We can design the well city of the future, right now. But to do so we have to assimilate environmental standards, good looks, and, most importantly, look at functionality from a new perspective.

1. Designing the Well City of the
Future. Now.
Anoop Kumar, MD
thestoryofhealth.com
@storyofhealth

2. A Well City – where we live, play, work,
love, learn, grow
• The physical environment
– http://designinghealthycommunities.org/
– http://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/healthy_com
m_design.htm

3. The physical environment
contributes to wellness, but what
about the human environment?
What about who we are, what we
stand for, how strong our
relationships are?

4. The foundation of a city is not a
physical structure or plan, it is the
structure of human relationships in
that city
Valuing people over things creates
healthy, sustainable relationships and a
healthy, sustainable foundation for a
well city

5. people
over
things
things
over
people
Wellness =
Illness =

6. Is it possible to design
people
over
things
into our communities?

7. Yes.
…if we’re not afraid of to explore our
society’s newest four-letter word:

8. __ __ __ __

9. L __ __ __

10. L O __ __

11. L O V __

12. L O V E
It’s not just a four-letter word

13. What can love teach us?
• By exploring love in all its facets, we learn the
nature of human relationships, healthy
communities, the well city of the future, and
design itself.
• There’s more to love than we generally think
about:
– http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/the-ancient-
greeks-6-words-for-love-and-why-knowing-
them-can-change-your-life

14. The million $ question
• Are we, as a society, ready to explore love?

15. Love is the foundation of a well
city
How do we explore this together so
that we may enact this together?

16. Just throwing out some ideas
• What would a well city founded on love look like?
– We value elders because of their life experience
instead of forgetting about them once they are no
longer “producers”
• http://www.tisonline.org/
• http://www.ibasho.org/
– In big companies, the C-suite may take a pay cut to
hire several more employees, thereby increasing
quality of life for overworked employees, which
ultimately increases quality of life for C-suite as well
• Examples?

17. Just throwing out some ideas
• What would a well city founded on love look
like?
– We find innovative ways to add value to our
community and decrease dependency on any one
resource
• http://www.ithacahours.com/
• http://timebanks.org/
– We find ways to highlight prominently, locally and
nationally, those who put people over things

18. Just throwing out some ideas
• We make love cool, real, and practical – not just
another romantic-comedy.
• Other explorations?
• Who is already doing this?
• How can we create a national network, starting at the
community level, then moving up to large towns,
states, regions, and the nation?
• What groups would be on board?
• How can we blueprint the well city of the future for
others to follow? How can we be the solution that the
time calls for?

19. Designing a well city
Designing
spaces
Designing
relationships
people
over
things

20. People are the heart of good design.
Love is the heart of people.
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