Heart Health
and the
Built Environment
ACT Canada Sustainable Movement Summit
6B – Health
Hamilton 2012
What we will cover today?
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Heart disease and stroke: Facts and risk factors
The built environment and heart health – building the case
Heart and Stroke Foundation – investing in healthy BE
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Healthy Community Design Research
Healthy Canada by Design
Shaping Healthy, Active Communities
Health Promotion Specialists Team - Ontario
Facts and Risk Factors
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The most recent Canadian Health Measures Survey found that only
15% of Canadian adults 1 and 7% of Canadian children 2 and youth
get the recommended amount of physical activity
Across Canada, only about 12% of trips to the grocery store, work,
the library or school are made on foot or by bicycle, compared to
46% in the Netherlands and 41% in Denmark 3
Safety concerns keep 1 in 5 Canadians from walking or bicycling 4
1- Active Healthy Kids Canada Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, 2011: 17.13 July 2011
2- Colley RC, Garriguet D, Janssen I, Craig CL, Clarke J, and Tremblay MS, Physical activity of Canadian Adults: Accelerometer
results from 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey.
3- Pucher J, Dijkstra L. Promoting safe walking and cycling to improve public health; lessons from the Netherlands and Germany.
Am Journal of Public Health 2003; 93(9): 1509-1515
4- Canadian Institute of Health Information. Improving the Health of Canadians: An introduction to health in urban places. 2006.
Building the Case
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Understanding the connection
between health and community
design will lead to improved policy,
improved community
environments and improved health
A recent study compared rates of
active transportation with obesity
in Europe, North America and
Australia and found that generally,
the countries with higher rates of
active transportation had lower
rates of obesity. 5
5- Basset DR, Pucher J, Buehler R, Thompson DR, Crouter SE. Walking, Cycling, and Obesity Rates in Europe, North America and
Australia. Journal of Physical Activity and Health 2008, 5, 795-814
Building the Case
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The risk of obesity has been shown
to decline by 4.8% for each
additional kilometre walked and
can increase by 6% for each hour
spent in a car per day . 6
A recent study found that for every
5% improvement in the walkability
of a neighbourhood, adults who
reside there tend to walk and cycle
32% more, have a lower body mass
index and enjoy reduced pollution
from automobiles.7
6- Frank, L et al. Obesity Relationship with Community Design, Physical Activity, and Time Spent in Cars. American Journal of
Preventive Medicine 2004; 27: 87-95.
7- 1Lawrence D. Frank et al. (2006). “Many Pathways from Land Use to Health: Associations between Neighbourhood Walkability and
ActiveTransportation, Body Mass Index, and Air Quality.” Journal of the American Planning Association, Volume 72, Issue 1, p. 75-87
Healthy Community Design Research
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Since 2009, The Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) and the
Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) partnered to
support several, multi-year community projects linking firstclass researchers with policy makers to:
 Address the information and policy gaps
 Identify evidence-based ways to improve community design to
support healthy living
Healthy Community Design Research
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QUALITY (Qébec A dipose and L ifestyle I nves T igation in Y outh)
 Features of the built environment in residential neighbourhoods that
influence excess weight and weight-related behaviors in a cohort of
children at risk of obesity (http://www.etudequalitystudy.ca/ )
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BEEP (Built Environment Edmonton Project)
 A longitudinal examination of the relationship between the built
environment, physical activity, and social factors within the Capital
Health Region of Alberta
(http://www.ualberta.ca/~tanyab/BEEP%20report.pdf )
Healthy Community Design Research
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BEAT (Built Environment and Active Transportation) - UBC
 How to increase active school transport and specifically, the role of
the built environment in shaping this behavior
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NEWPATH (http://health-design.spph.ubc.ca/research/newpath/ )
 is an innovative, trans-disciplinary research program focused on
evaluating how different urban built environments impact a variety of
quality of life factors, including; physical activity, diet, access to food,
air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. The project’s study area
is the Region of Waterloo, a regional municipality located in southcentral Ontario.
Healthy Canada by Design CLASP—Overview
Healthy Canada by Design CLASP—Overview
Through Healthy Canada By Design-CLASP, seven coalitions have been funded to
integrate and build upon their practices to prevent chronic diseases
What is this initiative’s vision?
Health officials, planners,
engineers, and NGOs in communities across Canada
collaborate seamlessly to ensure built
environments are designed to promote health and well
being, thus contributing to the reduction
of risk factors for chronic diseases.
Tools overview
Tools overview
Three major websites:
• Heart and Stroke Foundation's:
www.heartandstroke.ca/healthycommunities
• Urban Public Health Network’s: www.healthycanadabydesign.ca
• Canadian Institute of Planners: www.cip-icu.ca/health
Tools overview
www.heartandstroke.ca/healthycommunities
Tools overview
• Heart and Stroke Foundation's:
www.heartandstroke.ca/healthycommunities
Shaping Health, Active Communities Workshop in Action
Parry Sound - Ontario
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Parry Sound Active Transportation Committee
 Knowledge sharing
 Active Transportation Charter
 Active Transportation Master Plan Campaign
“The workshop really helped define what the issues are in Parry Sound,
and to present active transportation as a solution to the concerns of
various groups in the community. It enabled and inspired us to aim
bigger” Joel Kirk, a local resident
Shaping Health, Active Communities Workshop in Action
Nova Scotia
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Heart&Stroke Walkabout
 Influencing government policy
 3 workshops in 3 months and more are planned
 Invited by a coalition of partners responsible to submit a response to
the five year regional planning review
 Proclamation of June as Active Transportation month by the Nova
Scotia government
 Government funding for Walkabout program to support local active
transportation events in June
“Because walking is so influenced by government policy – at all levels –
it’s important to talk about how everything comes together and to
show, visually, what a walkable community can look like” Joel Kirk, a
local resident Christine MacLeod, a HSF staff
Next steps
We just started Phase 2 of this initiative:
• Deepening the impact of the tools and promising practices
developed to date in Ontario, BC and Quebec, who led
Phase 1 (October 20009 to Sept 2012).
• Broadening the impact of the tools and insights generated
in Phase 1 by assisting seven new health regions in seven
provinces in working with planners, engineers and NGOs on
land use and transportation policy development.
Project scheduled to be completed Sept 2014.
HSF – Health Promotion Specialists Team
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14 Health Promotions Specialists in Ontario assigned to
geographical areas
 Deliver and support advocacy and other health promotion activities
 Build and maintain relationship with community partners
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HSF Advocacy Initiatives
 Heart Healthy Children and Youth: Address the issue of childhood
obesity and advocate for increasing opportunities for physical activity
and healthy eating for Ontario children
 Resuscitation
 Diversity
HSF – Health Promotion Specialists Team
Thank you!
Sam AbiSaab
Health Promotion Specialist & BE Lead
Heart and Stroke Foundation
sabisaab@hsf.on.ca