Design That Encourages Exercise
How can design encourage physical activity?
How can design encourage physical activity?
More research supports the connection between the physical environment and neighborhood social relations, and adds to our understanding about specific features that draw both old and young outdoors.
How can we create cities that make us healthy and happy? Researchers are answering that question with unique studies, from how trees affect pregnancy outcomes to the importance of designing cities for young people.
Hekler and his colleagues have studied the utilitarian and leisure walking of a set of people between 56 and 72 years old.
There is a new resource for designing urban environments for those with poor eyesight.
Researchers affiliated with the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council have investigated how older people experience streetscapes.
Measures to make it more pleasant to walk along streets can also calm traffic, making the pedestrian experience both more enjoyable and safer.
Both Talen and Craw et al. recently have completed research related to the design of optimal urban spaces. While Craw and her colleagues have investigated issues related to the graffiti afflicting many areas, Talen has looked more holistically at developing measures for well-designed urban spaces.
Familiar routes through urban space seem to have longer apparent distances.
Many studies have been done on pedestrian motivations, values, and constraints. A recent article concisely summarizes much of the research, and uses it to support a design framework for walkable cities and neighborhoods.