Better Urban Planning for Better Public Health (In the Real World)

Jennifer Kent details three ways that urban planners can have a positive impact on public health. Writing from Australia, Kent's lessons apply easily to the United States and other countries around the world.

Although providing better infrastructure for walking and biking is a prime example of better planning producing better public health outcomes, Kent wants to focus on three les appreciated methods to promote better health.

Equity provides the overarching theme of the three recommendations that follow in the article. "Urban planners are well versed in the fundamentals of planning the equitable city," writes Kent. "But planners must work within the constraints of our political systems and prevailing approaches to government."

The three recommendations, with more detail and explanation included in the article, read as follows: 1) Play to emotions, 2) speak the language of money, and 3) enlist trusted figures.