Public Health

Odd-Even Licensing Worked, So Why Is New Delhi Halting It?

Reporting from the world's most polluted capital, Julie McCarthy speaks with Ari Shapiro on NPR's "All Things Considered." McCarthy talks glowingly about how successful the two-week trial went in reducing pollution and congestion even more so.

January 22, 2016 - NPR

Interior Department Halts New Coal Leases on Federal Lands

Following-up on the president's assertion in his State of the Union address to better manage coal and oil resources on federal lands to account for environmental and financial costs, the administration declared a 'pause' on issuing new coal leases.

January 18, 2016 - US News & World Report

Michigan Governor Finds Himself at Center of Flint Water Crisis

A case is made that Gov. Rick Snyder's handling of the lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan is analogous to former President George W. Bush's bungling of the crisis resulting after Hurricane Katrina touched-down on the Gulf coast in August 2005.

January 14, 2016 - MSNBC

Motorcycle No Helmet

The High Cost of 'Motorcycle Freedom'

Michigan's mandatory motorcycle helmet law was repealed in April 2012. It only took a week for Dr. Carlos Rodriguez to notice an increase in patients not wearing a motorcycle helmet in his trauma unit in Grand Rapids, so he launched a study.

January 12, 2016 - Huffpost Healthy Living

Order Up: Massachusetts Has a New Food System Plan

With economic, employment, and social benefits, food is much more than what we eat. Now Massachusetts has completed a comprehensive food plan in the hopes of doing better with the systems by which food is manufactured, bought, and consumed.

December 16, 2015 - Metropolitan Area Planning Council

Portland, Maine

Maine Partnership Connects Transportation Design and Public Health

Planners and public health professionals in Maine are working together to increase opportunities for physical activity and active transportation.

December 4, 2015 - Maine Association of Planners Front Page

APA Awards Funding to Local Projects Combating Chronic Disease

$2.25 million in funding exemplifies the broadening focus of the American Planning Association on public health outcomes at the local level.

November 25, 2015 - American Planning Association

Feds Release New 'Transportation and Health Tool'

A new tool from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Centers for Disease Control allows comparisons between state or metropolitan area on transportation and public health indicators.

November 13, 2015 - Metro Magazine

Mapping U.S. Road Fatalities from 2003-2014

An intrepid mapmaker and data cruncher has created a map that illustrates the ubiquity of fatalities on U.S. roads and highways.

November 6, 2015 - Metrocosm

Pedestrian Markings

So the Chief Doc Says 'Take a Walk'

Though the role for planners in making it easier to walk was clear even before the U.S. Surgeon General urged communities to design and plan for walking, more information is needed to understand why and where people choose to travel on foot.

October 28, 2015 - Steven Polzin

How Planners Are Helping Build Healthy Food Infrastructure in Boise

The Idaho Plan4Health Coalition is exemplifying the role of planning in improving public health outcomes connected to healthy food and nutrition.

October 15, 2015 - Plan4Health

Take Care of Trees (They Take Care of You)

New research suggests that trees offer a "layer of protection" for cardiovascular disease.

September 26, 2015 - Pacific Standard

Deadly Diesel Emissions Plummeting in California

Amidst the bad publicity coming from Volkswagen's engineered fraud on diesel emissions testing comes good news from California Air Resources Board: The cancer risk from airborne toxins, most of which come from burning diesel fuel, dropped 76 percent.

September 25, 2015 - California Air Resources Board

Traffic Safety Sea Change Underway in Texas

Streetsblog surveys the Texas cities adopting new standards of traffic safety as official policy.

September 25, 2015 - Streetsblog USA

Hospital Signs

Census Reveals the States Where the Affordable Care Act Has Insured the Most Residents

If the goal of the Affordable Care Act is to reduce the percentage of Americans without health insurance, new Census data shows it's doing just that. Americans without health insurance fell by three percent last year, or 8.8 million people.

September 18, 2015 - Slate

Walking

More on the U.S. Surgeon General's Historic Pro-Walking Stance

The idea that Americans should walk rather than drive: "a radical idea wrapped in a banal government document."

September 12, 2015 - The Washington Post - Wonkblog

Deepening the Alliance Between the Planning and Public Health Professions

The Plan4Health program has provided an avenue for chapters of the American Public Health Association and the American Planning Association to fund and complete projects that improve the public health outcomes of the built environment.

September 11, 2015 - The Nation's Health

Sprawl Connected to Traffic Fatalities in Louisville

A Louisville case study of the findings and recommendations of the World Resource Institute's "Cities Safer By Design" report.

September 10, 2015 - Broken Sidewalk

Studies Find Spike in Bike-Related Injuries and Deaths

A pair of studies finds separate but related evidence that as more people are biking, more people are getting injured while biking. What to do about it is still under debate.

September 7, 2015 - KPCC

Kids Crossing the Street

Surgeon General Warning to Local Governments: Stop Being So Auto-Centric!

No, those will not be the precise words of the forthcoming "Call to Action" by Surgeon General Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy, but he will call on cities to "design and build roads and public places to make walking easier, safer, and more pleasant."

September 4, 2015 - T4America Blog

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.