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Sport England and Public Health England reveal Active Design resource

Being active should be an intrinsic part of everyone’s daily life – and the design of where we live and work plays a vital role in keeping us active. That's why Sport England, in partnership with Public Health England, has produced the Active Design Guidance.

Good design should contribute positively to making places better for people and create environments that make the active choice the easy choice for people and communities.

This guidance builds on the original Active Design (2007) objectives of improving accessibility, enhancing amenity and increasing awareness, and sets out the Ten Principles of Active Design. 

Ten principles

The ten principles have been developed to inspire and inform the layout of cities, towns, villages, neighbourhoods, buildings, streets and open spaces, to promote sport and active lifestyles.

The guide features an innovative set of guidelines to get more people moving through suitable design and layout. It includes a series of case studies setting out practical real-life examples of the principles in action to encourage planners, urban designers, developers and health professionals to create the right environment to help people get more active, more often. 

The Active Design Principles are aimed at contributing towards the Governments desire for the planning system to promote healthy communities through good urban design. 

Active Design has been produced in partnership with David Lock Associates, specialists in town planning and urban design. The English Federation of Disability Sport supported the document and you will be able to find links to the following resources:

Download the high resolution version of Active Design. Please be aware that this version is approximately 27MB.