Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are all thinking more actively about the hygiene of the buildings we spend time in. At the Harvard Graduate School of Design, health has always been a mainstay of research, but the lines of enquiry may surprise those whose minds jump immediately to hand sanitizer and face masks. In this episode we’ll hear from researchers who are making discoveries in fields including: the impact of design on epidemics of noncommunicable diseases, such as heart disease, how the social nature of buildings contributes to health outcomes, and how not all green spaces in cities are created equal. The picture that emerges is of a fascinating, fast-evolving field in which notions of what makes a place “healthy” are deeply complex and layered—and sometimes even contradictory.
Featuring: Elvis Garcia, Ann Forsyth, Jill Desimini, Emi Kiyota
Podcast (designnow): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:13 — 31.9MB)
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DISCLAIMER: This episode was recorded in August, 2021. The guests’ titles and their affiliation to the school were accurate at the time of recording.
Show Notes
- 1:19 Public health in an era of epidemics: from the camp to the building
- 2:50 Healthy Places Design Lab
- 4:40 Chart of number of publications focused on obesity over the past decades
- 6:29 Work of Mindy Thompson Fullilove
- 6:32 Work of Rodrick Wallace
- 8:31 Evicted by Matthew Desmond
- 8:39 Building the Eviction Economy: Speculation, Precarity, and Eviction in Detroit
- 14:11 Ibasho – non-profit that designs and creates socially integrated and sustainable communities for elders
- 20:20 Health impacts related to urban and transport planning: A burden of disease assessment
- 21:37 Superblock Barcelona
About
The show is produced by Maggie Janik and hosted by Harriet Fitch Little. For inquiries or to be featured on an upcoming episode, email [email protected].