June 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 44

C I T Y T H AT H E A LT H B U I LT

results can be seen in the extensive
system devoted to single uses, such as
highways, single-use zoning and all
the elements of sprawl that we now
understand contribute to ill-health,
and mitigate against well-being. "
Then, starting in the early 1980s, researchers began to talk more about nature's positive impacts, the benefits of
exposure to natural daylight and regular social interaction. " [These] had
been lost as priorities in architecture
and planning, but architects began to
increasingly consider issues of health
with respect to the environment, as
well as the interiors and materials of
buildings, " Lombard continues. " Parallel to this movement, public health
professionals examined the role of
the built environment in health and in
particular, chronic disease, and planners began to reevaluate the role of
mixed-use and walkability. "
The convergence of all these shifting perspectives created the perfect environment for experimental cross-departmental collaborations, and, sure

BNIM

Changing Priorities
" Nearly every aspect of planning
and engineering impacts health and
well-being, " says Joanna Lombard,
professor at the University of Miami
School of Architecture. But, priority
has not always been put on this perspective. The idea of engineering a
city in terms of the health of its residents has been around since approximately the third century B.C., in literature that first outlined the proper
purpose and layout of population
centers. Interestingly, Lombard adds,
the field of planning as separate from
architecture began in response to
growing concern about public health
issues. " By the mid-twentieth century, both professions had massively diverged from considerations of
healthy places as human experience
became less significant than theories
of form, flow and rather linear interpretations of efficiency, " Lombard
says. " In architecture this was exemplified by the focus on buildings as
isolated objects, and in planning the

When the time came to rebuild Greensburg, Kansas' Main Streeet, planners looked for
ways to build features that encourage healthy behaviors - like walking and socializing
with neighbors - right into the landscape.
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enough, architecture and planning
researchers and practitioners now
commonly work across boundaries to
find innovative solutions for the built
environment.
This evolution was not (and still is
not) without its hiccups. In America,
the car is still king and convincing public and private funders of the essentiality of bike lanes can still be quite a
heavy lift. " Jane Jacobs in 1961 faced
down Robert Moses in his campaign to
bring the Lower Manhattan Expressway (LOMEX) through Washington
Square Park and the West Village [in
New York], advising her readers to
bring a healthy dose of skepticism to
'experts,' " Lombard says. " This is important, because Jacobs was decried in
schools of architecture and planning
and by the leading theorists of the era.
She wasn't a professional; she applied
common-sense observations of the realities of human life, and she found the
grand theories of the day to be severely
lacking, if not dangerous. And now we
know quite clearly that she was right.
The professionals destroyed the hearts
of American cities with highway and
'urban renewal projects,' and we are
still dealing with the legacy of the idea
that life can be neatly separated into
uses and purposes without the 'messy'
overlap of housing above shops, or
streets that accommodate cars, bikes,
elders, joggers, children and dogs, and
correspondingly, methods of evaluation measured in numbers of cars, or
miles per hour, and not in terms of
lives lived well. "
Lombard distills the shift from engineering the built environment with
an emphasis on its structural makeup
- what it is - to one prioritizing who
it's intended to serve. " I think we need
to put people first, understanding the
need to accommodate and nurture the
complexity of life, and the responsibility we share to provide an environment
that enables and enhances the multi-

June 2015 - Parks & Recreation

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