Designing for health and wellbeing (part II)

In January’s blog, I examined the relationship between the built environment and obesity, focussing on how design could play a role in improving uptake of exercise. Today, I am looking at the other key factor in the obesity epidemic: unhealthy eating.

Thousands of books and indeed entire careers have been built upon directing the personal motivation required to consistently make healthy diet choices. Food is abundant and cheap. It is easy to make poor decisions. So how can the built environment assist with in turning this (ever expanding) ship around?

Provide space to grow food

Identifying land for allotments, community gardens and designing residential gardens that are large enough to grow food is a key way that the built environment can help combat obesity. Forward-thinking cities like Freiburg in Germany have prioritised easy access to areas for growing for residents since the 1970s. Dubbed the ‘greenest city in Europe’, Freiburg contains countless examples of ‘urban agriculture’ including the lebensgarten (life garden) which goes beyond simply organic farming and instead seeks to create its own ecosystem comprised of animals, fruit and vegetables, and the Garten Co-op, a co-operative growing venture based on community interaction principles with over 300 members as well as community based growing initiatives at new development like the eco-community at Vauban.

Beyond these specific examples, the city’s commitment to growing for food extends to guerrilla gardening initiatives where any unused space in the urban environment such as next to the road is commandeered for growing, with anyone welcome to eat its produce. Coupled with an incredibly sustainable transport network, the inhabitants of Freiburg are noticeably healthy when compared to other German cities, with Germany ranking at the fifth fattest country in Europe.

Remind us where our food comes from

A disconnection from the origin of the food that we eat has been cited as playing a role in our lack of control over quality and quantity of food, so re-engaging with the reality of growing could be a powerful educational tool as well as being a practical source of good quality food.

Returning to Freiburg, the Kuzenhof is an urban farm which doubles as an educational institution extolling the virtues of traditional farming methods and explaining the potential impact of agriculture on surrounding ecosystems. Access to urban farms and other educational institutions like this could be a life-changing experience for young people, however the act of simply growing is an education in itself: an understanding of the time and attention required to grow fruit and vegetables and tend animals is a reality that many do not possess and one which would provide context for the food that they consume.

Remove temptation

A controversial suggestion perhaps: but it is argued with strong supporting evidence that marketing plays a significant role in poor dietary choices. So why not prevent all advertising of sugary and fatty food and drinks from being displayed in the public realm, with particular focus on the targeting of school children? Healthy choices could be all the easier without their constant devilish reminder. If we started to view sugar in the way we view alcohol and nicotine, as indeed it should be given its known health threat, perhaps there is an argument that the sale of high sugar products should also be restricted?

Ultimately it is the decision and the right of the individual as to what and how much they choose to eat. What is clear is that there is a strong link between the built environment and obesity, with obesogenic environments leading to inactivity and unhealthy eating. As designers of the built environment, we have a duty to combat these trends in our work and give people the best chance of making healthy choices.