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Active Community Environments are places where people
of all ages and abilities can easily enjoy walking, bicycling,
and other forms of recreation. Priority recommendations
include utilization of urban planning, transportation
policy and infrastructure changes to promote non-motorized
transportation, as well as enhancement of safety and perceived
safety of communities.
The descriptions below illustrates what organizations
and communities are doing to support active community
environments.
Feet First has put together a partnership of transportation,
design, health, and neighborhood organizations from government,
non-profit, private, and community sectors. This partnership
is working at the local, city, and state level toward
innovations in planning, programs, promotions, policies,
and physical changes to the built environment.
The ACTIVE SEATTLE project creates an operating system
for community transformation educating citizens, developers,
and institutions about the connection between urban design
and health. A vigorous mapping process in five Seattle
neighborhoods will involve neighbors of all ages and ethnicities
to make the places they live and work more walkable. An
annual neighborhood map will be published, promoting neighborhood
assets and promoting the pleasures and benefits of creating
a good, safe walking environment. Public Health-Seattle
& King County will incorporate active living components
into existing and future health promotion programs. Infrastructure
and policy projects through Seattle Department of Transportation
(SDOT) will expand over the five-year project and include
neighborhood design workshops and revision of city's street
design manual. Key partners will roll out a series of
mutually reinforcing projects to get more people walking
and to involve them in design and advocacy for better
designed communities.
This project is designed as a model for cross-disciplinary
partnership to help transform our country's large and
mid-size cities. The partnership enlists a multi-level
approach - within neighborhoods and at the city level
- that generate lasting, top-to-bottom impact regarding
community support for physical activity.
For more information:
Margaret Kitchell,
MD
David Levinger
Feet First
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