Items tagged with health:
Colorado Environmental Health Association Annual Conference
Colorado Springs, September 29
Bill will be a featured speaker at CEHA's Annual Education Conference in Colorado Springs on September 29. He will be talking about the public health benefits of complete streets, including how places can adopt and implement policies that promote active living, improve safety, and reduce reliance on automobiles.
(July 23, 2010)
Quote of the Day
San Francisco Business Times
(July 21, 2010)
Bay Area: Air Quality Rules Could Stifle Urban Dev
San Francisco Business Times
(July 21, 2010)
Documents tagged with health:
The Effect of Light Rail Transit on Body Mass Index and Physical Activity
John M. MacDonald, Robert J. Stokes, Deborah A. Cohen, Aaron Kofner, Greg K. Ridgeway
Examines impact of the arrival of light rail in Charlotte, North Carolina, on the health of residents
Streets to Live By: How livable street design can bring economic, health and quality-of-life benefi ts to New York City
Lindsey Lusher, Mark Seaman, Shin-pei Tsay
This report analyzes the potential economic and quality-of-life benefits that an expanded livable streets initiative could bring New York City.
Cost-Effective GHG Reductions Through Smart Growth & Improved Transportation Choices
Steve Winkelman, Allison Bishins, Chuck Kooshian
Study evaluates economic case for focusing on transportation options as the most effective tool in reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Blog Posts tagged with health:
FAQs For Applying For Sustainability Planning Grants
Racing against Monday's looming deadline, HUD’s Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities is rushing out extra material to help answer questions about the department's two new planning grants.
The pre-application process for the Community Challenge/Tiger II Planning Grants closes at 5:00 p.m. EDT on Monday, July 26. In theory, those interested in submitting pre-applications were supposed to have registered for access to the pre-application system back on July 16. But if any interested parties have not yet registered for access or submitted a pre-application, they can still do so. Pre-application instructions are provided on the TIGER II website.
DOT and HUD are responding to a high level of late requests for registration, and will continue to respond to these requests in the order in which they are received, until 5:00 p.m. EDT on Monday July 26, the Office of Sustainable Communities and Housing announced.
To assist applicants for HUD community challenge activities, HUD has developed some specific guidance to address frequently asked questions:
- Frequently Asked Questions about the Joint NOFA on DOT’s TIGER II Planning Grants and HUD’s Community Challenge Planning Grants
- Things Everyone Should Know about the Pre-Application for TIGER II Planning Grants and Community Challenge Planning Grants
- Frequently Asked Questions about HUD’s Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grants
- Frequently Asked Questions Concerning Data Points 1.1, 2.1, and 3.2
More information is available in the reorganized HUD Sustainability website.
F IS FOR FAT 2010: NEW REPORT DISCUSSES THE LINK BETWEEN TRANSPORTATION POLICIES AND THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC
The Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation just released their annual report on obesity, F is for Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2010. The report contains the latest data on adult and child obesity rates in America, as well as policy recommendations for local, regional, state, and federal officials to help combat the obesity epidemic. In the past year, more than 28 states saw their adult obesity rate increase, with Colorado remaining the leanest state at 19.1%, which is still higher than the national average in 1980.
While the majority of recommendations focus on nutrition and physical activity, the report devotes significant attention to the link between the built environment and health, and calls for programs and policies that increase walking, bicycling, and the use of public transportation. Under "Increasing Access to, Availability and Affordability of Physical Activity," (p. 83), it lists "Support mixed-use development and locate businesses, recreation centers, parks, libraries and other facilities near public transportation" as a strategy. There are also recommendations specific to the next transportation reauthorization bill on page 96, including "mass transit and pedestrian/bicycle infrastructure should be enhanced because they help reduce harmful vehicle emissions and promote physical activity" and "all major transit projects should assess their impact on health." The report also contains a good summary of current federal legislation that can potentially promote active transportation and expand funding for mass transit and transit-oriented development.
Click here for the press release and fact sheet
Click here for the full report
Fostering public health
[This is the fourth in a series of blog posts by David Dixon FAIA, principal-in-charge Planning and Urban Design at Goody Clancy. Dixon's posts are part of a series of expert blogs on TOD highlighting work and research that experts are doing in the field.]
The connection between compact development and improved public health is well established. At the same time, rising housing values in walkable central cities are pushing lower-income households to car-dependent outer suburbs where housing is cheaper, as Chris Leinberger noted in the March 2008 Atlantic Monthly. As a result, these Americans could face higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and other conditions kept in check by physical activity. As noted in a previous blog post, increased density is central to providing the kinds of housing options that maintain income diversity in urban neighborhoods. Without a conscious effort to preserve and create significant affordable housing in core cities, unguided market forces will relocate America’s poorest residents to its least healthy environments—auto-dependent outer suburbs.
There are also strong correlations among public health, disposable income, and density. Displacing lower-income households from transit-served urban neighborhoods to auto-dependent exurban settings also means that they will spend a far greater share of disposable income on transportation costs—Chris Leinberger has estimated roughly two and a half times as much. A recent retail market study by Annapolis-based W-ZHA of underserved Washington neighborhood demonstrated that new housing — higher-density mixed-income and market-rate development — had raised disposable income to levels that would support stores that sell fresh produce, health clinics, and other essential ingredients of enhanced public health.
For neighborhoods of any income, the real public health payoff comes from density sufficient to encourage walking. The densities that support Main Streets, active parks, and similar inviting destinations — for instance, a mix of narrow-lot single-family houses, row houses, and low-rise lofts — are the densities that invite walking. And having an attractive destination to walk to matters. The Centers for Disease Control renovated stairwells at its Atlanta headquarters but saw little change in use patterns. After coincidentally installing vending machines on stair landings, stair use shot up — the stairs became destinations that encouraged not just walking but climbing stairs.
Next: Enhancing sustainability
Part 1: Density deficits
Part 2: Restoring personal choices
Part 3: Building community in the midst of diversity
Part 4: Fostering public health
Part 5: Enhancing sustainability
Part 6: Creating places that people love
David Dixon is co-author of Urban Design for an Urban Century: Placemaking for People
