How can public spaces positively affect the health of people in the city? After all, healthy city dwellers together make the Healthy City. To answer that question, we developed a generic toolbox of spatial design interventions for a Healthy City. The interventions stimulate a healthy lifestyle and thus help prevent physical problems.
Extensive research - in collaboration with the GGD, RIVM and TNO - into the direct relationships between the health of the human body, people's lifestyles and the design of the city forms the knowledge base for the design tools. The research has produced a large number of design interventions for a healthier city, divided into four main themes:
- Healthy movement through the city.
- Designing public space for: exercise, recreation, meeting and sports.
- Synergy between public and private space (work, school, care, facility).
- Healthy basic services (drinking water, care, information, nutrition).
Our toolbox has put the Healthy City on the map nationally as a spearhead in urban development. The principles were successfully applied for the municipality of Utrecht in the Stationsgebied on the Jaarbeurs side of CS. The city now tests all its spatial developments against the extent to which they contribute to a healthier city.
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