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The School of Population Health would like to congratulate the Centre for the Built Environment and Health (CBEH) on being part of a team that won the 2014 WA Planning Institute of Australia President's Award and Minister's Award for the development of the Healthy Active By Design website tool.

Awarded jointly to the Heart Foundation WA, Hassell, CBEH, Aurecon and Bouncing Orange, the awards recognise the work that has gone into and the benefit that can be gained from the Healthy Active by Design (HABD) tool.

HABD takes a holistic view of the relationship between our built environment, lifestyles and wellbeing. By doing so HABD satisfies the fundamental driver for planning, ensuring that the places we build improve the quality of our health and lives.

HABD addresses the current health crisis of preventable chronic diseases and acknowledges the link between these, the  way we live and the places we build.

The development of HABD engaged with stakeholders with expertise in a variety of disciplines, some not usually  considered in planning matters. The result is a truly collaborative approach incorporating the knowledge of these disciplines to inform the creation of the HABD Principles.

The final product is an aspirational but practical online toolkit which provides guidance on best practice for the design
of places which encourage and facilitate healthy lifestyles.The tool kit also provides a number of case studies which
clearly demonstrate what can be can be achieved through the application of the HABD principles.

HABD is an innovative outcomes oriented initiative which has the potential to refocus the planning and design process
on one of the most important and fundamental outcomes of planning. The health and wellbeing of our communities.

Media references

Fiona Maley (School of Population Health) (+61) 8 6488 1299

David Stacey (UWA Media Manager) (+61 4) 32 637 716