NCBW publishes Community Design Guide for Pub. Health

NATIONAL CENTER FOR BICYCLING & WALKING PUBLISHES NEW COMMUNITY DESIGN GUIDE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTITIONERS

Washington, DC - The National Center for Bicycling & Walking (NCBW) has just published a new guide, Increasing Physical Activity Through Community Design. This 48-page guide focuses on how to make communities more bicycle-friendly and walkable. It was developed under a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

"We know that a wide range of health problems are associated with low levels of physical activity," said Bill Wilkinson, NCBW's executive director. "Indeed, it is estimated that physical inactivity and obesity are contributing factors in 300,000 to 500,000 deaths each year in the United States. According to professionals in public health, one of the most effective 'interventions' is regular, routine physical activity such as bicycling and walking."

Wilkinson added that the new guide is designed to provide public health practitioners and others an introduction to increasing physical activity through better community design, specifically by making it easier and safer to bicycle and walk.

"Fostering active living through community design involves changing the objectives for transportation and land-use planning," Wilkinson said. "We have to make better decisions on the location of schools and parks, and give more attention to safety and security concerns. We have to realize that all of these activities have very direct health impacts and consequences."

The new Increasing Physical Activity Through Community Design guide presents an introduction to community design issues, and describes seven kinds of projects that can help create more bicycle-friendly and walkable communities. It also discusses how such projects get funded, and presents an array of resources to help with implementation.

Wilkinson noted that printed copies of the new Guide were sent directly to each of the state public health departments in late June. It is available now as a portable document file (.pdf) on the NCBW's web site at http://www.bikewalk.org. Printed copies of the Guide will be available for general distribution in mid-July. Contact the NCBW through its web site (above) or at (202) 463-6622 to request a printed copy.

The National Center for Bicycling & Walking is a nonprofit organization working to make communities bicycle-friendly and walkable. With a major grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the NCBW is supporting active living through community design by providing technical assistance and training. The NCBW was founded in 1977 as the Bicycle Federation of America. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, New Jersey, is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans. The Foundation concentrates its grantmaking in four goal areas: to assure that all Americans have access to basic health care at reasonable cost; to improve care and support for people with chronic health conditions; to promote healthy communities and lifestyles; and to reduce the personal, social and economic harm caused by substance abuse - tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs.