About Healthy Places by Design

The Town of North Kingstown is partnering with the West Bay Family YMCA to shape policies on healthy living through their Healthy Places by Design project. Together they will help the residents, business owners, and decision-makers of North Kingstown to create a shared vision for healthy living. The project, funded by the Rhode Island Department of Health, is designed to incorporate community health policies in the update of the North Kingstown Comprehensive Plan. The goal of the project is to build a shared community vision and harnesses the talents and energies of community members to make positive changes to their town.

Public outreach and participation has been vital to the success of this project. Residents were asked to identify aspects of the community that could be altered in order to promote healthier living. Armed with this information, residents, business owners and other community stakeholders will work side-by-side to craft innovative solutions and advise town leadership on possible changes to areas in the town’s comprehensive plan, with the goal of improving areas such as walkability, bikeability, safety, recreation options, transportation choices, and access to healthy foods.

The keynote event of this process was a Community Design Event from November 4 - 10. During the Design Event, the town and the public participated in hands-on activities to express their vision and create policies and plans in support of physical activity and access to healthy food. Information and feedback from the Design Event will be used to update the North Kingstown Comprehensive Plan. Other potential outcomes could include policies, procedures, working groups and design plans. The project began in September 2011 and is expected to run through early February 2012.

Funding for this initiative comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s Communities Putting Prevention to Work award to Rhode Island. In addition to the funding, the Town of North Kingstown will receive technical assistance from the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Rhode Island Division of Planning.

The mission of the Healthy Places by Design Project is to strengthen land use, transportation and urban design policies and ordinances that guide the decision making process for the built environment to be more supportive of health, particularly as it relates to physical activity and healthy eating.