Public Health

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin based his entire State of the State speech this year on the state’s “full-blown heroin crisis.” The crisis has obvious impacts on neighborhoods, but did land use policy contribute to the problem?

March 1, 2014 - The New York Times

A study from the University of Oregon has laid the foundation for a new level of architectural outcome: how the materials of buildings can facilitate healthy kinds of bacteria while managing the pernicious sort.

February 27, 2014 - Fast Co. Design

“While average life expectancy for many cities far outstrips the non-urban regions of their country, there are others such as Johannesburg where it comes in way below,” according to an interactive feature on the Guardian’s Data Blog.

February 25, 2014 - The Guardian Date Blog

Minneapolis’ Healthy Corner Store Program launched with lofty ambitions in 2009—to help corner stores market and sell fresh food—but lackluster performance has required the city to reduce the scale of the program.

February 24, 2014 - Minneapolis Star-Tribune

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio gathered Police Commissioner William Bratton and Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg to make the potentially historic policy announcement: the Vision Zero plan, which treats all traffic deaths as preventable.

February 19, 2014 - New York Times

As a leading cause of death in the U.S., car collisions are one of the country's foremost public health problems. But a review of the last century of medical literature reveals increasing reluctance by the profession to weigh in on the subject.

January 13, 2014 - DC.Streetsblog

Though smoking is on the decline in China, lung cancer rates are rising. Twenty-year olds have joined seniors as likely patients, attributed to the toxic clouds containing particulates that regularly envelope China's eastern cities.

December 29, 2013 - Los Angeles Times - World

Petroleum coke or petcoke, similar to coal, is a nasty though salable byproduct of the oil refining process. Produced from refining tar sands crude in Indiana refineries, it is stored in huge piles in Chicago, blowing dust in the Southeast Side.

December 28, 2013 - NPR Morning Edition

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?

December 17, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

A new study that compares how each of the 50 states regulates dangerous motorist behaviors has found that those with the toughest laws have the least traffic deaths. So why don't more states adopt “evidence-based policies”?

December 11, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

A pilot project hopes to pioneer a new type of investment by alleviating asthma among lower-income children. Project developers hope the Fresno Asthma Impact Model could become a national model for improving health and reducing costs.

December 7, 2013 - The Fresno Bee

To meet America's health challenges, planning and public health are becoming reconnected across the country. But a century ago, the fields were "nearly indistinguishable". How did they become disconnected in the first place?

November 10, 2013 - AIArchitect

To his critics, Mayor Bloomberg's initiatives aimed at decreasing smoking, increasing active lifestyles, and tackling obesity add up to the creation of a "Nanny State". A new article challenges the critics by framing him as a public health pioneer.

November 1, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

Though research has been piling up on the adverse health impacts connected with driving long distances every day, it turns out that no matter how you travel to work, "having a job far from home can undermine health."

October 29, 2013 - The New York Times

Nonunion truckers at the Port of Oakland are on a work-stoppage over both work rules and compliance with a 2008 CARB diesel regulation requiring drayage trucks to be 2007 or newer. They want a year extension and more funding to assist in compliance.

October 27, 2013 - San Francisco Chronicle

More bike corrals, bike sharing, and parklets are on the way to the Golden State's capital thanks to the city council's unanimous vote on Oct. 22 with support from cyclists, pedestrians, businesses, and the regional air district.

October 25, 2013 - The Sacramento Bee

A new study by MIT researchers indicates that a greater number of premature deaths in the United States can be attributed to auto pollution than auto collisions.

October 17, 2013 - Next City

Thanks to a Calif. law implemented in 2008 requiring ocean-going ships to switch from high-sulfur bunker fuel to cleaner fuels within 24 miles of the coast, Bay Area air quality significantly improved by reducing deadly particulate emissions.

October 9, 2013 - BAAQMD News Release

Now that the dozens of repeal votes, budget battles, and court cases have failed to prevent the launch of the Affordable Care Act, we can turn our attention to its potential impacts. For cities and urban space, the Act's effects could be significant.

October 2, 2013 - thisbigcity.net

LA's trendy Silver Lake neighborhood "is going through a full-blown, divisive identity crisis." Amid trendy boutiques and million dollar homes are bastions of poverty and crime. Activists are divided on how to define, let alone address, its problems.

September 26, 2013 - LA Weekly