Fit Cities – Fit World 2013, an international conference at the Greater London Authority and at Hackney Marshes Centre, a venue by the London Olympic Park site, held from 18-19 March will analyse the ways in which health has been placed the centre of urban regeneration plans for the Olympic legacy through ‘active design’ principles.

The event builds on the highly successful annual Fit City conferences held in New York staged by the Centre for Active Design, and will look at the integration of urban design and health boosting activities in helping to prevent diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. Speakers include James Corner, the landscape architect, founder of director of james corner field operations, on their design for the South Plaza of the Olympic Park, Bob Allies, Partner, Allies and Morrison, on the legacy masterplan, David Burney, Commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction, City of New York, Karen Lee, Centre for Active Design, New York, Kathryn Firth, Chief of Design, London Legacy Development Corporation, City of New York, and Russell Jones, Glasgow City Council, on the city’s forthcoming Commonwealth Games.

The event will feature talks about the plans being developed for the 2016 Rio Olympics from a health perspective and the Sochi Winter Olympics, and Canada’s design and health practices, culminating in a panel chaired by designer Wayne Hemingway with representatives from the NHS, Public Health England and the GLA.

Registration is free, and participants can attend for one or two days. The conference is hosted by the Mayor of London and developed with the Olympic host boroughs, the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), CABE at the Design Council, the Centre for Active Design and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Full programme details and to register on the GLA website