ABSTRACT
At the second annual Public X Design conference hosted by the Gehl Institute, an offshoot research extension of Jan Gehl’s eponymous urban design practice, keynote speaker and former deputy secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Ron Sims gave an impassioned plea to the built environment professionals gathered in the room. In designing interventions to address this epidemic of chronic disease, public health officials at the state and local levels have begun to implement interventions within the built environment intended to improve health outcomes at the scale of the community. The process of engaging communities itself is an iterative framework, where concerned citizens can engage in community conversations around a catalytic idea, the process of which can transform their civic engagement into social capital.
