Medscape presents a conference report on how planners and medical practitioners work together to improve public health through community design.
"What event could bring together physicians, urban planners, dietitians, meteorologists, architects, social activists, policy planners, and politicians? The answer is a conference, "Obesity and the Built Environment," which was organized by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate how our built environment promotes a sedentary lifestyle and obesity...
Dr. Drewnowski presented an analysis of the availability of fast food and fresh food in Seattle, Washington, by neighborhood income level, which revealed that lower-income areas have disproportionately high numbers of fast food outlets and disproportionately low numbers of grocery stores selling fresh foods.
...Lawrence D. Frank, PhD,[7] University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, presented data from the first study to assess the effect that the urban form has on travel patterns, body mass index, and obesity status. Objective measures of land use mix, residential density, and street connectivity were developed to characterize a 1-kilometer "network distance" surrounding study participants' homes."
Thanks to Congress on New Urbanism
FULL STORY: Highlights of Obesity and the Built Environment: Improving Public Health Through Community Design
Florida Considers Legalizing ADUs
Current state law allows — but doesn’t require — cities to permit accessory dwelling units in single-family residential neighborhoods.
HUD Announces Plan to Build Housing on Public Lands
The agency will identify federally owned parcels appropriate for housing development and streamline the regulatory process to lease or transfer land to housing authorities and nonprofit developers.
Has President Trump Met His Match?
Doug Ford, the no-nonsense premier of Canada's most populous province, Ontario, is taking on Trump where it hurts — making American energy more expensive.
OKC Approves 7.2 Miles of New Bike Lanes
The city council is implementing its BikeWalkOKC plan, which recommends new bike lanes on key east-west corridors.
Preserving Houston’s ‘Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing’
Unsubsidized, low-cost rental housing is a significant source of affordable housing for Houston households, but the supply is declining as units fall into disrepair or are redeveloped into more expensive units.
The Most Popular Tree on Google?
Meet Rodney: the Toronto tree getting rave reviews.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Florida Atlantic University
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
City of Piedmont, CA
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
City of Cambridge, Maryland