Parkland Walk, Islington, New River, England. Image: wikimedia.

“Take two walks and call me in the morning,” might be among future prescriptions. Pediatrician Dr. Robert Zarr has created a database of 350 parks and green spaces in Washington, DC, integrating data into Unity Health Care’s system; doctors can enter a patient’s zip code and create an exercise plan. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at the G7 in June 2015, called for three priorities: environment, infrastructure, and public health. When England built the 1613 New River, a public/private water system, walking paths were created. Visionary architect Benton MacKaye advocated the salutary effects of outdoor exercise, leading to the Appalachian Trail. Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign promotes public heath. Boston’s Greenway replaced a highway with a park. How can green spaces be more effectively integrated into health care systems?

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.