Making New York a fitter city, starting May 18

By Anthony Schirripa, FAIA, IIDAIn these pages a few months ago, I mentioned the launch of the Active Design Guidelines, which we hosted at the Center for Architecture in January. That was a great event, with commissioners from five city agencies celebrating the milestone of the ADG's publication, and I'm happy to announce its substantial follow up event, coming to the Center for Architecture this May. Fit City 5: Promoting Physical Activity through Design is the latest in a series of annual conferences exploring the role of design in healthy urban living. These conferences focus on how design can prevent chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, some cancers and asthma. It's been an honor for AIANY to host this conference every year since 2006. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has extended our contract for another five years of Fit City and I look forward to five more years of progress towards a healthier city. May 18's program will begin with the Commissioners of Health, Design and Construction, Transportation, and City Planning discussing how each of their departments will implement the new guidelines. It's a challenge - the Active Design Guidelines are guidelines, after all, and not rules - but these departments have co-authored the ADGs, and are committed to seeing their success. I'm especially excited to hear from the Department of Health. Last year, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley, MD, MPH, welcomed the two-hundred plus attendees to Fit City 4 on his first day on the job—he hadn't even been to his new office yet! I'm excited to hear about the initiatives of his first year. After the city government presentations, we'll look for examples from abroad, and welcome our keynote speaker, Dr. William Bird, MBE, the strategic health advisor to Natural England. Dr. Bird has inspired millions of Britons to walk their beautiful countryside to improve physical health, and surely his experience can motivate us to find the natural beauty and opportunities for activity in our urban environment. We might not have the footpaths of England, but Central Park does have fifty-eight miles of paths and trails! A panel that I imagine will be particularly interesting for our friends in real estate is the final session of the half-day conference: New York case studies of current "active design." What "active design" concepts have been realized in recent projects? When-and how—does a good idea turn into real results? We will bring together practitioners and developers to talk about how they pragmatically approached active design—making it usable and affordable are always required—and ask them to compare results in their different typologies, which include educational facilities, medical facilities, office and residential buildings, affordable housing, and outdoor urban spaces. Somewhere in there we'll have a "fitness break" - a mid-morning stretch, as it were. We'll quite possibly bring the crowd across the street to LaGuardia Park to do some cardio around the proud statue of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. Let's hope that the spring weather cooperates as well as it has these first days of April! Speaking of summer, it's about time to get out and do something in, and for, the city—and for ourselves. Active Design requires activity, but also action from all of us. A healthy city requires more than just designers and doctors swapping ideas, it requires the commitment of clients, regulatory agencies, and the community to be active participants in our community's physical and mental wellbeing. In January we celebrated a fit future for New York; in May we'll take action to make it happen. And if you'd like to study up before May 18, visit www.nyc.gov/adg to download the guidelines. Anthony Schirripa, FAIA, IIDA, is the 2010 president of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, New York, N.Y.