Health
How Schools Can Address Idling Cars
Schools can do more to reduce the environmental threat posed by idling cars during drop-off or pick-up. School districts could also improve their buses with that aim in mind.
How Commutes Influence Happiness, Health
More evidence is piling up that commuting by anything but private automobile can increase happiness, social capital, and health.
Walkability: It's About Experience
The Surgeon General's call to action, Step It Up, asks us all to get moving. And that to do that, to clear the hurdles to walkable, bikeable, rollable places. We knew that sitting is the new smoking, and now we have the full admonition to go with it.
Improving Mental Health May Be As Easy As a Walk in the Park
A new study offers evidence that walking in a natural setting is more beneficial to mental health than walking in an urban setting.
Fort Worth Wants Residents to Live Longer
The Texas city is the largest municipality so far to sign onto the Blue Zones Project, an initiative for improving longevity. In a nutshell, Blue Zones wants to make healthy choices the easy ones.
'General Welfare' for the Next Generation
The "health, safety, and general welfare" of our communities are poorly served by the outcomes of the status quo.
The Case for a Walkable Cleveland
In this long-form article, G.M. Donley reminds us why walkable and diverse communities have become such a planning staple. In Cleveland, New Urbanism contends with a history of sprawl and decreasing population.
Family-Friendly Downtown Living
What helps make a downtown family friendly? Safe places to play, safe streets, good schools and attainable housing, writes Jennifer Hill.
Foreclosures Are Making People Sick
Seven years after the housing bust began, millions of Americans are still suffering. And suffering is the operative word—because both foreclosures and economic inequality impact people’s health.
Why Placemaking Matters: What's in it for Me?
What's your elevator pitch on why placemaking matters? Here's a couple rounded up by Hazel Borys, and some numbers that help refine their message.
Grocery Stores Require New Business Models in Food Deserts
Nathanael Johnson reports on what makes healthy grocery stores succeed in food deserts.
Are We Designing the Wrong Solutions to America's Health Problems?
From encouraging physical activity to improving access to healthy food, planners and designers are increasingly tackling America's public health challenges. But what if cars, suburbs, and food deserts aren't to blame for our unhealthy lifestyles?
Urban Land Institute Encourages Developers to Build for Better Health
The Urban Land Institute has a new project: convincing developers that they can, and should, design for health and wellness.
The Rise of Municipal Urban Design Departments
San Antonio City Design Center's Executive Manager Mark Brodeur describes his observations of the nationwide trend in cities establishing independent urban design departments.
5 Good Reasons Why Children Should Walk To School
Susan Elkin points to alarmingly low statistics on the number of children who walk to school, especially when compared with historic rates. She lays out some “blindingly obvious” and “child-centered” reasons why this trend needs to be reversed.
The Challenge of Bringing Walkability to America's 99 Percent
Kaid Benfield proposes not only more walkable neighborhoods in the United States, where a pedestrian is struck by a vehicle every 7 minutes, but also more walking to reverse the country's alarming obesity trend.
'Cycle to Work' Scheme Subsidizes Bikes for Brits
Sarah Goodyear reports on how Britain's 'Cycle to Work' scheme has decreased carbon dioxide emissions, and transformed the lives of individuals such as Toby Field.
A Tree Grows in Pigeon Town
I don’t know what it is about New Orleans that makes me wax rhapsodic. But something about the city makes everyday life look poetic. I returned to the Crescent City last week after having last visited just seven months ago, when a tree planting
Quitting Diesel is Good for Your Health
Diane Bailey reports on a new study's findings linking diesel exhaust to lung cancer. The findings have sparked concern for people who live in large cities with high levels of diesel pollution.
Does Living in a Poor Neighborhood Harm Your Health?
A study conducted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the 1990s found that living in poor neighborhoods can actually hurt your health.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
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.
