The UK government has announced the building of 10 new ‘healthy towns’ designed to address ageing and health issues such as obesity. Those towns, which will be the ‘pilot sites’ of the Healthy New Towns programme supported by the National Health Service (NHS) in England, would encourage people to exercise more, eat better and live independently into old age.
Adapted designs could include wider pavements, few trip hazards and moving LCD signs, making the streets easier to navigate for people with dementia and other age-related conditions.
Following the same line, the London-based charity Living Streets has been working alongside communities carrying out street audits with older residents to see what improvements could be made, as well as campaigning at a strategic level to influence positive legislative and infrastructure changes. Their project ‘Time to Cross‘ campaigned to increase pedestrian crossing times, which resulted in Transport for London (TfL) agreeing to a review.
Read more on the Living Streets website: www.livingstreets.org.uk
