The Health by Design Lab is a research group using design thinking and systems level approaches to understand, research, evaluate, and solve complex public health challenges. We design and assess information and places – and the systems that shape them – to promote health and prevent disease at the population level. Our team conducts applied public health research, advocacy, and knowledge mobilization in health and risk communication, public health competencies, and evidence-based climate adaptation in environmental design. We use mixed methods and interdisciplinary approaches, collaborating with researchers, decision makers, knowledge users, and practitioners across disciplines, including public health, communication, and landscape architecture. The Health by Design Lab is directed by Dr. Jennifer McWhirter and is based in the Department of Population Medicine at the University of Guelph in Canada.
“To design is to devise courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.”
Herbert Simon, 1969