New Healthy Regions Planning Exchange Targets Health Inequities

The Regional Plan Association announced the second phase of its Healthy Regions Planning Exchange program in a press release on February 18. The initiative "creates larger opportunities for communities to live full and healthy lives" through a comprehensive analysis of how planning policies have shaped health inequities in U.S. cities and programs that support local organizations in deepening their equity work. The second phase will "elevate best practices for addressing racial and health equity" and support participants in sharing resources and developing programs that "address structural inequities in transportation, housing, land use, and the environment."

The RPA "convened this national network of planners, practitioners, advocates, and community-based representatives" over the last two years to "develop solutions for reversing the impacts and influence of racism on urban planning and on cities across the US." Member organizations can learn from the experiences of other cities and explore "the intersections between the planning realms of transportation, the environment, and housing with the social determinants of health, climate justice, economy, health, trauma in the built environment and so much more." The regional partnerships started in the first phase will "effective responses to COVID-19 while beginning to address the roots of racial inequities which affect community health."