grocery stores, pharmacies, green spaces, libraries, and other communal spots, within walking distance of most housing.
- Provide clean, inexpensive public transportation.
- Write (or rewrite) zoning laws so businesses and housing can co-exist, making it easier to walk to work, the grocery store, or entertainment.
- Provide good lighting for public places; maintain sidewalks.
- Employ traffic-calming methods in cities to encourage pedestrians and bicyclists.
- Provide bicycle parking racks in cities, and bicycle lanes in streets.
- When designing new buildings, place staircases in a central location with as much open space as possible, to encourage use of the stairs. Place elevators in less central, more inconspicuous places.
- Zone for, and encourage the development of, grocery stores in low income neighborhoods.
- Build new, and maintain existing, playgrounds in urban and suburban areas.
For more information:
- For federal legislation filed in the current (110th) Congress
- American Institute of Architects
- Active Living by Design
- Center for Understanding the Built Environment
- National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences
- Safe Routes to School
- Smart Growth Online