ABSTRACT
This chapter explains a variety of ways in which designers can gently encourage activity, with the ultimate goal of making people happier. The authors are all aware of the huge physical benefits of being active, but exercise also creates significant changes within our brains and can have an enormous impact on our mental wellbeing. This means they need it to be as easy as possible to be active, and designers can nudge us in the right direction through clever architecture or urban design. They should therefore try to encourage or persuade people to be active in the way they design buildings, as BVN Architecture did with their offices for Frasers Property, sketched on the opposite page. What matters is having a designated space that is free and ready whenever it is needed. During times of pandemic or not, streets should therefore be designed with generous paths to allow pedestrians a comfortable amount of personal space.
