Active Living
Encyclopedia
Active Living is a way of life that integrates physical activity into daily routines, like walking to the store or biking to work.
Active Living brings together urban planner
s, architect
s, transportation engineers, public health
professionals and others to build places that encourage routine activity. One example includes efforts to build sidewalks, crosswalks and other ways for children to walk safely to and from school. Compact, mixed-use development
, where residential uses are located close to stores, jobs and recreational opportunities (parks, etc.) has also been found to encourage a more active lifestyle.
formally launched their Active Living initiative which comprised three national programs - Active Living by Design, Active Living Research, and Active for Life. The main goal of these programs was to develop an understanding how the built environment impacted physical activity and what could be done to increase physical activity.
Active Living brings together urban planner
Urban planner
An urban planner or city planner is a professional who works in the field of urban planning/land use planning for the purpose of optimizing the effectiveness of a community's land use and infrastructure. They formulate plans for the development and management of urban and suburban areas, typically...
s, architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
s, transportation engineers, public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
professionals and others to build places that encourage routine activity. One example includes efforts to build sidewalks, crosswalks and other ways for children to walk safely to and from school. Compact, mixed-use development
Mixed-use development
Mixed-use development is the use of a building, set of buildings, or neighborhood for more than one purpose. Since the 1920s, zoning in some countries has required uses to be separated. However, when jobs, housing, and commercial activities are located close together, a community's transportation...
, where residential uses are located close to stores, jobs and recreational opportunities (parks, etc.) has also been found to encourage a more active lifestyle.
History
Active Living is a growing field that emerged from the early work of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with the release of the Surgeon's General Report on Physical Activity and Health in 1996. In 1997, the CDC began the development of an initiative called Active Community Environments (ACEs) coordinated by Rich Killingsworth (the founding director of Active Living by Design) and Tom Schmid, a senior health scientist. The main programming thrust of ACEs was an emerging initiative called Safe Routes to School that was catalyzed by a program designed by Rich Killingsworth and Jessica Shisler at CDC called KidsWalk-to-School. This program provided much needed attention to the connections of the built environment and health, especially obesity and physical inactivity. In 2000, Robert Wood Johnson FoundationRobert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the United States' largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care; it is based in Princeton, New Jersey. The foundation's mission is to improve the health and health care of all Americans...
formally launched their Active Living initiative which comprised three national programs - Active Living by Design, Active Living Research, and Active for Life. The main goal of these programs was to develop an understanding how the built environment impacted physical activity and what could be done to increase physical activity.