The Center for Active Design (CfAD), a New York City-based nonprofit organization that promotes architecture and urban planning solutions to improve public health, recently unveiled “Research to Action: Building Health for All in the Face of COVID-19,” a series of five evidence-based chapters designed to provide guidance on how commercial property professionals can create healthier environments in the midst of the ongoing pandemic.
In this edition of Suite Talk, Business Journal Senior Enterprise Editor Phil Hall spoke with Joanna Frank, president and CEO of CfAD, about this new endeavor.
What was the genesis of the new five-chapter series?
“We are the operator of Fitwel, the building certification system. In that role, we set the industry standard and translate the public health research coming from academic institutions around the world into practical and implementable design and operational strategies for all sectors of the real estate industry: multifamily housing, commercial buildings, retail buildings and larger-scale industrial sites and communities. We”™re a trusted resource to the folks in the building industry.
“We had a little bit of warning from our partners in China about the pandemic before it came to the U.S. When the pandemic was breaking here, we experienced an incredible demand from all facets of the real estate industry. Building owners, commercial real estate managers, as well as designers and engineers were being asked by their tenants or their employees or their investors how they were responding to COVID-19 and how they were going to ensure that their residential properties or commercial properties were positioned to either keep their residents safe ”” in the case of multifamily ”” or if they would be able to invite their tenant back if it was a commercial property.
“There”™s a lot of writing about COVID-19, but there was a lack of clarity about what was based on research and what was just opinion. Users in the building industry turned to us and we were inundated with questions. We spent the first eight weeks of the real pandemic conducting a review of the literature ”” we have 5,600 peer reviewed research studies within all databases and, obviously, there”™s a fair few of those that have already looked at infectious disease.
“We were also a partner with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the research that we had identified was a complete picture and was in line with their expertise.”
Can you tell us a bit more about the research?
“When we looked at health, we looked at all aspects of health: physical health, mobility due to chronic disease or infectious disease and mental health and what we call social health or social cohesion, which has a big impact on overall life expectancy and quality of life.
“What we know from the research is that social isolation accounts for as many preventable deaths a year globally as smoking. This is a serious health crisis ”” depression is actually the number one cause of disability globally, according to the World Health Organization.
“Mental health is already of massive consequence to people”™s overall health. As the number one cause of disability, it is obviously also having a massive impact on business as well. I think it”™s far less understood than the physical assets of health, especially from the real estate industry.
“The building industry doesn”™t really understand mental health very well. So, the design decisions we”™re making in the operational process ”” whether you”™re a city, an individual owner property, an architect or a facility manager ”” is impacting people”™s mental health, but we just don”™t know it.”
Will the new series focus on all types of buildings or are you keeping your scope to certain properties?
“It”™s kind of chapter by chapter, with the first chapter on mitigating viral transmission that applies across all sectors. We”™re looking at how person-to-person transmission presents itself and then aerosolized transmission, along with the solutions and strategies for mitigating transmission of the virus.
“The next chapter is about building trust in the workplace. The individual employees in a building, especially multitenant buildings, are highly unlikely to know what the operational strategies are of that building ”” they don”™t how you”™re managing the air conditioning system or the protocols around cleaning. The building trust piece is all about how you communicate effectively, how you set up a plan and how you engage with both your tenants and their employees so that everybody”™s priorities are taken into consideration when you”™re creating that plan.
“The next chapter is specifically for residential settings and talking about how you create residential environments that are optimized for people”™s health, specifically mental health. As the owner or manager of a residential property, there”™s so much that you can do to directly address people”™s stress and anxiety and underlying mental health.
“The remaining chapters are at the neighborhood scale and look more at density and at chronic disease prevention at a neighborhood scale.”
The coronavirus eventually will go into the history books, but how can this series be used for future generations in a post-pandemic environment?
“I think that you will see an evolution of the evidence base around COVID-19 and around emergency preparedness, as well as an evolution on understanding the value of human capital.”
