The University of Florida is part of a consortium of architectural and public health institutions, spearheaded by the American Institute of Architects (AIA), which will help fund basic research on how design affects public health.
The AIA Design & Health Research Consortium, as it is named, was created by the AIA, along with the AIA Foundation and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) on December 15, 2014. It is comprised of 11 charter member schools, of which UF is one of the partners.
UF will be focusing its efforts on environmental quality, safety, active living, and social connectedness – all key health concerns of an aging population. The goals of this research is to go beyond today’s conventional health and safety standards to develop and test performance measures of residential building systems, materials, and spatial/design configurations, and of community infrastructure as to their impact on health of older adults.
“The older we get the more we stay at home,” said Dr. Ruth Steiner, professor of Urban & Regional Planning at UF. Steiner is also a UFTI affiliate. “It sounds contradictory, but it makes it all the more important to look at the aging population’s transportation needs.”
Steiner’s research focus under this area will be specifically looking at both the planning and transportation aspects as it relates to the aging population.
Her first project under this initiative came from the local community. Last fall, Steiner was contacted by members of bicycle clubs from the Villages in regards to their League of American Bicyclist (LAB) award level.
The Villages is the largest gated, over-55 community in the world located in central Florida. It holds more than 100,000 residents in an area larger than Manhattan. An estimated 800 recreational bicyclists live in the community; the Villages has goals to be the first Gold-level community in Florida awarded by the LAB.
In Florida, there are no communities rated higher than silver, and only four have achieved this status. They are:
- Sanibel
- Venice
- Gainesville
- The Villages
The LAB is a non-profit membership organization that promotes cycling for fun, fitness and transportation through advocacy and education. Through a voluntary process, they rate Bicycle Friendly Communities from Bronze, Silver, Goal, Platinum and Diamond. Currently no communities in the United States are rated Diamond.
After a consultation with LAB, the Villages concluded that they needed to come up with a Bicycle Master Plan, which lists out how the community aims to improve bicycle access and safety. To do this, they needed help. That’s where Steiner and her research assistant, Leslie Brown, came into the picture.
Brown, a master’s student working under Steiner, already had a background in bicycle, pedestrian and transit advocacy from his time working for Transportation Alternatives in New York. They developed a questionnaire through UF Qualtrics that was sent out to the Villages’ bicyclists. In total they received over 350 responses. Here are some of the highlights:
- Fitness was cited as the #1 reason for biking
- 47% of responders said they rode with other bicyclists
- There were 169 self-reported crashes, and 49 sustained injuries
“The self-reported crash data and injuries was an important piece,” Brown said. “They tend to not get reported as they generally involve collisions with golf carts.”
And golf carts happen to be the number one transportation mechanism used in the Villages. So why isn’t that pedestrian crash data reported?
“Golf carts are regulated under the Consumer Product Safety Commission, not the U.S. Department of Transportation,” Steiner said. “Therefore, those crashes would not be reported in traditional transportation statistics.”
Steiner and Brown will soon be conducting a second survey aimed at towards the general community to gauge attitudes towards cycling in the Villages. After those results, they will make recommendations that the Bicycle Clubs at the Villages will use to create their plan.