Getting People Moving

Haya El Nasser, writing for Delaware Online, on the role of design in fighting obesity:

“Active design” – the architectural principle of creating spaces that encourage healthy lifestyles – is gaining popularity as more cities and companies join the fight and embrace healthy initiatives and “green” measures.

[…]

“How do you get people moving?” asks Rick Bell, executive director of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects. “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.”

There were some interesting ideas, but how do you get through all of that and not make the connection to the larger issue? This isn’t just a building design issue where some innovative new idea will magically make obesity go away. This is a wholistic lifestyle problem. No amount of shared space can fix that fundamental issue. Creating an “active design” building at the end of a long drive just feels like putting a speedo on an obese man - it helps but it sure doesn’t cover the whole problem!