What factors contribute to optimizing human health both indoors and outdoors within the built environment? Creating equitable and healthy communities is a product of multi-level interventions in policy, places, and people. This panel discussion will open with researchers from the Department of Environmental Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health sharing recent evidence of health status improvements at both building and neighborhood-level project levels. Their current studies focus on the drivers of residential indoor air pollution in urban communities, urban food systems and the health of farmers, and nature-based interventions at residential and workplace projects will highlight opportunities for health equity in the urban built environment. A building expert from Steven Winter Associates, Inc., will then take this research into the project design and building sector by making the business case for broadening the definition of high performance buildings to include human health. Merging her “boots on the ground” experience in the built environment with her expertise in green building certification programs, she will present some key strategies for protecting and promoting health in a socially equitable and cost-effective manner.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how incorporation of indoor and outdoor nature at the project level imports human health benefits across physical, cognitive, and emotional domains
- Identify potential ways to improve health impacts of the built environment through food access, urban agriculture, and the cultivation of green spaces
- Describe determinants of exposure to fine particulate matter within the home and disparities in housing conditions
- Recognize what resources are available to promote the design of healthier buildings
AIA Continuing Education Credit: 2 HSW
Living Future Accreditation Credits: 2 HRS
