Dr. Richard Jackson, Chair of the School of Health at UCLA, and former head of the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), argued that how we shape our environment impacts our health. There are now deep-rooted structural issues with the built environment that are creating epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and depression. Also, the current way of dealing with these structural issues is only just increasing the annual amount of spending on healthcare (now at 17 percent of GDP), instead of addressing the underlying problems. “We are now medicalizing the problems people are experiencing with their environment. We are no longer creating wellbeing.”
Instead of addressing the public health impacts of the absence of trees, low-albedo streets (which contribute to the urban heat island effect), as well as a lack of planning, public transit, or safe streets, we are instead “looking at the end of the pipeline,” the medical effects. Our environment is sending us a message: “We are appendages to our cars.”
Jackson outlined a few of the structural issues that need to be addressed:
How we build affects how often we are injured
Jackson said 24,000 lives could be saved each year if the country had the same low car crash fatality rates as New York City. The city provides easy access to public transit and safer street designs.
How we build affects the air we breathe and the water we drink
“Any place where we can cool the air, we can improve health.” When ground-level heat indicators go up, ozone levels also rise. Ozone is a leading contributor to asthma, a chronic disease that disproportionally impacts inner-city areas.
Cars are heavy contributors of ozone so “we need to invest more in public transit and biking.” One “natural experiment” demonstrated this: In Atlanta during the Olympic Games, people drove less, taking public transit to get into the city center. As a result asthma hospitalizations dropped by some 30 percent.
How we build affects what we eat
Each year, the CDC calls between 100 and 200 people nationwide, and goes through an hour-long questionnaire about their health. Through these studies, public health policymakers have found that obesity rates have gone through the roof. “Now there’s only one state where less than 20 percent of the population is obese.” Over the past twenty years, the obesity rate for teenagers has also tripled.
Obesity is a “common cause epidemic,” and a related health impact, diabetes, is now a “crushing health crisis,” driven in large part by the sedentary, car-based lives we are leading. Sprawl, in effect, kills.
How we build affects how active we are
Less density equals more driving. “We are engineering exercise out of people’s lives” by creating suburban cul-de-sacs and putting places of work and living far from each other. Higher density equals more walking. “This is an issue of life and death,” argued Jackson.
He also called for Fitnessgrams to be added to every report card. “Right now, 3/4 of graduating high school students can’t run or walk a mile in under 12 minutes.” By creating car-dependent communities,” we are taking away walking,” exacerbating the epidemic of obesity among kids as well.
How we build affects our home (earth)
There have been dramatic increases in C02 emissions over the past 150 years. More recently, our air has gotten hotter, the ground has gotten hotter (which impacts the fertility of soils), and ocean temperatures have increased (which combined with increased C02 levels has led to acidification).
Weather change is just oscillation, but climate change is impacting “hardiness zones.” Over the past twenty years, in New Jersey, “we’ve moved from hardiness zone 5 to 7.” This will have major impacts on what trees can exist in these areas.
Another major issue: reduced water. California alone is facing billions of new infrastructure investment to deal with the reduced ice caps in its mountain regions.
Part of the solution may be to design for wellbeing, which can also reduce the negative impacts of the built environment on public health.
For example, new green hospitals are including organic food gardens that help patients recover faster. Studies of patient experience demonstrates that views of nature (or even just images of nature) improve patient outcomes; most patients respond positively to nature art; even looking at nature can reduce the need for medication; and exposure to sunlight reduces hospital stays.
To sum up, Jackson said, “cars are not more important than people or trees.” But landscape architects also need to plant the right trees in the right places, and create long-term plans to keep trees in place. Additionally, capturing water on site is important given increased water shortages.
He called for ASLA to lead a charge on school gardens, adding that “ASLA members could adopt school gardens” in their neighborhoods and help integrate organic food into communities.
At the federal level, the upcoming transportation bill, where President Obama has focused his continuing recovery efforts, will need to dramatically increase investment in public transit, bike routes, and safe routes to schools.
To learn more, read “Built Environment: Designing Communities to Promote Physical Activity in Children,” a policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (see earlier post). Also, read Dr. Jackson’s book, “Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities.”
Dr. Jackson made the case that landscape architects are health leaders, and since the days of Frederick Law Olmsted have been focused on improving people’s health and wellbeing. See an interview with Paul Morris, FASLA, on CDC’s Healthy Communities program, and how design can improve health.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Another good systems diagram showing development over time
from MVVA's Don River Estuary and Portlands project
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Sweden's 'food pyramid' altered by climate considerations
Guidelines for climate-friendly food choices developed by the Swedish authorities recommend citizens to reduce their meat and rice consumption as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The first of their kind, the guidelines are now being sent out for reactions and inspiration from other EU countries.
See report on impacts of meat and dairy at:
http://ipts.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/pub.cfm?id=1721
See report on impacts of meat and dairy at:
http://ipts.jrc.ec.europa.eu/publications/pub.cfm?id=1721
What Do Designers Like Us Have to Offer the Local Food Initiatives?
What Do Designers Like Us Have to Offer the Local Food Initiatives?
Nov 12, 2009 20:57PM
Craig Applegath
As the Grand Prize winners of the recent ResilientCity.org Design Ideas Competition, we were asked to contribute a blog posting that expanded upon or further developed some of the ideas that we explored in our competition entry.
To do so, we thought that we would reflect on what we learned from our presentation of our competition entry “From the Ground Up”, at a benefit for a youth farming program. Our co-presenters included other Brooklyn residents involved in local food initiatives. The event gave us the chance to consider what urban designers can offer people who are already making viable agriculture projects happen in our city. We saw three basic possible contributions a proposal like ours can make.
1. From Urban Agriculture to Food Systems
Designers can help by creating a framework for urban agriculture at scales bigger than individual project sites. Urban agriculture systems include food production, processing, distribution, and consumption as well as waste management. Individuals involved in urban food initiatives necessarily tend to understand and manage small parts of this process as they relate to operations. Urban planners and designers have the opportunity to consider the system as a whole – how resources flow from one process to the next, and how to match that flow with local needs. Our proposal imagined how neighborhood spaces could systematically welcome various food programs.
2. Putting Food Systems into Design Language
Designers can use the tools of architecture and planning to advocate for urban food systems to decision makers. This is a service designers offer every day to clients of other sorts. We were surprised to find very few official planning or design documents addressing neighborhood food systems comprehensively. Design language is a common and persuasive vocabulary used to communicate ideas about systemic change – to agency officials, funders, community developers, and the public. We expect and believe design language should become a well-deployed tool in the development of urban food systems.
3. Connecting Food with Neighborhood Systems
Leveraging an understanding of local concerns and infrastructure, designers can connect urban agriculture to other neighborhood systems. How can urban agriculture be a part of energy generation, waste management, transportation, or job creation? Our proposal suggested, for example, how food production could improve the public realm. Crime and safety are major concerns in Newark and affect perceptions of the city. We think by activating neighborhood spaces and buildings with food initiatives, we can create a safer network of active public spaces. The more connections established between food systems and local infrastructures and institutions, the more resilient urban agriculture will become. The capacity of food systems to withstand changes – including displacement by higher value land uses – will grow.
A visit to Brick City Urban Farm in Newark gave inspiration to our proposal. The farm is located on a 15,000 square-foot vacant lot on loan from a non-profit affordable housing developer. Two residents of Integrity House, a nearby rehabilitation center, are paid to maintain the farm daily. Neighborhood residents drop by to pick fresh vegetables – collards are most popular – and the farm supplies several suburban restaurants. The farm is surrounded by a simple chain-link fence, and nothing has ever been stolen.
Brick City Urban Farm is unplanned from a design perspective, but even so, the farm has improved the neighborhood public realm, responded to community needs, and connected the neighborhood to the regional economy. As designers and planners, we can help give form to these kinds of activities, and assist their organizers by strategically aligning them with neighborhood and city-scale development.
Michael Haggerty and Raj Kottamasu
Nov 12, 2009 20:57PM
Craig Applegath
As the Grand Prize winners of the recent ResilientCity.org Design Ideas Competition, we were asked to contribute a blog posting that expanded upon or further developed some of the ideas that we explored in our competition entry.
To do so, we thought that we would reflect on what we learned from our presentation of our competition entry “From the Ground Up”, at a benefit for a youth farming program. Our co-presenters included other Brooklyn residents involved in local food initiatives. The event gave us the chance to consider what urban designers can offer people who are already making viable agriculture projects happen in our city. We saw three basic possible contributions a proposal like ours can make.
1. From Urban Agriculture to Food Systems
Designers can help by creating a framework for urban agriculture at scales bigger than individual project sites. Urban agriculture systems include food production, processing, distribution, and consumption as well as waste management. Individuals involved in urban food initiatives necessarily tend to understand and manage small parts of this process as they relate to operations. Urban planners and designers have the opportunity to consider the system as a whole – how resources flow from one process to the next, and how to match that flow with local needs. Our proposal imagined how neighborhood spaces could systematically welcome various food programs.
2. Putting Food Systems into Design Language
Designers can use the tools of architecture and planning to advocate for urban food systems to decision makers. This is a service designers offer every day to clients of other sorts. We were surprised to find very few official planning or design documents addressing neighborhood food systems comprehensively. Design language is a common and persuasive vocabulary used to communicate ideas about systemic change – to agency officials, funders, community developers, and the public. We expect and believe design language should become a well-deployed tool in the development of urban food systems.
3. Connecting Food with Neighborhood Systems
Leveraging an understanding of local concerns and infrastructure, designers can connect urban agriculture to other neighborhood systems. How can urban agriculture be a part of energy generation, waste management, transportation, or job creation? Our proposal suggested, for example, how food production could improve the public realm. Crime and safety are major concerns in Newark and affect perceptions of the city. We think by activating neighborhood spaces and buildings with food initiatives, we can create a safer network of active public spaces. The more connections established between food systems and local infrastructures and institutions, the more resilient urban agriculture will become. The capacity of food systems to withstand changes – including displacement by higher value land uses – will grow.
A visit to Brick City Urban Farm in Newark gave inspiration to our proposal. The farm is located on a 15,000 square-foot vacant lot on loan from a non-profit affordable housing developer. Two residents of Integrity House, a nearby rehabilitation center, are paid to maintain the farm daily. Neighborhood residents drop by to pick fresh vegetables – collards are most popular – and the farm supplies several suburban restaurants. The farm is surrounded by a simple chain-link fence, and nothing has ever been stolen.
Brick City Urban Farm is unplanned from a design perspective, but even so, the farm has improved the neighborhood public realm, responded to community needs, and connected the neighborhood to the regional economy. As designers and planners, we can help give form to these kinds of activities, and assist their organizers by strategically aligning them with neighborhood and city-scale development.
Michael Haggerty and Raj Kottamasu
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Foodprint NYC is the first in a series of international conversations about food and the city. From a cluster analysis of bodega inventories to the cultural impact of the ice-box, and from food deserts to peak phosphorus, panelists will examine the hidden corsetry that gives shape to urban foodscapes, and collaboratively speculate on how to feed New York in the future. The free afternoon program will include designers, policy-makers, flavor scientists, culinary historians, food retailers, and others, for a wide-ranging discussion of New York’s food systems, past and present, as well as opportunities to transform our edible landscape through technology, architecture, legislation, and education.
Date: Saturday, February 27
Time: 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Location: Studio-X (180 Varick St., Suite 1610, New York, NY 10014)
Free and open to the public
Program Schedule:
Zoning Diet: Sean Basinski, Joel Berg, Nevin Cohen, Stanley Fleishman
Culinary Cartography: Jonathan Bogarín, Makalé Faber Cullen, David Haskell, Naa Oyo A. Kwate
Edible Archaeology: Rebecca Federman, William Grimes, Annie Hauck-Lawson, David Sax
Feast, Famine, and Other Scenarios: Amale Andraos, Marcelo Coelho, Natalie Jeremijenko, Beverly Tepper
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
The fun theory
rolighetsteorin.se
The deepest bin in the world http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbEKAwCoCKw
Piano stairs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw&feature=related
The deepest bin in the world http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbEKAwCoCKw
Piano stairs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw&feature=related
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
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