Toward Equitable Transportation and Land Use Policies

With support from the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity (DNPAO) at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Prevention Institute and Equitable Cities developed a policy guide to build the capacity of local government and policymakers to implement equitable transportation and land use policies and investments. A key goal of this project was to interpret how equitable transportation and land use policies are applicable at different levels of governance—from local jurisdictions to the federal level—and provide guidance on how these can be monitored and assessed in the future. View a webinar recording about this project here.

Prevention Institute and Equitable Cities convened subject matter experts from transportation and land use planning, mobility justice, health equity, and other sectors to inform findings. Expert input was supported by a literature scan summarizing the equity implications of active transportation infrastructure, policy, and program responses considered in the past, and the differentiation of approaches based on community context.

Learnings, frameworks, and best practices taken from this analysis were  disseminated in a nationally-promoted webinar on August 2nd (more details here) and through a forthcoming resource. This new resource is for local leaders working to advance equitable municipal transportation, land use, and built environment policies and interventions. The resource includes policies and strategies that hold promise for promoting equitable and inclusive access to physical activity and safe places to walk, bike, and use transit for communities facing health inequities and disinvestment (in alignment with CDC's Activity-Friendly Routes to Everyday Destinations strategy).

If you are interested in learning more about this project, please contact jasneet@preventioninstitute.org.

Acknowledgements

This work was done by Prevention Institute and Equitable Cities in collaboration with  fifteen subject matter experts:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided support for development of the resource under cooperative agreement OT18-1802 supporting the Active People, Healthy Nation^SM Initiative, a national initiative led by the CDC to help 27 million Americans become more physically active by 2027. The findings and conclusions in the resource and webinar are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  To Learn more about Active People, Healthy Nation^SM, visit: https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/activepeoplehealthynation/index.html.*Photo credit: CC: "No Motor Vehicles - Chelsea Piers, New York City" by Andreas Komodromos