Hospitals, medical research centers, and the like are supposed to represent health, but are often an unappealing and monolithic presence in the urban landscape. How can the form of health centers fall in line with their function?
There's been controversy about the responsibilities of hospitals and medical centers to their communities. But what about their physical form and how it impacts neighbors and patients alike?
Jennifer S. Vey says we need more discussion about "how the physical character of urban health centers, and the relationship they in turn have with their surrounding neighborhoods, could be more supportive of expanded and evolving ideas for what it takes to build a healthier society."
As things stand, most medical buildings aren't models of urban connectivity. Instead they embody a "starkly similar, and fairly depressing, spatial form: large-scale, inwardly focused buildings, ample parking, and scarcely any people in site."
Vey writes that hospital and research campuses are usually self-contained, blocking out community interaction, isolating patients and staff, even preventing medical progress by segregating doctors according to specialty and role.
A greener (as in literal plants) and more connected medical campus could address these failings by building on the study of healthy cities. Vey gives some promising examples of such medical "innovation hubs" and ends with a figure: $97.1 billion. That's the value of all large healthcare buildings planned or under construction in the United States at the end of 2015.
FULL STORY: Urban health centers: tear down this wall
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.