Abstract
Several guidelines provided by European organizations and the World Health Organization, and frameworks in the scientific literature suggest focusing on the built environment for promoting public health as it acts as a promoter of healthy lifestyles. They also highlight the importance of creating healthy conditions for active ageing through spatial and urban furniture solutions that improve overall accessibility, walkability, and independence, by providing supporting products, such as urban furniture for resting and access to quality food and water, as well as equipment for physical activities, including socializing and creating multigenerational connections.
The paper presents the results at the micro scale, relating to urban furniture design, of an action-research, that investigated two representative neighborhoods as case studies of Florence in which the topics of inclusion, proximity and healthy lifestyles were tested, and design strategies and orienting scenarios for a healthy neighborhood were developed.
Semi-structured interviews, co-design workshops, and living labs with citizens, stakeholders and experts provided several needs, problems, opportunities, and potential aspects about the healthy perspective of the neighborhoods.
The results highlight the potential and important role of urban furniture design in promoting a healthy built environment, underlining the strategic role of tangible products as healthy touchpoints to promote healthy lifestyles.