Built environment encouraging health through natural harmonious every day movement
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Architecture
Abstract
Health is a key component of quality of life. There is a strong demand to improve health of the European population
reflected in NHS 10 Healthy Towns initiative and the WHO Healthy Cities project. I believe that there is a gap in built
environment design principles: encouraging every-day harmonious movement through city. According to statistics
walking is the most popular exercise in UK. Current European built environment encourages walking but limits it to a very
restricted unnatural type of movement which I explain in my PhD Proposal. As a result of my research and testing I am
aiming to prepare a set of design principles for the healthy urban environment supported by the bio-kinetical research
and testing. They can be used by urban designers or as a base for Building Control/BREEAM policies. I believe those
principles can not only help healthy environment, but as well -the inspiration, a starting point for the game of shapes,
colours and surfaces. I know that Martin Center for Architectural and Urban Studies has the world presence in research
in architecture and urban design and in connection to other areas, including sustainability and well-being. I've contacted
Koen Steemers, the author of multiple talks and papers about Architecture for Well-being and discussed by proposal with
him.
reflected in NHS 10 Healthy Towns initiative and the WHO Healthy Cities project. I believe that there is a gap in built
environment design principles: encouraging every-day harmonious movement through city. According to statistics
walking is the most popular exercise in UK. Current European built environment encourages walking but limits it to a very
restricted unnatural type of movement which I explain in my PhD Proposal. As a result of my research and testing I am
aiming to prepare a set of design principles for the healthy urban environment supported by the bio-kinetical research
and testing. They can be used by urban designers or as a base for Building Control/BREEAM policies. I believe those
principles can not only help healthy environment, but as well -the inspiration, a starting point for the game of shapes,
colours and surfaces. I know that Martin Center for Architectural and Urban Studies has the world presence in research
in architecture and urban design and in connection to other areas, including sustainability and well-being. I've contacted
Koen Steemers, the author of multiple talks and papers about Architecture for Well-being and discussed by proposal with
him.
| Description | • The potentially positive effect that the urban environment can have on a population's bone health through opportunities for high impact exercise are revealed in Paper 1. Laboratory and field experiments demonstrated that loads 2-5 times a subject's bodyweight can be reached by jumping or stepping down from a 385 mm step. Based on extrapolations from theoretical and practical investigations discussed in this paper, risks of fracture and osteoporosis can potentially be delayed by 10 to 20 years through urban design interventions. • Paper 2 demonstrated how walking on steppingstones can have a positive effect on a population's cardiovascular health. Imitation steppingstones increased oxygen consumption by 24% and heart rate by 11.25% compared to a conventional treadmill at the same speed. 60% of participants reached the Moderate Exercise threshold. In addition to increased heart rate and oxygen consumption, experiments demonstrated co-activation of a larger group of muscles compared to conventional walking at the same speed. • The multiple benefits from the variety of body positions while stepping up, balancing on beams and walking up and down slopes are summarized in Paper 3. All seven types of challenges including stepping up and down, waking up and down a slope and balancing on a curb triggered involvement of the movement of arms, neck and torso, normally not actively involved in walking on a flat even surface or conventional stairs. The resulting benefits include muscle loading and stretching, practicing proprioception, neurological training and mindfulness. • According to online study up to 78% of walkers were prepared to cross a narrow bridge, 47% cobblestones, 42% timber wave (benefits of those routes were identified in paper 3), up to 64% steppingstones (benefits in paper 2) and 59% jumps down (benefits in paper 1 and 3). • Where colouring of the pavement suggested the challenging route was the continuation of the main road while the conventional looked as a side turn 10% more participants picked the challenging route compared to symmetrical pavement. • Making challenging routes shorter than conventional ones appears to be the most effective layout, encouraging between 36 and 55% of participants to choose it over a longer tarmacked path. • Handrails next to the steppingstones increased the number of participants willing to choose that particular route by 12%. In multiple choice questions, 26% of participants picked 'handrail for safety' as one of the aspects that would encourage them to use the challenging route. |
| Exploitation Route | The principal contribution of the Active Urbanism concept is to offer a demonstration of how to infuse intervention design and planning processes with new knowledge to improve people's health. Further development of this can be achieved through evidence-based design guidelines, CPDs in design practices and education in universities. These studies provide a framework to support and guide policy makers, urban designers, and communities in improving health and promoting wellbeing. As shown in Paper 4, there is a negative correlation between doing active sports, such as football and walking for leisure/exercise, which suggests wide intercross between the target group of population - people not meeting the recommended activity levels and 69.9% that walk over 30 min a day, making walking a potential opportunity to serendipitously increase their activity level. The thesis has collected and applied a body of existing knowledge in cardiology, osteology, sociopsychology and marketology and, through additional tests, linked these to the built environment. The physiological research teams that generated specialist knowledge used in this thesis were not suggesting to apply it to landscape design. For example, studies by Dr Alexandra Voloshina on metabolic rate and muscle co-activation were aimed at prosthetic engineering but the methods and findings appeared applicable to increasing physical activity in the built environment and became the base for Active Landscapes concept. The thesis fills the gap in the literature between theoretical biokinetic knowledge and practical implications. The studies illustrate range of opportunities still not fully taken by policy makers and designers. For example, it is known in academia that the most popular vigorous city exercises, cycling and running, do not respectively contribute to bone density or stretching, but not much is done to address this shortfall in urban design. Based on semi-structured interviews with architects, planners and builders/developers, the study shows that there are multiple barriers, and reveals the opportunities for implementing the concept. The study thus adds to practice theory research by emphasizing the importance of understanding the way of thinking of not just the landscape end-users, but also of professional experts. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Construction,Creative Economy,Education,Environment,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Transport |
| URL | https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/pedestrians-choose-healthy-obstacles-over-boring-pavements-study-finds |
| Description | The target of this thesis has been to provide a narrative to shift the entire population into exercising more effectively. However multiple side implications described below are also expected. Target implications. Introducing Active Urbanism to an architectural or urban design audience can provide a fresh perspective on critical architecture and design issues and serve as an inspirational starting point resulting in aesthetical and conceptual richness. Paper 5 demonstrates the importance of dialogue between architects, policy-makers and scientists to overcome discrepancies in design and use. This can lead to more attractive routes and can help overcome issues concerning risk anxiety. Physical activity outdoors usually does not have a cost and a complex logistics attached to it, and hence can bring people with different socio-economic status together. It can also provide relief to present-day challenges around the world, such as the need for more accessible open air activities during pandemics. The design of Active Urbanism infrastructure can have secondary functions of informal seating, helping seniors to take short breaks when walking. It can also act as a traffic calming measure. Integrating Active Urbanism could have significant synergies and potential in the broader discipline of sustainable urban design. Side implications. Adding more variety to walkways is likely to encourage people to take longer walks (Arnberger & Haider, 2007). Seeing other people performing unusual tasks, such as balancing or jumping down is likely to add interest and encourage interactions (Gehl, 2011) Design guidelines. Boiling the findings and literature down to a set of principles that could be applied in built environment design: • Create challenging routes where there is enough space to add it to accessible routes, not compromising accessibility. • Make it clear that the challenging route is meant for walking, by all members of society, not a sculpture and not only for children. This can be done with signs or more elegantly with the layouts and materials chosen. • Include variety of elements to maintain interest and to account for all body systems: steppingstones, balancing beams, slopes, large steps up and down, uneven surfaces. • Several parallel challenging routes increase the proportion of people picking at least one of them. When one of those routes is very challenging - others look more manageable in relation to it. • Create routes where people can opt out from some of the challenges but traverse the others. Different people might find different elements too challenging or otherwise undesirable depending on their balancing skills, joints and clothes they are wearing at the moment. • Use shortcuts, natural materials and crossing water to encourage hiking-like behavior. • Use handrails and steady materials to increase perceived safety. • De-railing can be one of ways to encourage stepping/jumping down and increasing bone density. • Maintain uneven cobbled stones where they were used historically at a section of a passage when adding accessible route - to maintain opportunity to exercise lower leg muscles and proprioception. • Use sheltering plants, so pedestrians do not feel observed when using their arms and torso balancing on beams and steppingstones. Wider dissemination of information together with a wider range of encouragements strategies is likely to increase the percentage of population reached. In parallel with this research the author organised workshops with students and practicing designers in UK, US and Cape Verde, as well as UK Councils and facilitated the research to be published in popular media in UK (Times, Daily Mail, BBC), Germany, France, Italy, Japan, US, Russia, Australia and India (appendix). The intention is to familiarise a wide range of stakeholders with the Active Urbanism idea to start the process of implementation. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Construction,Education |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | Exercise Science |
| Organisation | University of Coimbra |
| Country | Portugal |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Leading the research, gave a talk to Coimbra students |
| Collaborator Contribution | In Papers 1,2 and 3 the author designed the research on jumping down, walking on imitation steppingstones in a laboratory and various challenging routes in existing city environment, analysed the data and extracted the main findings. The team of sport sciences researchers that author found in Coimbra University: Prof. Beatriz Gomes, Prof. Amandio Santos, and Prof. Ana Faro supplied the author with the necessary equipment: force platform, metabolic masks, cardio belts and software and helped to set up the experiments. |
| Impact | 3 papers |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | University of Essex |
| Organisation | University of Essex |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | In Choice Architecture Paper , the author designed the online study based on self-created calibrated images and analyzed the resulting proportions and correlations. Koen, co-author on the paper, provided valuable feedback throughout the research and writing process and reviewed the paper draft and helped in formulating the Conclusion section. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Dr Paul Hanel, Lecturer in Essex University in Social Psychology and Statistics suggested using the Qualtrix and Prolific Academic for the study and provided guidance from socio-psychological and statistical side |
| Impact | https://www.faz.net/aktuell/wissen/leben-gene/wie-urbane-hindernisse-die-gesundheit-foerdern-koennen-18512846.html |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Boston News |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Discussion of our research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/pedestrians-prefer-active-landscapes-that-include-obstacles-over... |
| Description | Talk to Hackney Council |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In councils, participants had an extended discussion after the presentation and shared their opinions. In Hackney council, the discussion was held at one table between seven participants. In Lambeth council, only one Health and Well-Being consultant attended. The purpose of the survey was to examine local planning officers' general views on possible vehicles for implementation and opinions regarding the relevance of Active Urbanism for their borough. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Talk to architecture students in Capo Verde University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Students were very enthusiastic to hear about the research, as well as their professor. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Urban Transitions Conference, Sitges, Spain |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presented a poster |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| URL | https://www.elsevier.com/events/conferences/urban-transitions/programme/speakers |
| Description | Workshops with PRP Architects and TP Bennett Architects |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The employees of two architectural offices and a group of international students were invited to attend presentations of Active Urbanism research. Findings were simplified to a list of principles for effective landscape facilitating and encouraging physical activity. In architectural offices, after a 30 minute presentation (Fig 89), participants were given 30 minutes to design their own landscape based on what they heard and remembered, at the same time asking questions and exchanging opinions, and completing a feedback questionnaire at the end. The structure of each discussion was aligned with the attendance of each office. In TP Bennett, all 13 participants gathered around one table, and another 15 participants joined the discussion online. In PRP, 25 people were self-distributed between separate tables creating six focus groups. The number of subjects thus totalled 53. To link the design exercise to real practice, we asked the representatives from each office to supply us with suitable residential/multifunctional projects as an underlay. TP Bennett suggested the Cavalry Barracks conversion, a heritage-led, sustainable neighbourhood in Hounslow West with a history of outdoor training since 1793. It will be completed by 2035 and includes 1600 private and affordable homes. At the time the workshop took place, the first version had been submitted to planners for consideration. PRP architects suggested two projects: mixed use, predominantly residential developments in London Stratford, and one outside of London in a rural area. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |