The third iteration of Sport England’s active-design guidance, supported by Active Travel England (ATE) and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), has been produced to help create ‘active environments’.

It maintains the ten principles from the first two versions of the guidance while adding the foundational principle of ‘activity for all’, which is a constant throughout. The guidance seeks to help planners, designers and everyone involved in delivering and managing places to create and maintain environments that encourage people to move more.

Chair of Sport England Chris Boardman, who is also the national active travel commissioner for ATE, believes the guidance holds the key to many issues currently facing the country.

“It’s hard to underestimate the benefits of active design,” he said. “Creating places and spaces that both enable and entice us to move more in our everyday lives benefits us in so many ways – from saving money on travel to giving children transport independence, both of which will create healthier communities, which, in turn, reduce the strain on the NHS.”

He added, however, that moving more on a regular basis requires environments that are easy, attractive and safe. “How to create an environment that enables that is exactly what this guide is about,” explained Boardman.

Active design focuses on three themes: supporting active travel; active, high-quality places and spaces; and creating and maintaining activity – within which each of the ten principles sit. The ten principles are as follows:

Foundational principle

• Principle 1 – Activity for all

Supporting active travel

• Principle 2 – Walkable communities
• Principle 3 – Providing connected active travel routes
• Principle 4 – Mixing uses and co-locating facilities

Active high-quality places and spaces

• Principle 5 – Network of multi-functional open spaces
• Principle 6 – High-quality streets and spaces
• Principle 7 – Providing activity infrastructure
• Principle 8 – Active buildings, inside and out

Creating and maintaining activity

• Principle 9 – Maintaining high-quality flexible spaces
• Principle 10 – Activating spaces

“Enabling activity in our neighbourhoods is the core focus of the Active Design Guide,” said Boardman. “But to be truly transformative for a nation, we need to extend the principles, so people can get to schools, shops and workplaces a bit further away, under their own steam.

“Sport England has worked closely with Active Travel England, so this vision can be delivered by future-thinking authorities and developers, passionate about designing wonderful places to live that will stand the test of time. Who wouldn’t want to live in area like that?”

The guidance has been developed with planners, urban designers and developers in mind but is relevant to anyone involved in delivering and managing the built environment. It also provides useful case studies to illustrate how these principles can be successfully implemented in a variety of contexts.

This update builds on the work from ‘Active Design 2’ but reflects the latest research and practice in encouraging physical activity in the build and natural environment.