What are Built Environments?
Built environments are the human-made places in which we live, work, learn and play(1).
To best support community health, built environments should aim to create or enhance healthy food environments and opportunities for physical activity.
Healthy Eating in Built Environments
Similar to the physical environment, food environments influence people’s choices about what, when, where, why and how much to eat and drink.
Built-environments can be designed to increase access to and availability of healthy food and drink options. For example, building grocery stores within walking distance of neighbourhoods makes it easier for people to access fresh food options.
Why are Healthy Food Environments Important?
A healthy food environment is important because it:
- Makes it easier and more enticing for people to identify, choose and enjoy healthy food and drink options
- Helps to support the development of healthy eating behaviours in children and youth
- Contributes to chronic disease prevention
Where can Healthy Food Environments Exist?
Healthy food environments can be created wherever food and drinks are available and served to the public. Special care should be taken where vulnerable groups, like children and youth, frequent. Some key places to focus on are(1):
- Publicly owned and accessible buildings (i.e. Recreation facilities, Community centres or halls, and/or Municipal buildings)
- Schools
- Childcare facilities
- Hospital and workplace cafeterias
- Farmer’s markets
Tips for Designing Healthy Food Environments
Consider the following steps to help you take action towards designing healthy food environments in your community.
Step 1: Check-in
This step is intended to help you start thinking about the scope of healthy food environments in your community and what goes into designing them. Check out the prompts below to help you get started:
How healthy is the food environment in your community?
- Where and how are community members accessing drinking water?
- Where and how do people currently access healthy food items?
- Is fresh produce available within walking distance of every neighbourhood?
- Do neighbourhoods have access to a grocery store or healthy food vendors within walking distance?
- How many unhealthy food retailers are located within walking distance (500m) of schools?
- Does your community have access to a farmer’s market?
- Does your community have access to a community garden?
- Does the local recreation facility serve food and drinks that meet the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth?
If you haven’t already, visit Healthy Eating Policies to understand how policy plays a role in designing healthy food environments.
Step 2: Prioritize Your Focus
Now that you’ve given some thought about what goes into designing healthy food environments, take this time to determine what your short-term vs. long-term goals are to help you prioritize your focus for your community.
Be realistic and consider the question: “What capacity do you realistically have to take this on?” Once you have identified areas that are important to you and feel comfortable with the direction you’d like to take, get ready to take action!
Step 3: Take Action!
The following items are suggested action steps you can take to implement healthy food environments in your community spaces.
- Build a community garden in your neighbourhood to create an opportunity for social connection, physical activity and access to fresh produce.
- Collaborate with your parks and recreation departments to incorporate healthy food and drink options at local recreation facilities.
- Take the free module: Healthy Eating in Recreation Settings from Communities ChooseWell’s eCourse to learn more!
Create advocacy groups or work with local/ provincial/ federal government to:
- Offer healthy food options and free water in public spaces and at public events (e.g. recreation facilities, community centres, municipal buildings, marathons). Check out our resources in Policy to help you get started!
- Design pathways and travel routes that connect residents to the nearest grocery store and/or farmers’ market so they have access to healthier food options.
- Use zoning policies to support construction of healthy food retailers in neighbourhoods with limited or no access to healthy food retailers.
Community Spotlight (Healthy Eating)
Free Water!
In the face of a summer heat wave, the City of Edmonton’s Affordable Housing and Homelessness team took action by retrofitting city fire hydrants to be fitted with free water bottle filling stations in areas of the city where it is difficult to access drinkable water.
Active Living in Built Environments
Healthy Places that support Active Living provide residents with:
- Recreation Amenities (i.e. recreation facilities, parks and green spaces, etc.)
- Opportunities and means to get to those amenities
Incorporating accessible modes of Active Transportation and routes to Recreation Amenities are just a few ways that can help with creating or improving active living in your community’s built environment.
Transportation & Health
Transportation is an important factor that influences community health. When communities invest in infrastructure that supports active transportation and/or public transit, communities increase the equity, ability, and safety of all citizens to reach destinations and access community amenities(1). Investing in Active Transportation is an especially important way to boost and support community health.
Active Transportation
Active transportation (AT) is any form of human powered travel, such as non-mechanized wheelchairs, biking, skateboarding, running, walking and snowshoeing. As one of the most practical ways to encourage community physical activity, active transportation can:
- Reduce the risk of developing chronic health problems
- Boost the local economy
- Reduce noise and air pollution due to less vehicle travel(1)
Tips for Supporting Active Transportation
Consider the following steps to help you take action towards creating/supporting active transportation initiatives in your community.
Step 1: Check-in
This step is intended to help you start thinking about the scope of active transportation in your community. Check out the prompts below to help you get started:
Is your community built to accommodate Active Transportation?
- Can any of the existing infrastructure be retrofitted to accommodate modes of Active Transportation? (i.e. are roads wide enough to accommodate a bike lane?)
- Who can currently use your community’s pathways? Are there any groups who are unable to use your community’s pathways (i.e. paths that are wheelchair unfriendly)
- Are pathways and travel routes accessible from different areas of the community? (i.e. residential, commercial, educational, recreational)
- How efficient are the current street networks for connecting trip origins and destinations?
- Is there safe infrastructure such as vehicle-separated pedestrian and bike routes and safe crossings?
Step 2: Prioritize Your Focus
Now that you’ve given some thought about Active Transportation, take this time to determine what your short-term vs. long-term goals are to help you prioritize your focus for your community.
Be realistic and consider the question: “What capacity do you realistically have to take this on?” Once you have identified areas that are important to you and feel comfortable with the direction you’d like to take, get ready to take action!
Step 3: Take Action!
The following items are suggested action steps you can take to implement active transportation in your community.
- Provide sufficient and secure bicycle storage on-site (i.e. bike racks, bike sheds, etc.)
- Create community maps that identify trails and walking paths; further identify and mark what forms of AT may be used on each path (i.e. which paths are multi-use vs single-use )
- Include ramps or pathways near stairwells and building entrances to accommodate adapted modes of transportation (i.e. wheelchair users)
- Participate in advocacy for:
- Infrastructure for AT
- Strategies, plans and policies that increase citizens opportunities to participate in AT
- Include Point-Of-Decision Prompts: motivational signs placed in or near stairwells or at the base of elevators/escalators to encourage individuals to increase stair use (i.e. use posters, stickers, art, music, carpet for enticement)
Create advocacy groups or work with local/ provincial/ federal government to:
- Provide sufficient and secure bicycle storage on-site (i.e. bike racks, bike sheds, etc.)
- Partner with Health and Transit providers to establish greater support and/or funding of AT initiatives
- Include ramps or pathways near stairwells and building entrances to accommodate adapted modes of transportation (i.e. wheelchair users)
- Develop infrastructure for active transportation, such as connected pathways and bicycle lanes
- Develop strategies, plans and policies that support and create equitable opportunities for citizens to participate in AT
Community Spotlights (Active Transportation)
Pedaling to Empowerment
ChooseWell Champion Laura Shutiak launched Youth En Route in 2021, aiming to make active transport the easy choice for Calgary’s youth. Now, the charity has brought active travel projects to eleven different local schools, including providing bikes for students of all abilities. Youth En Route relied on partnership to bring their vision to reality, and they emphasize the importance of working in networks of like-minded individuals, such as Communities ChooseWell. “Building a community of people working in the same field towards the same end is really important,” says Laura, Youth En Route’s founder and executive director.
Leduc’s West Haven Public School Builds an Active Transport Legacy — One Bike Rack at a Time
The K-9 school received a Communities ChooseWell Healthy Community Grant to purchase bike and scooter racks, as well as locks, headlamps and reflector kits to get students riding to school. Plus, West Haven’s health and wellness lead teacher, Trevor Henderson, worked collaboratively with the City of Leduc and Ever Active Schools to get new infrastructure installed, including two painted crosswalks, improved signage and updated crossing lights, making the entire community safer for active transport. “The changes we made are going to be here long after I’m done teaching.”
Recreation Amenities
Healthy Places provide the physical spaces for citizens to partake in recreation and physical activity.
It is important to consider what, where and how many recreation amenities are available to the community. The design and development of recreation amenities require a great deal of time, planning and policy from local governments and stakeholders.
To keep things simple, this section is meant only for helping you to get started with:
- Thinking about the recreation amenities that exist / or wish to see in your community
- How you might want to initiate action towards improving the built environment in your community
Types of Recreation Amenities
- Green Spaces
- Playgrounds / Outdoor Play Spaces
- Outdoor / Indoor Skateparks
- Recreation Facilities/ Community Centres
- Cultural Centres / Spaces
- Sports Fields / Racquet Courts
Tips for Supporting Active Living in Recreation Amenities
Consider the following steps to help you take action towards creating/supporting active living in your community recreation amenities.
Step 1: Check-in
This step is intended to help you start thinking about the scope of recreation amenities in your community. Check out the prompts below to help you get started:
- What types of recreation amenities exist in your community?
- Who uses them?
- How accessible are they?
- What forms of transportation can residents take to access the nearest recreation amenity?
- Are recreation amenities located within walking/biking/wheeling distance from their homes?
- Are recreation amenities located outside of town forcing residents to take public transit?
- Can any of the existing recreation amenities be retrofitted for updated use/design?
- What HEAL activities do community members enjoy engaging in
- Does this impact the type of recreation amenity that is needed?
Step 2: Prioritize Your Focus
Now that you’ve given some thought about Recreation Amenities, take this time to determine what your short-term vs. long-term goals are to help you prioritize your focus for your community.
Be realistic and consider the question: “What capacity do you realistically have to take this on?” Once you have identified areas that are important to you and feel comfortable with the direction you’d like to take, get ready to take action!
Step 3: Take Action!
The following items are suggested action steps you can take to implement active transportation in your community.
- Make a list of recreation amenities that can be used as a multi-purpose space for various activities (i.e. a community hall is used for a community event one day, and a yoga class the next)
- Check out our resources for creating joint-use agreements here!
- Need support making these partnerships and connections? Visit Partnerships
- Create a map or list that shows all forms of recreation amenities that exist within the community (include ones out of town too) – Consider doing an Asset Mapping exercise!
Create advocacy groups or work with local/ provincial/ federal government to:
- Design recreation amenities to be as inclusive as possible (i.e. ramps beside staircases, clear signage, point-of-decision prompts)
- Host a community engagement session to explore what recreation amenities the community would like to build or enhance
- Build and fund the construction of new or enhancements of existing amenities
Community Spotlights (Active Living)
Calgary’s Trellis Society Clubs Provide Space for Kids to just be Kids
With support from a Communities ChooseWell grant, the Trellis Society replaced worn-out physical activity equipment at their community clubs in three Calgary neighbourhoods. As kids recover from months of disconnection during the pandemic, the new basketballs, hoops and scooters not only get them active, but help them develop skills in teamwork, cooperation and leadership that they take into their homes and communities.
Small but Mighty: Building Strength in Longview
Long-time ChooseWell Champion Michele Geistlinger received grant funds to help keep seniors active through the pandemic. Now that residents have returned to in-person activities, she’s finding creative ways to help them not only rebuild physical strength, but reconnect to their community in meaningful ways.
Continue Exploring Places
Places: Community spaces designed to encourage equitable opportunities for healthy behaviours.
Places
Places
Places: Community spaces designed to encourage equitable opportunities for healthy behaviours.
Green spaces are the places that make up the greenery and natural world around us.
Green Spaces
Green Spaces
Green spaces are the places that make up the greenery and natural world around us.
Historic and contemporary policies like the Indian Act, Band Membership and Hunting and Treaty Rights, continue to have a large influence on Indigenous communities and their ability to create healthy places.
Indigenous Voices in Places
Indigenous Voices in Places
Historic and contemporary policies like the Indian Act, Band Membership and Hunting and Treaty Rights, continue to have a large influence on Indigenous communities and their ability to create healthy places.
Asset Mapping is a tool that communities can use to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the places that currently exist in their community.
Asset Mapping
Asset Mapping
Asset Mapping is a tool that communities can use to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the places that currently exist in their community.
- PlanH.[Internet]. Healthy Built Environment.BC Healthy Communities Society: The Society; n.d. [cited 2022 Apr 28]. Available from: https://planh.ca/take-action/healthy-environments/page/healthy-built-environment