Built environment key to good health

Built environment key to good healthThe Heart Foundation has identified reform of the built environment as fundamental to promoting increased levels of physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour among Australians.The second edition of the Heart Foundation’s Blueprint for an active Australia recommends a number of government and community actions that can be taken to promote good health. Among them, it highlights the need to transform the built environment and implement planning reform to create spaces and places that promote walking and cycling.The Heart Foundation has found that more than a third (36 per cent) of Australians aged 15 and over do little or no exercise at all, which has led to a concomitant rise in the incidence of chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. Higher rates and levels of physical activity are associated with greater risk reduction.The blueprint identifies 13 action areas that can assist with the promotion of physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviours, and puts forward a case for improving community and neighbourhood design, creating healthy workplaces through better workspace design and instigating workplace physical activity programs. It argues that transport needs to be re-prioritised to reduce car dependency and increase opportunities to ride, walk or use public transport. Better integration of urban, transport and infrastructure planning can achieve liveable neighbourhoods serviced by public transport, walking and cycling, and other social infrastructure. Neighbourhoods should also be planned, developed and retrofitted to incorporate mixed land use. The blueprint supports the implementation of mass-media strategies to encourage people’s awareness and motivation to increase their rates of physical activity.According to the Heart Foundation, the changes needed to advance the public health cause can only be enacted through a multi-sectoral response led by governments and implemented at the community level. The blueprint calls for the appointment of a federal minister responsible for major cities and urban development who can embed principles of active living. It also calls for federal funding to be provided to local government to maintain and enhance community infrastructure that promotes physical activity.Download the Heart Foundation’s Blueprint for an active Australia here.