06/20/16: Gary Gaston, Director, Nashville Civic Design Center

The shape we give to our city, in turn, shapes us. The form that Americans began to give to their cities and suburbs in the years following World War II has molded an increasingly underactive, overweight population subject to a variety of preventable diseases, as well as an environment with degraded air and water quality. Shaping the Healthy Community explores the relationships between the built environment and public health and presents an action plan for a healthier city.

Shaping the Healthy Community presents real-world facts, policy recommendations, and design strategies to enable health and planning professionals, developers and designers, educators and community organizations to build places in which healthy practices can be part of daily life.

Co-Authored by Gary Gaston, Director of the Nashville Civic Design Center, and Christine Kreyling is the author of The Plan of Nashville and co-author of Classical Nashville.  Gary Gaston is a lecturer with the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design. He is co-author of Moving Tennessee Forward: Models for Connecting Communities and executive producer of the 2012 NEA-funded documentary film Design Your Neighborhood.