The conference aims to disseminate the latest knowledge about activity and health-enhancing physical environments in communities and urban environments. The basis builds on a broad understanding of public health, offsetting in local urban spaces which increasingly serves as arenas for physical activity and new initiatives. A special focus will be on everyday life activities and how social interaction, movement and food can support inclusion, and promote health and quality of life.

From a societal perspective, both nationally and internationally, great benefits are to be gained from this type of knowledge as a high level of concern is raised about increased social inequality resulting in poorer health, increased occurance of obesity and diabetes type II etc., i.a. due to a lack of physical activity. The organization of urban space - the architecture, landscape and infrastructure - is very important for this development both in terms of movement and transport but also in terms of reducing social and spatial inequalities.

This conference aims to build bridges between different professionals, researchers and practitioners with the common interest in how to create communities and neighborhoods as menaingful ”places” in terms of both food environments and the possibilities of creating activities in connection to this and related to movement and active transportation.

The conference is aimed broadly at municipal, regional and state actors, urban planners, architects, researchers, policy makers and practitioners working with health promotion. This multidisciplinarity is reflected in the series of lectures with experienced professionals and experts from the US, Europe and Denmark disseminating their latest knowledge about how interventions for healthier food options in the community can be developed, on how gardening and aquaponics can be involved in small-scale food production and how the local community can be used or utilised to increase physical activity among citizens. And finally, how to include participatory and co-creative methods to ensure that the urban environments are developed in citizen-focused surroundings that can help to create long-term anchoring.

The conference is part of the international research network Activity- and health-enhancing Physical Environments Network led by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation. The research network involves leading European researchers.

PROGRAMME

9:00 Registration and morning coffee

09:30 Opening speech. Representative from the Ministry of Health

09:45 International Activity- and health enhancing Physical Environments Network – Why are we needed? René Kural, Associate Professor and Director of the International Network, KADK

10:00 Relations between the built environment and physical activity and health - how can there be made use of us? Jens Troelsen, Professor, Head of the research unit Active Living, University of Southern Denmark

10:30 Cities Changing Diabetes. Helle Søholt, CEO and founder of Gehl Architects

11:00 Break

11:30 The role of the built environment in healthy aging: Community design, physical activity, and health among older adults. Jacqueline Kerr, Adjunct Professor, Family & Preventive Medicine, University of California, USA

12:00 Planning of the old city structure for leisure, housing and recreational purposes by participatory way. Kimmo Suomi, Professor, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

12:30 Body and the city - theories of the body towards the active city. Antonio Borgogni, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Italy

13:00 Lunch

14:00 Innovative prevention in local communities - principles for an intersectoral approach. Bjarne Bruun Jensen, Professor and research director, Steno Health Promotion Research

14:30 Foodscape Walkabouts & Urban Songlines. Visual and Participatory tools for planning of community food programs – case of Health and Local Community and Ellebjerg programs. Bent Egberg Mikkelsen, Professor, University of Aalborg

15:00 The Children’s Healthy Living Program from the US Affiliated Pacific region. Rachel Novotny, Professor, University of Hawaii, USA

15:30 Break

16:00 B’More - Healthy Communities for Kids (BHCK). Joel Gittelsohn, Professor, John Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA

16:30 Closing session. René Kural, Associate Professor and Director of the International Network, KADK

The conference is supported by Realdania:

The APEN Network is supported by: