We Are Where We Live - The Role of Place in Public Health

Richard Killingsworth
Director, Active Living by Design

Thursday, March 3, 2005
5:00 P.M. - Lawrence J. Plym Auditorium
Temple Hoyne Buell Hall

Max Abramovitz Distinguished Lecture, Planning Institute, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Lorado Taft Lectures, Center for Advanced Study

This Lecture is being offered in conjunction with the 2005 Planning Institute.

Active Living by Design is a national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and was established to create and promote environments that make it safe and convenient for people to be more physically active. In most communities throughout the United States it is difficult to walk or bicycle to work, school and other important destinations. Opportunities for these routine physical activities have been engineered out of our daily lives. The goal of Active Living by Design is to encourage changes in design, transportation and policies to cultivate and support active living, a way of life that integrates physical activity into daily routines. We believe active living approaches such as walking or bicycling for transportation or pleasure, playing in the park, taking the stairs and using recreation facilities will help people achieve the Surgeon General's recommendation of 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity at least five days a week. Active Living by Design has chosen 25 community partnerships across America to develop and implement strategies to promote active living and increase routine physical activity.

About the Lecturer

Rich Killingsworth is Director of Active Living by Design, a national initiative supported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to promote physical activity through community design, transportation and architecture strategies. He also serves as an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and focuses his research on the impacts of the built environment on active living. Mr. Killingsworth also provides technical assistance to federal agencies and numerous national organizations on issues related to socio-environmental determinants of physical activity and health. Prior to his current position he served in the federal government for 15 years, and was a health scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the lead interventionist on CDC’s Active Community Environments Initiative, the first national effort to increase physical activity and improve health through community design and transportation alternatives.

Mr. Killingsworth has become widely recognized as a national expert on the relationship of the built environment and physical activity. He has been interviewed extensively on this subject by national media and serves on several national boards and committees. Mr. Killingsworth’s ultimate vision is to see walking and bicycling become widely accepted and practiced forms of transportation and physical activity.