Blog Transferring to DesignforHealth.net

After some time at blogspot we are transferring this site to the main Design for Health web site. You can reach it directly at  http://designforhealth.net/blog/.

All previous blogs are now archived on that site. Please update your links.

Colorado Active Transportation Mile Markers

People trying to plan to increase active transportation face problems with data. It isn't clear how much active transportation is occurring so it is difficult to tell if it is increasing or decreasing. Recently I was involved with Kevin Krizek and Charlier Associates in creating a set of recommendations for measuring walking and cycling in Colorado. The report recommends eight indicators or "Active Transportation (AT) Mile Markers." The report and a link to a webinar on the project are available at https://about.livewellcolorado.org/resource-toolbox/built-environment/built-environment (scroll to the bottom). You can reach the report directly at https://about.livewellcolorado.org/sites/default/files/FINAL%20Report%20Measuring%20Active%20Transportion%20v6.pdf.

Illustration from the webinar

Aging, Health, and Environments

For those interested in health and aging, the U.S. Enivronmental Protection Agency is perhaps a surprising source of useful information. Their Again Initiative has a useful web site and list serve, bot accessible at http://www.epa.gov/aging/index.htm. Topics covered include environmental health, aging and smart growth, and environmental activism for older people. It is well worth a look.

The EPA's National Agenda for the Environment and Aging
received input from listing sessions during 2003.

Other resources on older people, health, and planning are available on the Design for Health web site at http://designforhealth.net/resources/seniors.html

Collections of Tools for Measuring Active Transport

With growing interest in active transport practitioners and researchers have created a large number of tools to measure active transport behavior and environments. The following web sites provide lists or databases of such tools. If you want to measure AT, such sites can be a good place to start. Thye have been sponsored by such groups as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Cancer Institite, and the Federal Highway Administration:

• Active Living Research Tools and Measures: A compilation of community audit, park audit, survey, tracking, and related tools for measuring physical activity environments and behaviors: http://www.activelivingresearch.org/resourcesearch/toolsandmeasures
• National Collaborative for Childhood Obesity Research:(NCCOR) Measures Registry: A database of measurement tools including many related to measuring physical activity behavior and the built environment; oriented toward research applications:  http://tools.nccor.org/measures/
• Standardized Questionnaires of Walking and Bicycling Database: A database with approximately 100 tools focused on physical activity: http://appliedresearch.cancer.gov/tools/paq/
• Toole Design Group: 29 case studies of measuring walking and cycling: http://www.pedbikeinfo.org/pdf/casestudies/PBIC_Data_Collection_Case_Studies.pdf

Pedestrians in suburban Paris. Photo: Ann Forsyth

DFH on Flickr

Design for Health’s photo collection on flickr has been expanding recently. Check out the photos through the tag cloud at http://www.flickr.com/photos/designforhealth/tags/. 

This is a picture of the image cloud--go to the URL above to find the actual clickable tags.