Designing gardens that offer benefits to a homeowner’s overall health and well-being is an integral part of our work here at Dargan Landscape Architects. We attend events all across the country to participate in lectures on how homeowners can achieve landscapes that offer these health benefits. Because so much of our mission revolves around creating healthy spaces for individuals, we were especially thrilled to see leaders from major design organizations issuing a call for design professionals to focus on creating healthier communities at the recent 2013 ALSA Annual Meeting.
Mickey Jacob, president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA); Tom Tavella, FASLA, president of the ASLA; and Bill Anderson, president of the American Planning Association (APA), all shared their feelings on how “working from the understanding that design can encourage active lifestyles and contribute to community health and quality of life” can help build healthier, more sustainable communities. The trio related this to climbing obesity rates and increasing health care costs. Tavella shared that design professionals can help reverse this trend by keeping design principles such as walkability and spaces that promote physical activity in mind.
Anderson further noted that the relationship between these professions of planning and landscape architecture originally came from better public health needs. With that in mind, he shared, it only makes sense that design professionals should come together once again to transform towns and cities across America “in order to make them healthier.”
We’re encouraged to see the leaders of these major design associations, once again, emphasizing the importance of working toward making our communities healthier places to live!
If you’re interested in making your own home and garden a healthier place to live, contact us! Dargan Landscape Architects can help you create a master plan or tune-up that focuses on transforming your garden into an oasis of health and longevity. Give us a call at 404-231-3889 for more information, and be sure to sign up at www.landscapeyourlife.com to receive worksheets and videos containing tips that will help you make your garden a place that enhances your health!
