By Dr. David Butler-Jones MD, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada

The most common New Year’s resolutions are those that relate to healthy living, however, with each passing month, many of us are discovering some challenges in achieving the goals we set just a few short months ago. Taking steps toward a healthier lifestyle involves making positive choices about personal health practices such as being physically active, eating well, not smoking, and building a circle of social contacts that supports your healthy lifestyle. While these choices are strongly influenced by where we live, work, learn and play, the role of healthy communities is often underestimated or misunderstood.

There is growing concern that “built environments” (the design of buildings, the location of stores, factories, offices and schools, and the location and design of roads, sidewalks, bike lanes and footpaths, etc.) are being constructed in ways that make health enhancing behaviours, such as physical activity and healthy food choices, increasingly difficult to pursue. The location, number or type of services such as grocery stores and restaurants, as well as the sidewalks, roads and bus routes that provide access to them, have a major impact on the decisions we make each day. In the past, communities tended to be very compact, with walking used as the primary mode of transportation. Over time, new transportation technology and a desire for more space have led to greater urban sprawl. Consider your own community – are you within walking or bicycling distance to the common conveniences that you visit on a day-to-day basis? Do you have easy access to sidewalks or paths that lead to these locations?

Factors such as these are increasingly important when considering Canada’s fastest growing demographic – our seniors. A number of communities in Canada are currently working to implement “age-friendly community” strategies such as making their public and private transportation more accessible, creating streets and buildings that are hazard-free, and providing opportunities for seniors to participate in civic, cultural, educational and voluntary activities. While these initiatives ensure that seniors are able to live in security, enjoy good health and continue to participate fully in their communities as they age, they also offer health benefits to individuals of all ages.

Urban planning that leads to the creation of built environments that support healthy behaviours such as regular physical activity and healthy eating can reduce the risk of chronic disease, premature death and disability. However, additional benefits can be seen as well, such as preserving the environment for future generations.

This year’s World Health Day, celebrated on April 7th in recognition of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO), focuses on urbanization and its impact on health. The campaign “1000 cities, 1000 lives” calls upon cities to close off portions of their streets to motorized traffic and open them up to health activities for one day during the week of April 7th through April 11th. Many cities around the world have already successfully established “Car Free Sundays”. This regular activity closes streets to cars, turning them into “paved parks” where people of all ages, abilities, and social, economic, or ethnic background can freely move about and improve their mental, physical, and emotional health. An added benefit of Car Free Sundays is that they allow people to discover how easy and convenient it is to reach places by walking and cycling when safe facilities are provided.

The challenges we face when trying to make healthier choices can be minimized. Often, it takes just one person – one visionary – to start the process of change in a community. Each of us has the ability to make a change in our community that has the potential to support a healthier lifestyle for ourselves, our families and our friends.

For more information about World Health Day or Car Free Sundays, please visit:
http://www.8-80cities.org/free_sun_1000.html
http://www.who.int/world-health-day/en/

Dr. David Butler-Jones is Canada's first Chief Public Health Officer and is head of the Public Health Agency of Canada.