Deepti Adlakha, Ph.D.

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Bio

Deepti Adlakha, Ph.D., is the Director of the Natural Learning Initiative (NLI) and Associate Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. Dr. Adlakha is a Fulbright Scholar and an interdisciplinary scientist with a diverse educational background. She holds degrees in architecture, urban design, public health, and has extensive research experience within international contexts.

Dr. Adlakha’s research focuses on generating, translating, and scaling up evidence for reducing health inequities in underserved populations, especially children, youth, and families. This work includes examining how the neighborhood environment impacts weight status, physical activity, and dietary behaviors across the lifespan. As Director of NLI, she is currently involved in designing outdoor learning environments for preschools, special education facilities, and school grounds in the US.

Dr. Adlakha is passionate about promoting access to nature in the daily experience of children of all ages and abilities through environmental design, action research, education, and dissemination of information. She collaborates with community partners and public health practitioners to help implement policy, systems, and environment change around active living.

Dr. Adlakha has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and popular media, including TEDx, BBC, The Conversation, and Scientific American. Prior to her appointment at NC State, she held a tenured faculty position in the School of Natural and Built Environment, Queen’s University Belfast, United Kingdom.

Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications

Adlakha, D., Sarmiento, O.L., & Franco, S.S. (in press). Designing intergenerational communities: Next steps for age-friendly cities in the Global South. Planning Theory and Practice.

Liu, J., Adlakha, D., Thomas, Y., Banerjee, S., Yongsi, B.N., Jayasinghe, S. (2021). Asian city prospects for planning and urban health. Cities & Health. https://doi:10.1080/23748834.2021.1945365

Liu, S., Higgs, C., Arundel, J., Boeing, G., Flores, D., Cerdera, N., Cerin, E., Adlakha, D., Lowe, M. & Giles-Corti, G.C. (2021). A generalized framework for measuring pedestrian accessibility around the world using open data. Geographical Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1111/gean.12290

Adlakha, D. & Sallis, J.F. (2020). Activity-friendly neighbourhoods can benefit non-communicable and infectious diseases. Cities & Health—Special Issue on COVID-19, Cities, and Health, 1-5. https://doi:10.1080/23748834.2020.1783479

Link to infographic here.

Sallis, J. F., Adlakha, D., Oyeyemi, A., & Salvo, D. (2020). An international physical activity and public health research agenda to inform coronavirus disease-19 policies and practices. Journal of Sport and Health Science, S2095-2546(2020)30064-30068. Special Issue on COVID-19, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2020.05.005

Lambert, E.V., Kolbe-Alexander, T., Adlakha, D., Oyeyemi, A., Anokye, N. K., Goenka, S., Mogrovejo, P., & Salvo, D. (2020). Making the case for ‘physical activity security’: The 2020 WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour from a Global South perspective. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 54(24), 1447. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2020-103524

Adlakha, D., Brownson, R.C., & Hipp, J.A. (2020). Built environment correlates of overweight and obesity in Chennai, India. Cities & Health—Special Issue on Asian City Futures: Spatial Form and Health, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1080/23748834.2020.1791397

Adlakha, D. & Parra, D.C. (2020). Mind the gap: Gender differences in walkability, transportation and physical activity in urban India. Journal of Transport & Health, 18, 100875. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2020.100875

Parra, D.C., Adlakha, D., Pinzon, J.D., Van Zandt, A., Brownson, R.C. & Gomez, L.F. (2020). Geographic distribution of the Ciclovia and Recreovia Programs by neighborhood SES in Bogotá: How unequal is the geographic access assessed via distance-based measures? Journal of Urban Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-020-00496-w

Selected Book Chapters

Adlakha, D., & Felix, J. Push for pedal power: The case for urban cycling in India. In K. Siefken, A.R. Varela, N. Schulenkorf & T. Waqanivalu (Eds.), Physical Activity in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. London: Routledge.

Adlakha, D. Reclaiming streets for people in urban India. In A. Martire, J. Clossick & B. Hausleitner (Eds.), Streetspace: An Anthology of Everyday Streets. London: UCL Press.

Media

TEDx—Post Pandemic Cities: Design Factors for Health and Equity

BBC Northern Ireland—Home Ground: Series on Designing Cities for Wildlife and Biodiversity

Scientific American—Population Density Does Not Doom Cities to Pandemic Dangers

Radio Sputnik—Changing city density is not necessarily going to have positive benefits on public health

The Conversation—Why urban density is good for health – even during a pandemic

Area(s) of Expertise

Urban design; healthy places; children and adolescent/youth health and development; active living; physical activity; parks and green spaces; quantitative, qualitative, and participatory methods in design and research

Publications

• "Green Enough Ain't Good Enough:" Public Perceptions and Emotions Related to Green Infrastructure in Environmental Justice Communities , International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2022)
• Are urban design and transport policies creating healthy, active cities across the world? , (2022)
• Assessing the Impact of a New Urban Greenway Using Mobile, Wearable Technology-Elicited Walk- and Bike-Along Interviews , Sustainability (2022)
• Calculation of policy-relevant spatial indicators of urban liveability: experiences of scaling a research programme from local to global , UBLISHER 10th State of Australasian Cities National Conference, 1-3 December 2021, Melbourne, Australia (2022)
• Case study from Asia Push for pedal power: urban mobility and the rise of bicycling in Indian cities , PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES (2022)
• City planning policies to support health and sustainability: an international comparison of policy indicators for 25 cities , The Lancet Global Health (2022)
• Creating healthy and sustainable cities: what gets measured, gets done , The Lancet Global Health (2022)
• Design for all ages , (2022)
• Designing for outdoor play and healthy childhoods: A call to action , (2022)
• Determining thresholds for spatial urban design and transport features that support walking to create healthy and sustainable cities: findings from the IPEN Adult study , The Lancet Global Health (2022)

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