Active design, the philosophy of designing to encourage physhical activity, responds to concerns about an increasingly unfit and overweight population. Here, Dr. Gayle Nicoll, dean of OCAD University’s Faculty of Design and co-author of the Active Design Guidelines (ADG), discusses the evolving strategy of health-friendly building.

How would you describe active design?

Active design is a design practice intended to create built environments that encourage people to be more physically active. It combats the sedentary lifestyle – second only to tobacco – as a leading cause of obesity and related chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some cancers. It involves making changes in urban, community and building design to provide more opportunities for everyone to engage in the daily physical activity they need to stay healthy. It also supports other community benefits including enhanced environmental sustainability, universal accessibility, and greater economic resiliency.

How has the approach evolved over the last decade or so?

Active design was developed to translate a growing body of research. Topics include environmental features that support intentional, instrumental and hybrid physical activity that integrates health into common urban and architectural design practice.

Intentional physical activity is purposeful exercise at a fitness facility or recreational activity, such as playing sports. Instrumental physical activity is incidental physical activity from other purposes, such as walking or biking to and from work, or physical labour from a job or hobby. Hybrid physical activity occurs when a person chooses the active option, such as the stairs instead of the elevator.

The design of the built environment plays an important role in supporting or suppressing a person’s level of physical activity. Urban or building features that support physical activity are more likely to be used if they are convenient, accessible, visible, safe, appealing and comfortable to use.

The Active Design Guidelines, published in 2010, were created through an initiative of the City of New York to inform urban planners, architects, landscape architects, interior designers, developers and municipal agencies with a range of active-promoting design strategies supported by research or best practice evidence.

Since the publication of the Active Design Guidelines, additional active design publications addressing affordable housing, sidewalk design, safety issues and community activities have been published and training programs and workshops have been presented across North America. In a relatively short period of time, the adoption of active design strategies has grown widely among municipalities with a growing number of planners, architects and private developers including active design in their practice.

What are some of your favourite design strategies that promote activity?

There are many strategies for supporting a physically active lifestyle, but I do have some favourites that I would like to see incorporated into more buildings.

• Stair use – stair use is a good hybrid physical activity, as people often choose to use the stair instead of the elevator. Designating and locating at least one stair in a building for frequent use provides people with a healthy alternative to elevator use. Stairs located close to the entrance and elevator, directly accessible from the main corridor or lobby and visible, have proven to be well used. Extending the interior finishes from the adjacent lobby or corridor within the staircase indicates that the stair is provided for common use, not just for emergencies.

• Co-location of child and caregiver activity facilities – providing options for parents to be active while supervising their children’s play is a healthy recipe for a physical active and healthy family.

• Support for active transportation – providing secure, environmentally protected bike storage in residential and workplace buildings increases cycling between home and work, an activity that in most cases will satisfy the recommended level of daily physical activity to maintain or improve health.

• Mixed-use zoning – people are more likely to walk to shops, services and recreational facilities from their homes and workplaces when conveniently located within a five to 10 minute walking distance.

What are some design principles that should be avoided if health is a priority?

Most buildings do not accommodate healthy options for vertical transportation by locating the elevator directly visible from the building entrance and often providing no visible or physical access to a staircase within the building lobby.

Workplaces are often too sedentary and typically do not provide features that require employees to stand up and walk around periodically. The lack of features such as copy rooms, cafeterias and break rooms, water coolers, outdoor gardens, fitness or social rooms often mean that employees eat, drink, print and drift off mentally while sitting at their desks.

Many family residential buildings do not provide physical activity facilities that support the age range of building residents.  Intentional physical activity facilities need to address the specific capacities of their users. Teenagers and the elderly are often not provided age appropriate facilities, or are expected to share facilities despite their incompatible needs.

Dr. Gayle Nicoll, professor and dean of the Faculty of Design at OCAD University in Toronto, is an architect, educator, environmental researcher and advocate for the design of healthy environments. Dr. Nicoll is a co-author of the Active Design Guidelines, which has more than 15,000 copies distributed in 80 countries.

Photo credit: Thomas Rutter on Flickr, via Creative Commons