Active and Healthy Case Della Comunità: Model Research for Spatial Requirements of Waiting Spaces

The built environment is one of the determinants of health as it acts as a promoter of healthy lifestyles. This research deals with design solutions to promote healthy and active ageing in socio–healthcare facilities for primary care in Italy. This three-year research study aims to develop Design Guidelines for waiting spaces in Casa della Comunità (CdC: House of the Community, a new model of primary care facility in Italy) to promote good health and well-being in sustainable cities and communities. In accordance with these goals, the study applied different research methods in three main phases: Background research, starting from three fundamental groups of theories derived from the scientific literature to define a Theoretical Framework; data collection and field research, dealing with technical analysis of international best practices, as well as perceptive analysis through interviews and questionnaires conducted with the staff, patients, and caregivers of the socio–healthcare facilities, in order to define spatial requirements for waiting spaces; and finally, the results phase, involving the development of tools and design solutions of health-promoting waiting spaces according to the Sustainable Development Goals (the Design Guidelines were applied in two experimental pilots: a VR-based pilot and a physical pilot conducted at an existing CdC in Florence, Italy). In this contribution, we focus on the background and field research phases, describing the process leading to the outcomes of the second phase: spatial requirements for CdC waiting spaces.