Active Design

Following the original publication of the Active Design Guidelines, HPD produced in collaboration with the Center for Active Design and numerous City agencies, Active Design: Affordable Designs for Affordable Housing.

Housing developments present an important opportunity for creating healthy places where people live, including children and their families. Affordable housing presents a particularly important opportunity to address health and social issues, including health disparities.

HPD encourages consideration of the Active Design Guidelines, which provides architects and urban designers with a manual of strategies for creating healthier buildings, streets, and urban spaces, based on the latest academic research and best practices in the field. The Guidelines includes:

• Urban design strategies for creating neighborhoods, streets, and outdoor spaces that encourage walking, bicycling, and active transportation and recreation
• Building design strategies for promoting active living where we work and live and play, through the placement and design of stairs, elevators, and indoor and outdoor spaces
• Discussion of synergies between active design with sustainable and universal design

Executive Order 359, signed in 2013, requires relevant agencies to review all projects undergoing major renovation and construction to assess opportunities for implementation of Active Design Strategies.