In January 2015, Haig Seferian and Brad Smith will be the closing keynote at the Landscape Ontario Landscape Designer’s Conference. Today, obesity is poised to overtake tobacco as the leading preventable cause of death in America. More than a third of all Americans are obese and an additional third, overweight. Active Design is an approach to the development of buildings, streets, and neighborhoods that uses architecture and urban planning to make daily physical activity and healthy foods more accessible and inviting. Through Transportation, Buildings, Recreation and Food Access, Active Design transforms the built environment.
Designs of the future must include physical activity on some level for all. The Centre for Active Design based in New York City drives this concept to design industry. We are seeing this in playgrounds for children and public spaces that are playgrounds for adults. In this session Haig Seferian and Brad Smith will explore three case studies where active design principles have been incorporated to make a difference in how people use outdoor space.