THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH:
11 Profiles of Neighborhood Transformation

Built Environment Profiles: 1 page description The Built Environment and Health: 11 Profiles of Neighborhood Transformation Related Presentations

Funded by: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services (EEHS), National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH)

There is growing recognition that the built environment -- the man-made physical structures and infrastructure of communities -- has an impact on our health. Through a series of program profiles, this project highlights examples of neighborhood-level successes in altering elements of the built environment to improve health behaviors and outcomes. Because low-income communities are more likely to be sites of hazards and less likely to be conducive to physical activity and healthy eating, profiles focus on interventions that have occurred in low-income communities and are most likely to contribute to reducing health disparities in the United States.

Chronic diseases such as diabetes and asthma are leading health concerns which are influenced by environmental conditions. Decisions about zoning, transportation, land use and community design influence the distances people travel to work, the convenience of purchasing healthy foods, and the safety and attractiveness of neighborhoods for walking. It is clear from the health implications of these decisions that public health can and should be a strong ally to ensure that decisions about neighborhood design are made with the health of community members at the fore.

However, decisions about the built environment have traditionally been made without active inclusion of public health. To facilitate public health's participation, there is a need for concrete examples that demonstrate the importance of the built environment as well as illustrate potential roles for public health. A greater understanding of opportunities to improve health outcomes through altering the built environment will strengthen linkages between public health, city planners and others involved in community design.

Prevention Institute has developed a set of 11 profiles that include: 1) a description of the geographic area and the specific changes that were made; 2) the process required to implement the changes including leadership and organizational collaboration; 3) any documented impacts (positive and negative); and 4) lessons learned.

Prevention Institute considered seven key aspects of the built environment that appear to be central to reducing health disparities:
1) Activity-promoting Environments: Foster incidental and recreational activity; 2) Nutrition-promoting Environments: Provide and promote safe, affordable, healthy food; 3) Housing: Availability of safe, affordable, available housing; 4) Transportation: Safe, reliable, accessible and affordable methods for moving people around; 5) Environmental Quality: Safe, clean water, soil, air, and building materials; 6) Product availability: Availability of safe, health-promoting or unsafe, unhealthy products; and, 7) Aesthetic/Ambiance: Well-maintained, appealing, clean environment.

Program profiles were developed to illustrate the influence of the built environment on health or health behaviors and are intended to provide health practitioners with a tool to demonstrate how changes to the built environment can positively influence health and health behaviors in low-income communities. To receive more information about this project please contact Manal Aboelata, MPH at (323) 296-5750 or manal@preventioninstitute.org.

Complete documents in PDF format:

	The Built Environment and Health: 11 Profiles of Neighborhood Transformation
	Built Environment Profiles: 1 page description

Sections of the larger document in PDF format:

	Boyle Heights, CA -- Evergreen Cemetery Jogging Path
	Rochester, NY -- Partners Through Food
	Boston, MA -- Lead-Safe Yard Project
	Denver, CO -- Gardens for Growing Healthy Communities
	South Los Angeles, CA -- Community Coalition: Closure of Liquor Stores
	Hudson Heights, NY -- The Paterno Trivium: Neighborhood Gathering and Traffic Calming
	Boston, MA -- The Fenway Alliance: Walkability in a Commercial District
	Stamford, CT -- Westside Project: Building Community Trust
	Seattle, WA -- Citywide Improvements for Walking and Biking
	Wray, CO -- Wray Health Initiative: Creating a Healthy Community in Rural Colorado
	Philadelphia, PA -- Mural Arts Program

Related Presentations:

Presentation on The Built Environment and Health: 11 Profiles of Neighborhood Transformation

Larry Cohen delivered this presentation during a breakout session on new partnerships between smart growth and public health at the 2005 New Partners for Smart Growth conference. The entire conference program with more than 60 PowerPoint presentations and audio files from select events are available from Smart Growth Online.

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