Shocking Health Statistics Call For Better City Planning
I read a lot of different reports and articles on walkability. I’ve seen lots of presentations from fantastic speakers on the connections between the obesity epidemic and our built environment, including by Richard Jackson, the former California Health Officer. I’ve seen him speak before, and I love how he just lays everything on the line and does not hold back for political...
Read MoreA Cruel World for Disabled Persons
Seventy percent of people will be either temporarily or permanently disabled in their lifetime. That is a very strong point to consider whenever you design or plan a project. Sure, in the United States we have the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that provides guidelines to design for disabled pedestrians. In reality, the accessibility guidelines are very weak in some aspects. Plus, just...
Read MoreOne in Four People Are Obese in Nine US States – More States Are on the Way
New data is available on the obesity epidemic that is plaguing the United States, and this time it is in the prettiest graphical form I have seen to date (or ugliest, when you consider the data it is displaying!). This graphic displays that in 2004 one out of four people in nine U.S. states are obese. We are not talking about people that have an extra few pounds, we are talking about very large...
Read MoreNational Public Health Week and Actions You Can Take
This week is National Public Health Week (NPHW) and the focus this year is on children and the built environment, according to the American Public Health Association (APHA). This year’s tagline is “Designing Healthy Communities: Raising Healthy Kids.â€? According to the website: Each day of the week, APHA and its partners will encourage Americans to build healthier communities...
Read MoreSign-Language Town Planned for South Dakota
Some individuals are incredibly inspirational, and Marvin Miller can fall into this prestigious category. According to an article from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Mr. Miller is working with several planners and architects to design and build a brand-new town in rural South Dakota for signers (not just deaf but for hearing signers as well). Mr. Miller, who was born deaf, is supporting the...
Read MoreProof That Higher Density Is Better For Your Life Expectancy
Recent reports from the Ontario College of Family Physicians provide concrete evidence that many of us in the livable communities field already knew: that people in cities with higher densities (i.e. walkable places) live longer than those that live in lower-density places (i.e. the suburbs). These reports that covered two-thirds of the total population of the U.S. (83 regions) found that the...
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