Building Healthy and Livable Communities Workshop Attracts Crowd

More than 75 people attended the Winter Park Health Foundation ((WPHF)-sponsored seminar, “Your Role in Building Healthy and Livable Communities,” the latest in a series of workshops that are part of the Think~Act~Be Healthy Communities Initiative. The program was held November 19.

Designed to help residents and local community leaders, planners and developers better understand designs and features that help build healthy, sustainable and livable neighborhood and communities, the free program was co-hosted by the Urban Land Institute-Central Florida and the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council.

Featured speaker Dan Burden, Executive Director of Walkable Communities, Inc., took participants on a visual tour of communities around the country that included before and after shots of features that encouraged residents to get out of their homes and walk, rather than drive.

Ian Lockwood, Senior Transportation Engineer with Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin Inc. reviewed a history of street planning trends and showed how street planning impacted traffic loads.

Two local mayors, including Doug Kinson, Mayor of the City of Maitland and Nancy Clutts, Mayor of the City of Tavares, spoke about transitions taking place in their communities designed to redefine downtown areas and activity centers to make them resident-friendly.

Billy Hattaway, Managing Director for Transportation–Florida at Vanasse Hangen Brustlin in Orlando, used his background in transportation design for livable communities to help the group understand traffic analysis and its importance in determining how pedestrian-friendly a community can be.

Phil Laurien, Executive Director of the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, presented the Regional Vision to Create Healthy Communities created in partnership with Myregion.org.

The Central Florida Urban Land Institute and WPHF are planning a second phase to this workshop on January 28th, 2009 at the Enzian Theatre. For information and updates, go to www.centralflorida.uli.org.

Speaker presentations are posted at http://www.thinkactbehealthy.org/communities/workshop.html.