Resources and Links

What is the goal of Healthy Places by Design?
Healthy Places by Design is a project that seeks to strengthen land use, transportation and urban design policies and local 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.  Click here to learn more.

How does where I live affect my health?
Click here to read an article from the US Green Building Council, the Congress for the New Urbanism, and the Natural Resources Defense Council about the effect of the built environment (where you live) on public health.  Here is a recent article about an early 1990s study

Is Healthy Places by Design an innovative project?
Click here to watch a video from Bill Lennertz, the Director of the National Charrette Institute, about the exciting and innovative work being done in our community – the linking of public health, community planning and the charrette process for public participation.

How can Healthy Places by Design improve my community?
The Healthy Places by Design project hopes to create a North Kingstown that more fully supports health by creating a vision and a plan that is based on your input.  For a few examples of the types of changes that could occur in North Kingstown, click here to see a report from The Prevention Institute that highlights specific examples of how neighborhood-level changes to the built environment can have a positive influence on the health of community residents.

Where can I learn more about creating environments that support access to healthy food and physical activity?
One of the focus areas of The Prevention Institute is supporting healthy food and activity environments.  Click here to go to their website to learn more.

What is smart growth?
If you’ve heard the term smart growth and want to know what it actually looks like, this publication is a good starting point. If you’re already familiar with smart growth ideas, this publication can help you educate others. It contains many examples of how smart growth principles have been applied in cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural areas; some of these examples may look much like your own community.

For a general primer on smart growth terms and concepts, this publication from Grow Smart RI provides an easy to follow guide for citizens that is specific to Rhode Island’s planning system.

What is a charrette?
A charrette is a collaborative process in which a team of professionals, stakeholders and community members get together to solve one or multiple community problems.  Click here to watch a video about the charrette process.  Click here to read an article about the charrette process.