Enhancing Public Health Data Through Design: An Open Source Tool

Join Illinois Green Alliance to explore the relationship between community public health priorities and design strategies using the Public Repository to Engage Community and Enhance Design Equity or PRECEDE tool. If designers can quickly and easily visualize and interpret public health data for specific project locations, they can more easily make health-informed and equitable design decisions tailored to occupants. This empowers designers to be advocates for public health.

Funded by a research grant from the American Society of Interior Designers and architecture firm Perkins&Will, PRECEDE is a free online dashboard that pulls data from several publicly accessible geospatial databases in the United States, helping designers to understand the distribution of health outcomes, climate risks, and social conditions around a specific site. The tool also helps designers interpret the data and connects designers with guidance on potential design interventions tailored to specific indicators for their site, community, or city. This enables practitioners to gain valuable insights towards creating healthier and more equitable places.

This session will introduce PRECEDE and highlight case studies illustrating the tool in practical application. Follow along with members of the PRECEDE team to:

• Illustrate how design can be a tool for restorative justice for community health outcomes.
• Discuss a conceptual framework for applying the PRECEDE public health and equity dashboard to projects.
• Understand how to compare and contrast city or site-specific health data sets and their implications for a project.
• Learn how to translate public health data into actionable design strategies that address the health priorities of building occupants.

Speakers:

• Amina Helstern, Senior Regenerative Design Advisor, Associate Principal, Perkins&Will
• Dr. Erika Eitland, Director, Human Experience Lab, Perkins&Will