Building Healthy and Livable Communities Workshop Attracts Crowd

More than 75 people attended the Winter Park Health Foundation ((WPHF)-sponsored seminar, “Your Role in Building Healthy and Livable Communities,” the latest in a series of workshops that are part of the Think~Act~Be Healthy Communities Initiative.

Designed to help residents and local community leaders, planners and developers better understand designs and features that help build healthy, sustainable and livable neighborhood and communities, the free program was co-hosted by the Urban Land Institute-Central Florida and the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council.

Featured speaker Dan Burden, Executive Director of Walkable Communities, Inc. took participants on a visual tour of communities around the country that included before and after shots of features that encouraged residents to get out of their homes and walk, rather than drive.

View Dan’s presentation.

Ian Lockwood, Senior Transportation Engineer with Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin Inc. reviewed a history of street planning trends and showed how street planning impacted traffic loads.

Ian’s presentation will be available here soon.

Phil Laurien, Executive Director of the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council presented the Regional Vision to Create Healthy Communities created in partnership with Myregion.org.

View Phil’s presentation.

Billy Hattaway, Managing Director for Transportation–Florida at Vanasse Hangen Brustlin in Orlando, used his background in transportation design for livable communities to help the group understand traffic analysis and its importance in determining how pedestrian-friendly a community can be.

View Billy’s presentation.

Urban Land Institute Central Florida Presents
Healthy Communities Workshop

The Urban Land Institute Central Florida (ULI) presented a Healthy Communities Workshop, The Body/Mind/Place Connection on January 28, 2009 at the Enzian Theater.

The workshop provided the latest research on the effects of the built environment on the physical and mental well-being of communities, as well as best practice solutions for addressing these effects.

It complemented the first Building Healthy and Livable Communities workshop held November 19, 2008 by focusing on policies, practices and designs that can be used to minimize chronic diseases such as obesity, coronary artery and respiratory diseases, diabetes, cancer, and mental disorders and improve the well-being of communities.

The presenters included:

Keynote Speaker- Dr. Richard J. Jackson is Professor and Chair of Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is recognized by his peers as the foremost expert on the effects of the built environment on public health. A pediatrician, public health leader, author and frequent speaker, he recently served as a professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Jackson co-authored the book Urban Sprawl and Public Health. Quote from book: “The modern America of obesity, inactivity, depression, and loss of community has not ‘happened’ to us. We legislated, subsidized, and planned it this way.”

Featured Speaker- Ed Reifsnyder is President of The Reifsnyder Group, Inc., a health care consulting firm assisting clients in the development of innovation and strategic initiatives. He is a graduate of the Rollins College - Crummer Graduate School of Business. Mr. Reifsnyder’s work includes Celebration Health and is currently working with Florida Hospital on “Health Village” in north Orlando.

About the ULI:

ULI is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit research and education organization supported by its members. ULI facilitates the open exchange of ideas, information and experience among local, national and international industry leaders and policy makers dedicated to creating better places. The mission of the ULI is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide.