Active Design

41 Cooper Square, New York

According to official statistics just under a third of the US adult population is obese, that is having a body mass index (BMI) of more than 30 kg/square metre. The figure for the UK for 2008 was 24.5% of those over 16 years of age. The proportion of the adult population of the US that is obese has more than doubled since the early 1960’s. Although this is in part due to diet, activity levels also make a significant contribution. There is incontrovertible evidence that active people are less prone to a whole range of illnesses. Regular physical activity contributes to the prevention and management of over 20 conditions including coronary heart disease, diabetes, certain types of cancer and obesity. For example, strokes cost the NHS £2.8 billion a year. Studies indicate that physical activity reduces the risk of having a stroke by a third.

With this in mind a federal programme has been launched in the US called the National Physical Activity Plan, whilst in New York City a inter-departmental initiative fronted by the Department of Design and Construction has introduced the Active Design Guidelines (see Reference 1).

In the UK Sport England, supported by the Department of Health, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), published Active Design guidance in 2007 (see Reference 2).

As one might expect the New York Guidelines are tailored for high density inner city development and cover neighbourhood issues, urban design and architecture including:

• Develop and maintain mixed land use in city neighbourhoods;
• Improve access to transit and transit facilities;
• Improve access to plazas, parks, open spaces, and recreational facilities, and design these spaces to maximize their active use where appropriate;
• Improve access to full-service grocery stores and fresh produce;
• Design accessible, pedestrian-friendly streets with high connectivity, traffic calming features, landscaping, lighting, benches, and water fountains;
• Facilitate bicycling for recreation and transportation by developing continuous bicycle networks and incorporating infrastructure like safe indoor and outdoor bicycle parking.
• Increase stair use among the able-bodied by providing a conveniently located stair for everyday use, posting motivational signage to encourage stair use, and designing visible, appealing and comfortable stairs;
• Locate building functions to encourage brief bouts of walking to shared spaces such as mail and lunch rooms, provide appealing, supportive walking routes within buildings;
• Provide facilities that support exercise such as centrally visible physical activity spaces, showers, locker rooms, secure bicycle storage, and drinking fountains;
• Design building exteriors and massing that contribute to a pedestrian friendly urban environment and that include maximum variety and transparency, multiple entries, stoops, and canopies.

Most of these issues figure in LEED and perhaps it is no surprise that 41 Cooper Square, an exemplar Active Design development, is targeting a Platinum award under the Scheme
(http://morphopedia.com/projects/cooper-union). One of the iconic features of this stunning building is a four storey staircase that dominates the entrance area (see image above). The lifts are deliberately made inconspicuous to encourage all able bodied occupants to use the stairs.

The Sport England guidance is based on a similar agenda but orientated to masterplanning of sustainable communities, covering many of the transport issues in BREEAM, as well as those that figure in current proposals for Planning Policy Guidance and Department for Transport long term strategy. Guidance is provided under three headings:

• Improving accessibility
• Enhancing amenity
• Increasing awareness

The emphasis is on creating access routes for pedestrians and cyclists between “Everyday Activity Destinations”, such as homes, workplaces, schools, shops and community facilities. A reasonable walking distance is defined as between 400 and 800m, or a 5 to 10 minute trip one way, whilst for cycling a maximum distance of 5 km is suggested.

One innovative scheme, developed by the Smarter Travel Unit at Transport for London and Intelligent Health Ltd and known as Step2Get, encourages children to walk to school by offering incentives (http://www.intelligenthealth.co.uk/step2get/). School pupils are issued with personal cards which they swipe at touch points along a designated walking route. They accumulate points for each walk and are rewarded with Topshop or Odeon cinema vouchers when they have reached a set target.

Intelligent Health uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to monitor the walking route. The ‘receivers’ which act as the swipe points are designed and manufactured by the company. The scheme can also be used to direct children along specific routes for safety reasons or to reduce overcrowding on local public transport services.

This system is at the heart of the Wimbledon Schools Walking project, which was also designed to reduce congestion and dwell times of buses, and involved some 300 pupils at Wimbledon schools.

A review of current good practice in the planning and design of sustainable transportation schemes is provided in my book Integrated Sustainable Design of Buildings, details of which can be found elsewhere on this blog.

References

1 New York City Active Design Guidelines: Promoting Physical Activity and Health in Design (2010). Produced by NYC Department of Design and Construction. http://ddcftp.nyc.gov/adg/downloads/adguidelines.pdf

2 Active Design. Sport England (2007) http://www.sportengland.org/facilities__planning/planning_tools_and_guidance/active_design.aspx