JOANNA FRANK
Is the founding Executive Director of the Center for Active Design. Prior to launching the
Center, Ms. Frank worked for the City of New York, under the Bloomberg Administration
where her positions included Director of Active Design and Director of the NYC FRESH
program. Before working for the City, Ms. Frank was a Partner at Bright City Development,
LLC where she was responsible for the development of mixed-use residential buildings using
sustainable design criteria. Ms. Frank holds an Architecture Degree from the Mackintosh
School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art.
ABSTRACT | ACTIVE DESIGN: PROMOTING PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND HEALTH IN DESIGN
The Center for Active Design translates current health research into practicable
guidelines for planners, architects, and developers. There is a long history of
addressing public health issues through design of the built environment, and
today some of the most prominent health issues are directly related to the
design of our buildings, streets and neighborhoods. Building on the NYC Active
Design Guidelines we continue to identify evidence based design strategies that
encourage people to be physically active. Strategies promoting physical activity
range from systems approaches to discrete elements, which are categorized into
four themes: active transportation, recreation, buildings, and healthy food
access. The Center for Active Design regularly receives case study submissions
that illustrate how these strategies are implemented at a range of scales. Each
year we select several that are especially innovative and replicable, and feature
them at our Center for Active Design: Excellence awards.