How Our Surroundings Shape Our Health

The way we design our neighborhoods has a big impact on our health. It's not just about building things quickly. We need to think about how these spaces affect people's well-being. Experts say it's not enough to just build parks or playgrounds. People need to be involved in the process. If they help create these spaces, they are more likely to use them and take care of them. Two researchers, Lenneke Vaandrager and Astrid Kemperman, have been studying this for years. They look at three types of environments: physical, social, and digital. The physical environment includes buildings and infrastructure. The social environment is about how people interact. The digital environment involves technology and data. Kemperman focuses on active living environments. She wants to find ways to motivate people to exercise more. This can include better walking and cycling paths, safer play areas for kids, and more parks. Vaandrager agrees. She says that just building a nice park doesn't guarantee that people will use it. People need to be part of the planning process.Both researchers believe in involving end users in their work. They think it's important to try things out and see how people react. However, getting funding for this type of research is challenging. There's more money for treating health problems than for preventing them. They also think that different government departments need to work together to make big changes. Kemperman also studies loneliness, especially among older people and young people. She uses digital tools like VR to understand how environments affect people's well-being. She believes that technology can be part of the solution, not just the problem. Over the years, neighborhoods have changed. In the past, they were designed for cars. Now, there's more focus on health, greenery, and play spaces. In the future, they might focus even more on shared mobility and local ecology.