Increasing Physical Activity Through Community Design
A Guide for Public Health Practitioners
Source: National Center for Biking & Walking
"In healthy communities -- not just in the movies -- walking and bicycling are a normal part of daily life. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) call these kinds of places Active Community Environments (ACEs). They recognize that providing for active living through community design is a health issue.
"This guide tells you how to help create places for people to walk and bicycle. This doesn't just mean special trails, though those might certainly be an important element of an overall plan. Creating an active community environment means taking a look at the broader scope of where there are -- and aren't -- opportunities to safely walk and bicycle. It involves land use design, retrofitting the transportation infrastructure, funding and much more.
"Although this guide is written for public health professionals, others -- community leaders, local planners and transportation agency officials, and citizens -- can also benefit from reading it because poor community design affects the health of the entire community. The increased awareness each of us brings to the problem is another step towards the solution."
