Park with a bench and walking path.

Healthy Communities

Home Health and Wellness Healthy LivingHealthy Communities

The community where you live, work, learn, and play can help you stay healthy.

What is a healthy community?

A healthy community is a community designed to help people make healthy lifestyle choices where they live, work and play. The built environment is the human made places and spaces in a community. Making changes to the built environment is part of making healthy choices easier for us. For example, sidewalks, bike paths and nearby food stores, services and retail make it easier to choose an active way to get around the neighbourhood.

What things in your community help you stay healthy?

Paths for pedestrians and cyclists increase physical activity by promoting active travel. Active travel is walking, cycling, rollerblading, skateboarding, or using manual wheel chair to get from one place to another (for example the store, school, or work). Active travel also helps to improve air quality by reducing car use.
Pedestrian crossings ensure safety but also make it more likely people will choose to walk when it is direct and convenient to get where they are going on foot.
Lighting along paths improves pedestrian and cyclist safety.
Speed bumps and narrow streets are forms of "traffic calming measures". They help to slow down traffic and increase safety, making it more appealing to walk or cycle to where you need to go.
Parks and green spaces can encourage social connection, relaxation, and exposure to nature for a positive effect on your mental health.
Trees provide shade cover and UV protection, reduce extreme heat in urban areas and improve air quality.
Benches along walkways support physical activity for all ages, allowing those who need to rest to sit down. This is a part of making a community age-friendly.
An age-friendly community is one that helps older adults stay active and healthy.
Healthy communities are connected communities. When parks and paths are close and connected to where people live and work, it makes the choice to be active an easier one.

Community gardens and farmer's markets

Community gardens and farmers markets are healthy food sources in urban and rural areas that make it easier to eat healthy. They also help to:

make it easy to access fresh local produce
contribute to a sense of community
expose you to new vegetables and fruits
help the local food supply.
make neighbourhoods more walkable

There are a lot of community gardens and farmer’s markets throughout the Region.

Find out where there may be a community garden near you.

Interested in buying locally grown fresh produce?

Check out the Durham Farm Fresh website!

Trails and parks

Parks, Trails and Conservation Areas.

Check out the Durham Trails Guide!

How can you make a difference in your community?

Our communities have a lot to offer to help us make healthy choices the easier choice. However we can continue to make it even better for all ages and abilities, by improving access to public transit, active travel opportunities, and healthy food sources. Here’s where to start:

Be aware of opportunities to give input on plans that guide the design of your community. These plans guide how roads, sidewalks, parks, and neighbourhoods will be built and your feedback is valuable.
You can visit your local municipality’s website to learn about plans that are being updated and ways to provide feedback, whether through survey or workshops.
Speak up and attend community meetings to provide your feedback when there is an opportunity around you.

Community input is important so that all members can share their needs. Actively participate in identifying solutions to continue making your community healthier.