Update on Built Environment Activities
Strategic intervention points
Since its inception the members of the Built Environment Work Group have pooled their best thinking to develop a framework for understanding the underlying built environment causes of chronic and acute health concerns. The group envisioned this framework as tool for educating both public health and planning professionals. The framework, presently in the development phase, will incorporate input from various agencies working on built environment.
In addition to disease specific interventions the work group has identified several general strategies for fostering a greater health impact on the built environment.
BARHII strategies- Infuse public health element in general plans
- Learn planning process: understand how to read situations and know how and when to intervene
- Learn about all major agencies that are involved in Land Use and Transportation Planning and understand their specific jurisdictions
- Provide evidence linking each built environment correlate with specific health outcomes
- Develop relationships with developers, planners and community groups
- Identify key stakeholders in decision making process and align ourselves with allies
- Identify unique contributions to regional initiatives without supplanting their current work
- Establish cross-disciplinary working groups on health: collaboratively develop policies and strategies for integrating health concerns into community design process
- Evaluate existing evidence on the strength of the associations identified with regards to interventions
- Engage communities in built environment issues in which they have a stake
- Establish an official role for public health on general plan advisory committees
- Build capacity of local advocacy groups through training, collaboration, access to data.
- Get support of city/county officials to encourage collaboration between public health and planning
Strategic Partnerships
BARHII staff have been invited to represent health interests at the Association of Bay Area Governments' (ABAG) regional planning process: Focusing Our Vision and the Metropolitan Transit Commission's (MTC) Regional Transportation plan. Click here to read BARHII's open letter to the Commission.
Member departments follow up to BARHII/ BAPDA meeting
Key Resources
The Impact of Built Environment on Health: An Emerging Field (pdf)
LEED-ND Report: Understanding the Relationship between Public Health and the Built Environment
The report was prepared for the US Green Building Council (USGBC), Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the participants in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) Core Committee. The purpose of this report is to better understand the specific development patterns and changes to the built environment will have a significant impact on public health. Research findings sections are primarily organized by major health outcomes. The summary conclusions, on the other hand, are organized by characteristics of urban form that can be addressed in the LEED-ND rating system.