Based in Washington, D.C., the American Institute of Architects has been the leading professional membership association for licensed architects, emerging professionals, and allied partners since 1857. With nearly 300 state and local chapters, the AIA serves as the voice of the architecture profession and the resource for our members in service to society. In its Design & Health initiative, the AIA and its partners in public health acknowledge the immense opportunity for design to improve communities’ health and well-being through physical improvements to the built environment. The AIA seeks to facilitate holistic, synchronous and multi-scale solutions that empower its members to address a wide range of areas connecting Design & Health, and will work to provide education, research and policy tools to achieve that goal.

The AIA recommends six evidence-based approaches to health that designers can embrace in their practice and policy-setting: environmental quality, natural systems, physical activity, safety, sensory environments, and social connectedness. Underpinning all of these is a belief that all Americans should have the opportunity to make the choices that allow them to live a long, healthy life, and that begins in the communities where we live.

For more info go to http://www.aia.org/practicing/designhealth/index.htm.