TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - March 26, 2014) - Active transportation, particularly cycling and walking, is fundamental to healthy and sustainable communities. Building on the direction of OPPI's previous report on active transportation, the Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) is issuing this Call to Action: Healthy Communities and Planning for Active Transportation - Moving Forward on Active Transportation in Ontario's Communities.
OPPI continues to advocate moving forward on a province-wide active transportation system that is safe, secure, efficient, convenient and equitable. Ontario needs a system that is based on good policy, planning principles and data that will serve present and future generations. This is key as many Ontario municipalities have established, or are in the process of establishing, policies and practices to place active transportation firmly within their regulatory frameworks. Further progress is needed, however, as few communities have implemented these policies in the development of their transportation network.
The Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) calls upon planners, the provincial government, municipalities, other related professionals, and members of the public to make active transportation a core mode of transportation for people of all ages across Ontario.
| This Call to Action is particularly timely as we move to implementation considerations, as reflected in the reports and activities that are being issued by the province and our other partners. | |
| In my discussions with practitioners across the province, I am impressed with examples where Healthy Community best practices have found their way into Official Plan policies, subdivision design and site plan approvals, among others: each reflecting the momentum being experienced of translating Health Community initiatives into examples of successful, on the ground, implementation. | |
| The success of these strategies is reflected in large measure by the broad partnership of interests that have come together to embrace and to implement the objectives of healthy communities - planners, health officials, municipal managers and provincial and municipal leaders, among others. | |
| Paul J. Stagl, MCIP, RPP | |
| President, OPPI | |
OPPI provides leadership in achieving healthy and sustainable communities in Ontario through the Institute's Calls to Action and Policy Papers. OPPI sees this as critical as where we work, live, and play is vitally important to the quality of our lives. For further information on OPPI's Healthy Communities initiative, including copies of this Call to Action, please go to: http://ontarioplanners.ca/Advocacy/Healthy-Communities-bull-Sustainable-Communities.
OPPI is the recognized voice of the Province's planning profession. Our more than 4,000 members work in government, private practice, universities, and not-for-profit agencies in the fields of urban and rural development, community design, environmental planning, transportation, health social services, heritage conservation, housing, and economic development. Our Members meet quality practice requirements and are accountable to OPPI and the public to practice ethically and to abide by a Professional Code of Practice. Only Full Members are authorized by the Ontario Professional Planners Institute Act, 1994, to use the title "Registered Professional Planner" (or "RPP"). www.ontarioplanners.ca
Contact Information:
Loretta Ryan, MCIP, RPP, CAE
Director, Public Affairs
416-668-8469
l.ryan@ontarioplanners.ca
www.ontarioplanners.ca