By Karma E. Edwards, MSPH NACDD Public Health Consultant
Editor’s note: This article is updated from the Jul/Aug 2023 issue.
Headquartered in neighboring Decatur, Georgia, the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD) exists as a national non-profit professional association for chronic disease prevention for state, tribal, and territorial health departments across the United States, associated Territories, and Pacific Islands. More than 7,000 professionals participate with NACDD to prevent disease and promote health.
What is the WAI?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, increased physical activity can improve health and quality of life and reduce health care costs1. At NACDD, we believe in supporting states and communities in creating activity-friendly communities. Activity-friendly communities provide welcoming, safe, and convenient places to play, walk, roll, take public transit, and bike to enjoy destinations the community has to offer.
Making states and communities more walkable, movable, and economically viable is not just a public health issue. Healthy community design and re-design is a shared responsibility by the many different sectors that comprise a community and the many different disciplines that sustain a community.
This is why NACDD’s Walkability Action Institute (WAI) intentionally engages public health counterparts and partners in transportation, planning, economic development, housing, transit, parks and recreation, elected officials, and others.
The WAI is an innovative and proactive multi-day course designed to train interdisciplinary teams using some of the nation’s top experts to create pedestrian-friendly locations by addressing walkability, movability, and community and transportation design in the local community setting. Now in its 11th project year, the WAI has become a marquee project of NACDD’s Center for Advancing Healthy Communities after having provided training and assistance to 112 interdisciplinary teams across 34 states and two U.S. territories.
Participant teams not only learn about all-things walkability, movability, and built design, but also discuss factors like housing and transportation access, rethinking accessibility through Universal Design concepts and how to invest in locations that are traditionally not invested in. We embody a “pilots-to-policy” approach, where we work with teams to implement low-cost demonstration and quick-build urbanism projects to recreate placemaking, increase community awareness, and gain the buy-in needed to make the permanent changes that can redesign locations for people, prosperity, and health. Additionally, participants get to engage in experiential learning activities during the course, occurring through outdoor walk/move audits and photovoice homework assignments, which allows participants to observe and “feel” the tenets being taught through the course in a real-life setting.
Following the course, participating interdisciplinary teams develop unified action plans with goals for pursuing people-centered community changes through new plans and policies, improved systems, and on-the-ground changes to the built environment. Participants are also invited to join NACDD’s National WAI Alumni Network, where they gain access to the shared WAI online warehouse, the latest innovative implementation strategies, and the ability to share, mentor, and network with the nation’s most successful adopters of the walkability movement.
What are the benefits of the WAI?
The WAI is a short-term investment of time and resources for the long-term gain of redesigning communities for people, place, and prosperity, bringing transformative impact and lasting benefits to participating locations.
Health and well-being. By enhancing walkability and movability, the WAI promotes physical activity, better health, and eventual improved health outcomes. Places and neighborhoods that are universally accessible and people-centered encourage residents to incorporate walking, biking, and other forms of active travel into their daily routines, reducing sedentary behaviors and promoting healthier lifestyles.
Improved sense of “place,” belonging, and social connection. Communities that are inherently more walkable and movable create opportunities for social interaction, fostering a sense of community among residents. Increased pedestrian activity can lead to more vibrant public spaces, where people can gather, connect, and build relationships.
Economic development and vitality. People-centered design attracts more business and increases support of local economies. The long-term dividends of the WAI can stimulate smart economic growth and development, as people are more likely to visit local shops, restaurants, and services, thereby boosting local business and employment opportunities.
What does success look like in Cobb County?
The WAI can help communities in Cobb County reimagine and recreate how people and places interact in ways that are healthy, mutually beneficial, and universally welcoming.
Downtowns can be filled with people from all backgrounds enjoying public spaces or at town events together. Sounds of laughter and camaraderie can pervade; people of all ages and abilities can move about the town to the destinations they most need or want to visit; and a robust and vibrant existence of people, place, and prosperity can permeate economic vitality and establish a sense of belonging for all town members
For municipalities in Cobb County, this vision could be made possible by bringing about new or updated plans or policies, such as Complete Streets policy adoption and implementation, or Bicycle/Pedestrian, Comprehensive Growth, or Master plan establishment. It could involve new smart growth development requirements, establishing overlay districts, transit-oriented development, or revitalizing local parks and trail plans.
Local systems may improve in several ways. For example, different partners might start using the same performance goals, share budgeting and funding responsibilities, or create new ways to decide which projects to focus on. Communities might also improve local permitting processes and find better ways to include everyone in efforts to make neighborhoods more walkable and movable.
The WAI could lend eventual, permanent, and sustainable changes to the physical built environment, so that roads and public spaces are reconfigured to prioritize people over cars, promoting movement. New pedestrian treatments like roundabouts, bike boulevards, crossing islands, improved crosswalks, and sidewalks could be constructed. Spaces and places of business and convening could be made more inviting through improved beautification, signage and wayfinding, and colorful and effective use of paint and public art.
NACDD’s WAI teams have leveraged more than $540 million dollars to collectively achieve nearly 1,400 family-friendly community improvements like safer streets for walking and biking to school, helping over 60 million people. This success exemplifies how modest investments in cross-disciplinary partnerships and necessary training events like the WAI can help communities leverage even more funds to recreate their built environment and benefit their community.
How can Cobb County get involved?
We must immediately transform our communities into walkable environments. By planning and implementing walkable communities, we can improve the quality of life for residents, enhance public health, and create sustainable, vibrant neighborhoods. To achieve this goal, we urge Cobb County to explore the possibilities offered by the NACDD WAI.
To cater to different needs and preferences, NACDD’s WAI provides customizable options, such as a four-day in-person course model, a virtual academy, or a hybrid combination of in-person and virtual learning. This flexibility ensures that Cobb County can effectively participate in this transformative initiative.
To learn more about how Cobb County can become involved in this crucial endeavor, please contact NACDD’s Center for Advancing Healthy Communities at CAHCinfo@chronicdisease.org.
Let’s seize this opportunity to create healthier, more livable communities. Act now to be a catalyst for change.
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