Story submitted by the Indiana Department of Health
Returning to the place where the foundation of his career was laid, Pete Fritz (pictured left) found an opportunity that, for him, was less about a celebration of his own accomplishments and more about the chance to hear from some of today’s architecture and planning students.
Recognized as one of three Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning Distinguished Alumni by his alma mater, Ball State University, last month, IDOH’s healthy communities planner within the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity perhaps appropriately found himself grateful for the plaudits but all the while chose to build something: a bridge to the next generation.
Fritz said spending time with BSU’s architecture students (he was part of a panel discussion) was something he really enjoyed, noting that questions from them centered on balancing their academic success with the inherently “highly competitive and fast-moving learning environment” of aspiring built environment auteurs along with a desire to make service and advocacy central to their future work.
“I tried to reassure them that it’s okay to be challenged in their academic journey and that I have learned more from some of my failures in school than my relative successes,” Fritz said. “I was encouraged with some of the students’ interest in public service and advocacy. It warmed my heart that some students stated that they were interested in learning more about planning and design for creating healthy communities.”
In that way, those students may follow in Fritz’ footsteps, connecting communities in innovative ways that simultaneously encourage physical activity and may even open literal routes to healthier food options.
Those routes, however winding, match up with Pete’s path to IDOH and the subsequent work for which later earned him induction into the American Institute of Certified Planners’ College of Fellows (FAICP) – the highest honor that organization can bestow on a member.
Fritz earned his Bachelor’s of Landscape Architecture and a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Design at the Muncie university and took on private sector roles that eventually included starting his own firm. He came to IDOH about 15 years ago, already with decades of experience, and that coupled with his and his wife, K.K.’s, (whom he met at Ball State and who is also a planner and FAICP and serves as president of The Planning Workshop, Inc.) love of the outdoors and physical activity, it became the perfect fit.
One of Fritz’ first activities at IDOH (and one of his accomplishments of which he’s most proud) was creating a community workshop model designed to “engage community leaders and the public in [IDOH’s] programs promoting policy, system, and environmental (PSE) changes that support better community health outcomes through breaking down barriers to people being physically active.”
An avid cyclist, it was fitting that the genesis of the project included bicycle-friendly community workshops which were followed by wider-ranging active living courses. In the years since, these workshops (75 in total) have brought this message to more than 3,000 community leaders and others with the result being PSE changes in support of community-wide physical activity. If that type of undertaking requires some technical assistance, Fritz is just the guy for that as well, so communities opting for PSE changes already have a good foundation on which to build.
Frtiz’s duties include helming IDOH’s part in Complete Streets, which alongside the Indiana Department of Transportation and the not-for-profit Indy-based Health by Design, seeks to make streets safer and more accessible for all who use them – particularly bicyclists, motorists, pedestrians, and people who use public transportation, regardless of one’s age or physical abilities.
Additionally, he heads the DNPA’s Tactical Urbanism Demonstration Project Grant Program.
Although it may sound like the subtitle to the latest Call of Duty videogame, tactical urbanism refers to funding fast, low-cost demonstration projects designed to increase safe access for pedestrians and cyclists, such as temporary street closures, “pop-up” bike lanes, and traffic calming improvements, which seek to slow motorists’ speeds and reduce overall traffic volume.
Fritz is living proof of the need for such initiatives.
A decade ago, he was struck by a motorist while bicycling (at a marked crosswalk) and ended up in a trauma center for a week with eight broken ribs, a punctured lung, a collarbone fractured in two places, a broken shoulder blade, and a fractured thumb.
“The impact of being a victim of traffic violence helped me to understand the importance of creating places that are safe for walking and bicycling,” Fritz said.
It opened my eyes even more to the needs of people who walk and bike to get around, either by choice or out of necessity. It also gave me insight into the challenges of living with a disability, even though it was temporary for me.”
Looking toward the future, Fritz is perhaps most excited and optimistic about the roll-out of what he called “a series of engagement efforts” with local health departments. The goal is to discover how IDOH can work with LHDs “to create better access to healthy food environments in the communities they serve.”
Prior efforts bode well for a positive outcome and that optimism is a feeling central to everything Pete Fritz does to help Hoosiers lead safer, healthier lives.
“I am fortunate to have had a career in community planning and design, while more recently practicing as a public health professional. My experience in public health has opened my eyes to the needs of all people in a community in ways that I would not have seen in traditional planning and design practice.”
Going back to his Ball State days, when Fritz was one of those starry-eyed students with designs on a career around, well, design, he’s proof that sometimes the best laid plans of young women and men (mice likely excluded) turn out to be much more than castles in the sky. They might just be the paths and trails you use on a cycling trip or a short, sunshiney walk downtown.
“As I told some students recently, my journey and interest in planning and public health goes back to my college experience during the environmental movement and a desire to be of service to communities and help them to achieve their goals in creating places where people and the environment can thrive,” Fritz said. “It feels great to be part of an organization whose primary mission is to do just that.”