updates

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past activities

“A Healthy Community is one which finds the right balance between the economy, the environment, and the community.”

waterlooregion.org/healthy

Waterloo Region Healthy Communities Coalition

2008 Activities

Healthy Communities and the Built Environment

This project is a collaborative of several organizations including the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition Region of Waterloo Public Health, and others. Its purpose is to identify and promote policies and practices which optimize human health and prevent chronic diseases by addressing features of the built environment such as neighbourhood walkability, accessible public transit, greenspaces, social gathering spaces, etc. You can read more about the project on the websites of two of our partner organizations: the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition and the Civics Research Co-operative.

As part of this project, we hosted a public forum on Wednesday January 16, 2008 called Healthy Communities and the Built Environment: Working Together for a Livable Waterloo Region. The purpose of the day was to bring together people from various sectors to explore and identify ways we can work together to ensure that our health is a key element of planning and designing our community.

Below are some key documents shared at that meeting:

On April 17 and 18, 2008, we hosted an event in partnership with the University of Waterloo called "The Healthy Communities Knowledge Exchange Forum". Speakers addressed several themes related to Health and the Built Environment, including healthy food access, walkable communities, community design, community connections, and growth. The website promoting the event can be found here, and full proceedings from the event are here (PDF).