Physical Activity
Concerns about rising levels of obesity and cardiovascular disease have led to a considerable amount of attention to how the built environment can be designed to create more opportunities for physical activity. Physical activity is pursued in four purpose-related activity categories: work-related, household-related, recreational or leisure-time, and transportation-related. Some have hoped that by creating environments that increase travel walking and cycling, total physical activity will increase. This would have direct health benefits and also help reduce people's weights. Research to date is mixed, however, particularly in terms of whether the environment rather than social and psychological factors affects total physical activity. What matters is creating opportunities for physical activity, however, rather than saying one environment is healthier than another.
Design for Health (DFH) Materials
- Planning Information Sheet: Supporting Physical Activity Opportunities through Comprehensive Planning and Ordinances (1.33 MB)
- Key Questions Research Summary: Physical Activity (461 KB)
- Plan Case Studies
- Image Resources
- Event Presentations
- Topical Planning Guides
- Comprehensive Plan Review Checklists
- Example Plans
Other Resources
- Fact Sheets and Posters
- Journals and Journal Articles
- PowerPoint Presentations
- Protocols, Kits and Guides
- Reports and Guidelines
- Web Sites
- Active Living Research Briefing: Fact Sheet Overview
In this fast-moving research area, these documents provide an overview of older research and public-health recommendations on active-living and activity-friendly environments.
- Active Living Research: Special Issues
Active Living Research, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has sponsored a number of special journal issues, all available online on its Web site. These include:
- The Role of the Built Environment in Supporting Active Living and Health: A Review of Research Findings (13 MB. It may take a few moments to open.) This presentation from Active Living by Design covers the findings from a variety of researchers. It is divided into three main sections: "What is the built environment?"; "Effects of the built environment on behavior, natural environment, health, and society"; and "Active community environments and their impact on health."
- Active Living: Promoting Health Through Community Design and Transportation
(29 MB. File may take a few moments to open.)
The presentation by Active Living by Design provides a general overview of the relationships between the built environment, transportation, and physical activity and outlines the Active Living movement in the United States. Specific attention is directed toward the Active Living by Design national program and the other physical activity efforts. - Design Pointer Number 3: Defining Mixed-use Development
This is a PowerPoint presentation with the following contents: a brief history of mixed use; mixed-use development today; benefits of mixed use; mixed-use scales and issues; and mixed use in the Twin Cities.
- Active Living Research: Tools and Measures
This Web site provides links to over fifteen urban design and park audit tools, produced by researchers from a variety of institutions, including the University of Minnesota, Harvard School of Public Health, and the University of Western Australia. - Environment and Physical Activity GIS Protocols Manual
Developed in conjunction with the Twin Cities Walking Study, this manual provides protocols for measuring environmental variables associated with walking. It is periodically updated. - Mapping Park Buffers: The Minnesota Method. (2005) (716 KB)
This Metropolitan Design Center technical paper, revised in 2005, illustrates a method of identifying access to open space along a street network, as opposed to the simpler technique of using straight-line buffers. This approach deals with physical and human barriers to park access in a more realistic way.
- Toolkit for Building Physical Activity into Daily Life
This toolkit was prepared for workshops held in 2004 and 2005 and in this fast-moving research field, some materials are outdated. - Design Guidelines for Active Michigan Communities
This document was designed to help Michigan communities integrate active-living principles into their plans, policies and programs. It was created as part of Michigan 's Promoting Active Communities program, though its ideas can be useful to people and communities outside the state as well. - How to: Physical Activity Plans (2005)
This document from Be Active WA (Western Australia) provides guidance to Australian communities on how to prepare for, write, and bring to life a physical-activity plan. Additional sections discuss the purpose of physical-activity plans, how they differ from recreation or health plans, and how they are linked to other plans. - Improving Conditions for Bicycling and Walking: A Best Practices Report (1998)
This "Best Practices" report from the Rails–to-Trails Conservancy and the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals provides information on some outstanding pedestrian and bicycle projects that have been recognized for increasing walking and bicycling, and improving user safety in communities across the United States. - Sample Pedestrian Plans
A collection of plans from WalkingInfo.org, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center. - Pedestrian Facilities Design Guide.
This Georgia Department of Transportation publication provides guidance regarding the design, construction, and maintenance of pedestrian and streetscape facilities. It provides technical recommendations on things like sidewalk width, trail composition, etc.
- Active Living by Design: Publications
Documents include publications, policy briefs, and research reports that are divided into the following categories: community development; design; land use; parks, trails, and greenways; places and settings; public health; and transportation. - Active Living Research: Citations
This Web page provides links to a wide variety of active living-related research papers. You can view the list for all articles from 2004-05, or view them by category. Categories include, but are not limited to: concepts and models; health behavior; measuring the environment; measuring physical activity; and nutrition. - Planning and Designing the Physically Active Community: Resource List
This 23-page resource document from American Planning Association (APA) contains citations for resources in the following categories: popular literature, planning literature, health literature, plans and puidelines, and law and legislation. - Walk to School Day
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, has useful tips on decreasing traffic injuries among children, including its report on National Strategies for Advancing Child Pedestrian Safety. - Benefit-Cost Analysis of Bicycle Facilities
This tool provides planners, policy officials, and decision makers with a consistent framework to guide decisions about whether to build a new bicycle facility by estimating costs, demand in terms of new cyclists, and measured economic benefits (e.g., time savings, increased livability, decreased health costs, a more enjoyable ride). The research underlying the guidelines and tool itself were developed at the University of Minnesota (Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and Department of Civil Engineering), in collaboration with Planners' Collaborative consulting firm and the University of North Carolina- National Highway Safety Research Center. - InformeDesign
InformeDesign is a research and communication tool for designers. Its search engine provides research summaries on many health themes. Each article summary has the following elements: design issue, design criteria, key concepts, research method, limitations, and commentary.
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