Fit City issue brief - Boston Society of Architects

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to the partners who made this event possible!
Our Sponsors:
The Fit City Boston Steering Committee:
Boston Parks and Recreation Department
Boston Public Health Commission
Boston Redevelopment Authority
Boston Transportation Department
Boston Society of Landscape Architects
Boston Society of Architects
Enterprise Community Partners
Harvard School of Public Health
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Fit City Issue Brief Co-Author:
Bradley Seeman
FIT CITY ISSUE BRIEF
FIT CITY BOSTON
These health problems cannot be solved by public health or health
care alone. We require solutions that are embedded in community
design, social policies and resource distribution that affect the choices
people have and make every day. Community design and development
determines opportunities for physical activity, access to healthy and
affordable food, healthy housing and clean air.
Boston is home to many of the world’s leading health institutions.
We have a revitalized harbor and world-class parks system. Under the
leadership of Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the city has made great strides
to promote health and health equity. Yet there is an urgent need to take
Across the United States, preventable chronic health conditions –
further action.
obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and asthma – have great and
growing human and economic costs. Communities of color and vulner-
On May 6, 2013, more than 150 community leaders including planners,
able populations are disproportionately affected. Even in Boston, one of
architects, developers, public officials, academics and residents met at
the healthiest cities in America, more than half of adult residents are obese
the first Fit City Boston Summit. The event was modeled after AIA New
or overweight; in some low-income neighborhoods of color, that burden is
York’s Fit City conferences, held annually since 2006, which have helped
closer to two-thirds. For asthma, the hospitalization rate for Black children
spur cross-sector collaboration and promote active design and public
under the age of 5 is four times that of White children.
health in that city.
FIT CITY BOSTON
These health problems cannot be solved by public health or health
care alone. We require solutions that are embedded in community
design, social policies and resource distribution that affect the choices
people have and make every day. Community design and development
determines opportunities for physical activity, access to healthy and
affordable food, healthy housing and clean air.
Boston is home to many of the world’s leading health institutions.
We have a revitalized harbor and world-class parks system. Under the
leadership of Mayor Thomas M. Menino, the city has made great strides
to promote health and health equity. Yet there is an urgent need to take
Across the United States, preventable chronic health conditions –
further action.
obesity, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and asthma – have great and
growing human and economic costs. Communities of color and vulner-
On May 6, 2013, more than 150 community leaders including planners,
able populations are disproportionately affected. Even in Boston, one of
architects, developers, public officials, academics and residents met at
the healthiest cities in America, more than half of adult residents are obese
the first Fit City Boston Summit. The event was modeled after AIA New
or overweight; in some low-income neighborhoods of color, that burden is
York’s Fit City conferences, held annually since 2006, which have helped
closer to two-thirds. For asthma, the hospitalization rate for Black children
spur cross-sector collaboration and promote active design and public
under the age of 5 is four times that of White children.
health in that city.
Fit City Boston aims to build on the best examples of work already
WORKPLACES
Is sitting the new smoking? Many
Americans sit more than nine hours a
underway to improve the Boston’s built environment and the health of its
day in their workplace and schools-
residents. Boston summit participants looked at how the built environ-
more than they sleep. The answer isn't
ment affects our health and showcased promising ideas and strategies to
necessarily for everyone to go to the
gym, but to think more about how we
transform Boston into the healthiest city in America. Mike Davis, President
move throughout the day. How will we
of the Boston Society of Architects, reminded participants that many
reinvent the places we work and learn
“twenty-first century diseases are partially a result of the urban lifestyle
that we live – and to a certain extent can be mitigated through design.”
to contribute to health and wellbeing?
Robin Guenther, Principal at the
architecture firm Perkins+Will,
As Dr. John D. Spengler, Director of the Center for Health and the Global
challenged participants to consider new
elements in the workplace: treadmills
Environment at Harvard School of Public Health urged participants in his
in breakout spaces, standing desks,
keynote address; the goal should be “setting an agenda for the future
“walk-and-talk” conference calls
which includes flourishing places and flourishing people.”
(walking on the treadmill while talking).
Such changes are low-cost and can be
done by employers of any size.
In that spirit, this Fit City Issue Brief shares some of those promising
ideas and strategies. They are the seeds which we hope will germinate into
Other solutions are larger in scale. The
New York Police Academy is an 800,000
a broad vision and strong action – by taking best practices to scale and
square foot facility that incorporates an
institutionalizing proven and powerful ideas that to make Boston a truly
eight-story open staircase, so that
healthy city for all its residents.
police trainees are running up and
down multiple flights of stairs to move
between classes.
Fit City Boston aimes to build on the best examples of work already
WORKPLACES
Is sitting the new smoking? Many
Americans sit more than nine hours a
underway to improve the Boston’s built environment and the health of its
day in their workplace and schools-
residents. Boston summit participants looked at how the built environ-
more than they sleep. The answer isn't
ment affects our health and showcased promising ideas and strategies to
necessarily for everyone to go to the
gym, but to think more about how we
transform Boston into the healthiest city in America. Mike Davis, President
move throughout the day. How will we
of the Boston Society of Architects, reminded participants that many
reinvent the places we work and learn
“twenty-first century diseases are partially a result of the urban lifestyle
that we live – and to a certain extent can be mitigated through design.”
to contribute to health and wellbeing?
Robin Guenther, Principal at the
architecture firm Perkins+Will,
As Dr. John D. Spengler, Director of the Center for Health and the Global
challenged participants to consider new
elements in the workplace: treadmills
Environment at Harvard School of Public Health urged participants in his
in breakout spaces, standing desks,
keynote address; the goal should be “setting an agenda for the future
“walk-and-talk” conference calls
which includes flourishing places and flourishing people.”
(walking on the treadmill while talking).
Such changes are low-cost and can be
done by employers of any size.
In that spirit, this Fit City Issue Brief shares some of those promising
ideas and strategies. They are the seeds which we hope will germinate into
Other solutions are larger in scale. The
New York Police Academy is an 800,000
a broad vision and strong action – by taking best practices to scale and
square foot facility that incorporates an
institutionalizing proven and powerful ideas that to make Boston a truly
eight-story open staircase, so that
healthy city for all its residents.
police trainees are running up and
down multiple flights of stairs to move
between classes.
It's completely connected with
pedestrian pathways and exterior
SCHOOLS
stairs, so they run the stairs in the
Children spend a great deal of their
snow and ice, and keep active!
time in school, but Boston’s public
schools face challenges in promoting
Wouldn’t it be great to bring such
their health and fitness. Many schools
elements to other settings? A key
don’t have gyms; even in schools that
element of improved workplace
do, students may only have structured
health will be a shift in corporate
physical education (PE) once or twice
mindset toward health outcomes.
a week. Laura Wernick, past President
of the Boston Society of Architects,
Several examples of companies
and a principal at HMFH Architects,
that are tackling workplace health
where she designs schools, discussed
issues were discussed at the
with summit participants the impor-
summit, including Novartis, which
tance of getting kids moving during
is expanding its operation in
the school day. Sometimes this
Cambridge, and whose Be Healthy
happens during PE or recess, but there
program provides health screen-
are other ways for movement to be
ings in the workplace, healthy
integrated into the school day and
cuisine in the cafeteria and more
through building design: for example,
opportunities for movement
by providing a variety of spaces within
during the work day.
schools for socializing, independent
Another theme was linking corporate efforts for healthier workplaces to the larger
work, performance, group projects
community – “connecting the office to the street,” as one summit participant put it,
and other functions, and by getting
by using parking lots, parks and other public spaces to promote the health of both
kids moving between these spaces.
employees and residents, such as open Tai Chi classes or other physical activities.
It's completely connected with
pedestrian pathways and exterior
SCHOOLS
stairs, so they run the stairs in the
Children spend a great deal of their
snow and ice, and keep active!
time in school, but Boston’s public
schools face challenges in promoting
Wouldn’t it be great to bring such
their health and fitness. Many schools
elements to other settings? A key
don’t have gyms; even in schools that
element of improved workplace
do, students may only have structured
health will be a shift in corporate
physical education (PE) once or twice
mindset toward health outcomes.
a week. Laura Wernick, past President
of the Boston Society of Architects,
Several examples of companies
and a principal at HMFH Architects,
that are tackling workplace health
where she designs schools, discussed
issues were discussed at the
with summit participants the impor-
summit, including Novartis, which
tance of getting kids moving during
is expanding its operation in
the school day. Sometimes this
Cambridge, and whose Be Healthy
happens during PE or recess, but there
program provides health screen-
are other ways for movement to be
ings in the workplace, healthy
integrated into the school day and
cuisine in the cafeteria and more
through building design: for example,
opportunities for movement
by providing a variety of spaces within
during the work day.
schools for socializing, independent
Another theme was linking corporate efforts for healthier workplaces to the larger
work, performance, group projects
community – “connecting the office to the street,” as one summit participant put it,
and other functions, and by getting
by using parking lots, parks and other public spaces to promote the health of both
kids moving between these spaces.
employees and residents, such as open Tai Chi classes or other physical activities.
Summit participants talked about opportunities for Boston Public Schools to help
How would that change the quality of our lives? How would that change how
students be healthier. One is the capital planning process, which governs hundreds of
healthy we are? And how would it make it easier for us to stay healthy?”
millions of dollars in school expenditures. The planning is just getting started, so how can
The Dance Court is just one example of how we can diversify the opportunities for
we help assure that the values of health, fitness and sustainability are part of it? In the
movement and recreation in our urban environment. Jhana Senxian, Founder and
same way that students would benefit from moving more during the school day, they
Chief Executive Officer, Sustainability Guild International, described the goal of her
could also benefit from the opportunity to walk or bike to school. As schools are being
organization as “bringing residents out of their homes into public space in the inner
renovated or new ones planned, it is important to look at the half-mile radius around the
city.” She discussed their work on Blue Hill Avenue, and the importance of taking
schools to develop safe walking and biking routes for students.
urban corridors that may have a negative image and helping them to be revalued, to
become visible again as places that people care about and enjoy. On Blue Hill
There might also be an opportunity to involve students themselves in conducting these
Avenue, Sustainability Guild is working with community volunteers to clear out trash,
safe routes assessments, helping them learn how to be advocates for their own health
paint murals, make gardens, add new low-cost design elements and fill once empty
and the health of their communities.
spaces with activity. Explained Senxian, “Then people start to say, ‘This is a beautiful
space in my neighborhood I didn't even know was there.’”
OPEN SPACES
There are more ways to think about open spaces in the city than simply parks with
fountains, statues, trees and benches. “Basketball courts and tennis courts are fairly
normal in our everyday lives,” Kenneth Bailey of the Design Studio for Social Intervention told Fit City participants, “but what would it be like if you could find dance courts
all over the city, the same way you could find tennis courts and basketball courts?
Summit participants talked about opportunities for Boston Public Schools to help
How would that change the quality of our lives? How would that change how
students be healthier. One is the capital planning process, which governs hundreds of
healthy we are? And how would it make it easier for us to stay healthy?”
millions of dollars in school expenditures. The planning is just getting started, so how can
The Dance Court is just one example of how we can diversify the opportunities for
we help assure that the values of health, fitness and sustainability are part of it? In the
movement and recreation in our urban environment. Jhana Senxian, Founder and
same way that students would benefit from moving more during the school day, they
Chief Executive Officer, Sustainability Guild International, described the goal of her
could also benefit from the opportunity to walk or bike to school. As schools are being
organization as “bringing residents out of their homes into public space in the inner
renovated or new ones planned, it is important to look at the half-mile radius around the
city.” She discussed their work on Blue Hill Avenue, and the importance of taking
schools to develop safe walking and biking routes for students.
urban corridors that may have a negative image and helping them to be revalued, to
become visible again as places that people care about and enjoy. On Blue Hill
There might also be an opportunity to involve students themselves in conducting these
Avenue, Sustainability Guild is working with community volunteers to clear out trash,
safe routes assessments, helping them learn how to be advocates for their own health
paint murals, make gardens, add new low-cost design elements and fill once empty
and the health of their communities.
spaces with activity. Explained Senxian, “Then people start to say, ‘This is a beautiful
space in my neighborhood I didn't even know was there.’”
OPEN SPACES
There are more ways to think about open spaces in the city than simply parks with
fountains, statues, trees and benches. “Basketball courts and tennis courts are fairly
normal in our everyday lives,” Kenneth Bailey of the Design Studio for Social Intervention told Fit City participants, “but what would it be like if you could find dance courts
all over the city, the same way you could find tennis courts and basketball courts?
TRANSPORTATION
“Boston is a walking city, and this is not an
accident,” Vineet Gupta, Director of Policy
and Planning at the Boston Transportation
Department, reminded summit participants.
Architects and planners have helped create
great spaces for walking and outdoor
Cycling has received a tremendous boost from the city’s successful Hubway, a bike
share system, that is part of a larger effort to make the city and region more bikefriendly. It recently topped one million trips and has expanded into Brookline, Cammbridge and Somerville. And in its second year, the Circle the City initiative, which has so
far come to Huntington Avenue and Blue Hill Avenue and will visit other Boston neighborhoods, closes streets to cars for a day and opens them to people for biking, walking,
pushing a stroller, walking a dog and a host of other active uses. It gives communities a
vision of how active and healthy our streets could be.
activity, from Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace
to the new Rose Kennedy Greenway and
the growing Harbor Walk.
One of the most powerful planning ideas
for healthy streets and public spaces is
Complete Streets. “The car is no longer
Parking is also a critical element in healthy transportation. Parking a car is one of those
things we only think about when we can’t find a space. How our parking regulations
are set up greatly affect our physical and emotional health. Parking policies not only
affect how we get to a location – perhaps not driving at all! – but also how far we will
walk to our destination from a parking space.
king in Boston,” said Mayor Thomas M.
Menino in 2009, announcing Boston’s
Complete Streets approach, which puts
pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users
on equal footing with motor-vehicle
drivers. The initiative aims to improve the
quality of life in Boston by creating
streets that are both great public spaces
and sustainable transportation networks.
Mark Chase from Tufts University shared with summit participants how parking policies
affect physical activity and how parking solutions can be catalysts for active living and
good urban design. One simple, but potentially powerful, idea is the link between how
expensive a parking space is and how far it is from their destination. A much cheaper
space farther away – say, $6 parking instead of $30 parking – will encourage people to
save money and to walk from that lower-cost space to work, school or wherever they are
going. In this way, pricing can motivate healthier behavior. And if you encourage the use
of more distant parking, you don't need to build more parking spaces in the urban core.
Signs and smart phone apps (such as BestParking.com) could help direct drivers to these
cheaper and “healthier” parking spaces.
TRANSPORTATION
“Boston is a walking city, and this is not an
accident,” Vineet Gupta, Director of Policy
and Planning at the Boston Transportation
Department, reminded summit participants.
Architects and planners have helped create
great spaces for walking and outdoor
Cycling has received a tremendous boost from the city’s successful Hubway, a bike
share system, that is part of a larger effort to make the city and region more bikefriendly. It recently topped one million trips and has expanded into Brookline, Cammbridge and Somerville. And in its second year, the Circle the City initiative, which has so
far come to Huntington Avenue and Blue Hill Avenue and will visit other Boston neighborhoods, closes streets to cars for a day and opens them to people for biking, walking,
pushing a stroller, walking a dog and a host of other active uses. It gives communities a
vision of how active and healthy our streets could be.
activity, from Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace
to the new Rose Kennedy Greenway and
the growing Harbor Walk.
One of the most powerful planning ideas
for healthy streets and public spaces is
Complete Streets. “The car is no longer
Parking is also a critical element in healthy transportation. Parking a car is one of those
things we only think about when we can’t find a space. How our parking regulations
are set up greatly affect our physical and emotional health. Parking policies not only
affect how we get to a location – perhaps not driving at all! – but also how far we will
walk to our destination from a parking space.
king in Boston,” said Mayor Thomas M.
Menino in 2009, announcing Boston’s
Complete Streets approach, which puts
pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users
on equal footing with motor-vehicle
drivers. The initiative aims to improve the
quality of life in Boston by creating
streets that are both great public spaces
and sustainable transportation networks.
Mark Chase from Tufts University shared with summit participants how parking policies
affect physical activity and how parking solutions can be catalysts for active living and
good urban design. One simple, but potentially powerful, idea is the link between how
expensive a parking space is and how far it is from their destination. A much cheaper
space farther away – say, $6 parking instead of $30 parking – will encourage people to
save money and to walk from that lower-cost space to work, school or wherever they are
going. In this way, pricing can motivate healthier behavior. And if you encourage the use
of more distant parking, you don't need to build more parking spaces in the urban core.
Signs and smart phone apps (such as BestParking.com) could help direct drivers to these
cheaper and “healthier” parking spaces.
MEASURES
OPEN SPACES
HEALTH EQUIT Y
When you look at Boston’s chronic disease rates by neighborhood, it becomes clear how
“Not everything that counts can be
profoundly the built environment has shaped the inequities that we see in health
counted,” Albert Einstein once said, “and
outcomes throughout the city. Obesity rates for Boston overall are lower than the
not everything that can be counted
national average. However, in some neighborhoods, they are two to three times higher
counts.” Measurement is what lets us know
than the city as a whole.
how we’re doing – whether we need to do
better, and if we’ve done better.
As Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission, told
summit participants, the changes in built environment needed to address these health
Measuring movement is not such an
inequities “cannot just happen in the public sector, nor just happen with public sector
obvious thing. How much exercise do you
resources.” She stated that while major changes in government policy are important,
get from walking a mile? Or taking the
efforts also have to include “the littler policies that guide the way people make invest-
stairs? Or dancing? Understanding the
ments, the way people build in the city of Boston, the way people create an apartment
effects of physical activity requires a
complex or a new business enterprise.”
consideration of how long, how far and
how fast.
Anne Lusk of the Harvard School of Public Health helped Fit City Summit participants
understand the concept of Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET), a promising new way
of measuring physical activity that can help us assess the usefulness of an activity and
determine our activity levels. A MET is essentially the amount of energy a person
consumes while being active. Sitting might be 1 MET, slow walking 2.3 METs, going
down the stairs 3 METs, going up the stairs 8 METs, and so on. It helps us quantify the
big difference between slow walking and brisk walking, and the value of vigorous
activity, even if we don’t do it for very long.
MEASURES
OPEN SPACES
HEALTH EQUIT Y
When you look at Boston’s chronic disease rates by neighborhood, it becomes clear how
“Not everything that counts can be
profoundly the built environment has shaped the inequities that we see in health
counted,” Albert Einstein once said, “and
outcomes throughout the city. Obesity rates for Boston overall are lower than the
not everything that can be counted
national average. However, in some neighborhoods, they are two to three times higher
counts.” Measurement is what lets us know
than the city as a whole.
how we’re doing – whether we need to do
better, and if we’ve done better.
As Dr. Barbara Ferrer, Executive Director of the Boston Public Health Commission, told
summit participants, the changes in built environment needed to address these health
Measuring movement is not such an
inequities “cannot just happen in the public sector, nor just happen with public sector
obvious thing. How much exercise do you
resources.” She stated that while major changes in government policy are important,
get from walking a mile? Or taking the
efforts also have to include “the littler policies that guide the way people make invest-
stairs? Or dancing? Understanding the
ments, the way people build in the city of Boston, the way people create an apartment
effects of physical activity requires a
complex or a new business enterprise.”
consideration of how long, how far and
how fast.
Anne Lusk of the Harvard School of Public Health helped Fit City Summit participants
understand the concept of Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET), a promising new way
of measuring physical activity that can help us assess the usefulness of an activity and
determine our activity levels. A MET is essentially the amount of energy a person
consumes while being active. Sitting might be 1 MET, slow walking 2.3 METs, going
down the stairs 3 METs, going up the stairs 8 METs, and so on. It helps us quantify the
big difference between slow walking and brisk walking, and the value of vigorous
activity, even if we don’t do it for very long.
Among the ideas discussed at the
SPEAKERS
summit to address the link between the
built environment and health equity
Kenneth Bailey, Sector Organizing and Strategy Lead,
Design Studio for Social Intervention
were stronger partnerships between
government and advocacy groups on
Allison Bauer, Program Director, Health and Wellness, The Boston Foundation
development issues; a health innova-
Mark Chase, Parking and Transportation Demand Management Consultant,
Nelson Nygaard Consulting Associates and Lecturer, Tufts University
tion fund to support community-driven
projects reflecting neighborhood
concerns and needs; and more work to
John Dalzell, Senior Architect, Boston Redevelopment Authority
develop and share ideas about health
Mike Davis, President, Boston Society of Architects
impact assessments, which can help
Barbara Ferrer, Executive Director, Boston Public Health Commission
communities make informed choices
about improving public health through
Valerie Fletcher, Executive Director, Institute for Human Centered Design
community design.
Robin Guenther, FAIA, Principal, Perkins+Will
Vineet Gupta, Director of Policy and Planning, Boston Transportation Department
Valerie Fletcher, Director of the Institute
Ann Lusk, PhD, Research Scientist, Harvard School of Public Health
for Human Centered Design, emphasized the importance of universal
Jessica Parsons, Circle The City Project Manager, Emerald Necklace Conservancy
design elements that can make the city
Monte Roulier, President, Community Initiatives
more accessible for all kinds of people –
people with disabilities, older people,
As our cities invite and have more immi-
and families with children. Kairos Shen,
grants from different cultures, we have to
Director of Planning at the Boston
understand the physical environment, our
Redevelopment Authority, also empha-
streets, our open spaces have to be
sized the importance of equity and
accessible not just physically, but cultur-
accessibility in the broadest possible
ally and generationally.”
sense. “
Jhana Senxian, Founder and Chief Executive Officer,
Sustainability Guild International
Kairos Shen, Chief Planner, Boston Redevelopment Authority
Dr. John D. Spengler, Professor, Department of Environmental Health Director,
Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard School of Public Health
Laura Wernick, AIA, Senior Principal, HMFH Architects
Kenneth Bailey, Sector Organizing and Strategy Lead,
Design Studio for Social Intervention
Allison Bauer, Program Director, Health and Wellness, The Boston Foundation
Mark Chase, Parking and Transportation Demand Management Consultant,
Nelson Nygaard Consulting Associates and Lecturer, Tufts University
John Dalzell, AIA, Senior Architect, Boston Redevelopment Authority
Mike Davis, FAIA, President, Boston Society of Architects
Barbara Ferrer, Executive Director, Boston Public Health Commission
Valerie Fletcher, Executive Director, Institute for Human Centered Design
Robin Guenther, FAIA, Principal, Perkins+Will
Vineet Gupta, Director of Policy and Planning, Boston Transportation Department
Ann Lusk, PhD, Research Scientist, Harvard School of Public Health
Jessica Parsons, Circle The City Project Manager, Emerald Necklace Conservancy
Monte Roulier, President, Community Initiatives
Jhana Senxian, Founder and Chief Executive Officer,
Sustainability Guild International
Kairos Shen, Chief Planner, Boston Redevelopment Authority
Dr. John D. Spengler, Professor, Department of Environmental Health Director,
Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard School of Public Health
Laura Wernick, AIA, Senior Principal, HMFH Architects
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to the partners who made this event possible!
Our Sponsors:
The Fit City Boston Steering Committee:
Boston Parks and Recreation Department
Boston Public Health Commission
Boston Redevelopment Authority
Boston Transportation Department
Boston Society of Landscape Architects
Boston Society of Architects
Enterprise Community Partners
Harvard School of Public Health
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
Fit City Issue Brief Co-Author:
Bradley Seeman
FIT CITY ISSUE BRIEF