A researcher at the University of Sydney in Australia offers three recommendations for planners to better negotiate the real world of politics and governance to help create healthier communities.
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.
Read the full story: Working the system: 3 ways planners can defy the odds to promote good health for all of us
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Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority