Design For Healthy Living
April 19 - September 6, 2015
Our health is profoundly impacted by the design of our built environments; the places we live, work, learn, and play affect our physical, mental, and social wellbeing. This fact was established in the cramped, industrial cities of the 17th century, where hundreds of thousands of city dwellers suffered in overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions. Over time, their health recovered when access to fresh air was improved, sanitation and sewage systems were installed, and living quarters were separated from industrial workplaces.
Today the health challenges that we face are very different. Infectious diseases like tuberculosis have been replaced by chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and arthritis. Luckily, many of these can be prevented through physical activity, a healthy diet, and social interaction. One of the best ways to combat these diseases is by designing buildings, streets, neighborhoods, and cities that promote healthy decision-making and choices like walking to work, visiting friends in the park, or eating fresh fruits and vegetables.
Design for Healthy Living, an exhibition presented by MODA in 2015, addressed the components of a healthy community and highlighted specific design strategies being used by architects, urban planners, landscape architects, interior designers, graphic designers, and industrial designers in the effort to create places to live, work, learn, and play that enable health and well-being.
This exhibition was curated by Katie Simms
