Active Design

According to Sport England, around 30% of adults in England don’t do the recommended amount of weekly exercise. Alongside providing access to high-quality sports facilities, the design of where we live and work can play a vital role in keeping communities active. By increasing opportunities for all to be physically active, we can improve physical health, mental wellbeing, and bring our communities together.

Active design can take many forms. The most common approach is to prioritise and encourage active modes of travel, such as walking and cycling. This could be through providing segregated cycle lanes into city and market town centres, creating mixed-use developments that provide jobs and services alongside housing, or improving street signage and footpath lighting to make walking safer and easier.

Encouraging active lifestyles has many wider benefits, particularly at the community level. By providing parks and sports facilities we can encourage activity of all kinds, and also bring together friends and neighbours.

Sport England has partnered with Public Health England to produce their Active Design Guidance, and would like to see a joined-up approach to encourage, support and enable healthy lifestyles for everyone in Oxfordshire. Find out more about Sport England’s Active Design Guidance here

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What challenges do we face incorporating active design into new developments in Oxfordshire?

How could we introduce active design in existing developments?

How else could we encourage people to become more active?

This response was submitted by Sport England

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