Designing Healthy Communities—Improving our nation’s public health by re-designing and restoring our built environment

March 12, 2012 / Transportation / by DHC

The American Way of Unhealthful Living

Dr. Richard Jackson explains the link between our health and the way our communities — especially our suburbs — are designed. Obesity, asthma, diabetes and heart disease are all aggravated by the auto-centric way we live our lives today. It’s no secret that today’s generation of children are likely to have shorter lives than their parents because of their unhealthy lifestyles. It doesn’t have to be this way. Well-designed communities can improve both physical and mental health, as Dr. Jackson [...]

December 14, 2011 / Design, DHC / by Designing Healthy Communities

Episode 1: Retrofitting Suburbia

Dr. Richard Jackson MD MPH, investigates the link between our nation’s obesity and Type 2 Diabetes epidemic with urban sprawl fueled by car dependency. To prevent disease through better urban planning, Boulder, CO redesigns the city to make bicycles a safe alternative transportation. Related Topics or Episodes:The American Way of Unhealthful LivingEpisode 2: Rebuilding Places of the HeartEpisode 3: Social Policy in ConcreteEpisode 4: Searching for Shangri LaDesigning Healthy Communities – Companion BookDesigning Healthy Communities Complete DVD Series

December 14, 2011 / DHC, Health / by Designing Healthy Communities

Episode 2: Rebuilding Places of the Heart

Parents and children under seige. When U.S. industry and manufacturing collapsed or went elsewhere, cities like Elgin, IL, and Syracuse, NY, (like many communities in the United States) were left with the task of redefining themselves for a new paradigm. Leading the way to a greener, more sustainable Elgin is a group of high school students. Related Topics or Episodes:The American Way of Unhealthful LivingEpisode 1: Retrofitting Suburbia Episode 3: Social Policy in ConcreteEpisode 4: Searching for Shangri LaDesigning [...]

December 14, 2011 / DHC, People / by Designing Healthy Communities

Episode 3: Social Policy in Concrete

Dr. Jackson believes it is every citizen’s right to live in a clean, healthy environment. This isn’t the case for many low-income neighborhoods, built near big transportation hubs and struggling industrial cities like Oakland, CA and Detroit, MI. We meet a morbidly obese grandmother struggling to raise seven grandchildren, all of whom have asthma as a result of living near the Port of Oakland. The city of Detroit resembles an abandoned war zone. Yet, hope blossoms in both. Related [...]

December 13, 2011 / DHC, People / by Designing Healthy Communities

Episode 4: Searching for Shangri La

Dr. Jackson searches past and present America for healthy, sustainable communities of all sizes and shapes that can serve as models for the rest of the nation. His journey takes him to Roseto, PA, Prairie Crossing, IL, New York City, Charleston, SC, and the forgotten 1960s urban renewal project of Lafayette Park in Detroit, MI, the brainchild of 4 men, including visionary architect, Mies van der Rohe. Related Topics or Episodes:The American Way of Unhealthful LivingEpisode 1: Retrofitting Suburbia Episode 2: Rebuilding Places [...]

December 11, 2011 / Design, DHC / by Designing Healthy Communities

Designing Healthy Communities – Companion Book

The Companion book to the “Designing Healthy Communities” video series highlights how we design the built environment, and its potential for addressing and preventing many of the nation’s devastating childhood and adult health concerns. Related Topics or Episodes:The American Way of Unhealthful LivingEpisode 1: Retrofitting Suburbia Episode 2: Rebuilding Places of the HeartEpisode 3: Social Policy in ConcreteEpisode 4: Searching for Shangri LaDesigning Healthy Communities Complete DVD Series

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Now showing on PBS public television stations throughout the United States:
A provocative new 4-hour series, "Designing Healthy Communities." Host/Narrator Richard Jackson, MD, MPH, looks at the impact our built environment has on key public health indices – obesity, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, cancer and depression. Dr. Jackson connects bad community design with burgeoning health costs, then analyzes and illustrates what citizens are doing about this urgent crisis by looking upstream for innovative solutions.

Latest Projects & Topics

Media Policy Center Honored for Its Environmental Stewardship

April 30, 2012 / Transportation

The Media Policy Center is being honored Wednesday, May 2, for its efforts to promote environmental stewardship and sustainability, as the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce presents its 2012 Sustainable Quality Awards. The Sustainable Quality Awards (SQA) were created in 1995 to honor businesses in Santa Monica that have made significant achievements in the areas of sustainable economic development, social responsibility and stewardship of the natural environment. This year’s Sustainable Quality Awards will highlight the power of the entertainment industry [...]

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The American Way of Unhealthful Living

March 12, 2012 / Transportation

Dr. Richard Jackson explains the link between our health and the way our communities — especially our suburbs — are designed. Obesity, asthma, diabetes and heart disease are all aggravated by the auto-centric way we live our lives today. It’s no secret that today’s generation of children are likely to have shorter lives than their parents because of their unhealthy lifestyles. It doesn’t have to be this way. Well-designed communities can improve both physical and mental health, as Dr. Jackson [...]

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Transportation Secretary LaHood Kicks Off Construction of Cincinnati’s New Streetcar Line

February 23, 2012 / Transportation

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood helped kick off construction of a new 3.9-mile streetcar line that will spur Cincinnati’s efforts to revitalize its downtown core by improving access to major employers, the developing riverfront, and many area attractions. The Secretary was joined at the Feb. 13 event by Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff and Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory. “President Obama called on us to rebuild America by putting people back to work on transportation projects that are built to last, [...]

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Town Hall Meetings Coming Soon!

February 9, 2012 / Design

How can your community be designed to be healthier? Public involvement is the key — and a series of DHC Town Hall Meetings will bring together community leaders in cities across the nation to discuss changes that can be made now and in the future to improve walkability and community involvement. Learn more in this video and contact us to schedule a Town Hall Meeting in your community. Email dale@mediapolicycenter.org, harry@mediapolicycenter.org or call 310/828-2966 to get the process started in your [...]

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Walkability Raises Housing Values, Study Finds

February 3, 2012 / Design

Can you walk to stores, schools and a park from your home? If so, your house or condo may be worth substantially more than those in more isolated, pedestrian-hostile neighborhoods. That’s the finding of “Walking the Walk: How Walkability Raises Housing Values in U.S. Cities,” a study by Joseph Cortright that analyzed data from 94,000 real estate transactions in 15 major markets provided by ZipRealty and found that in 13 of the 15 markets, higher levels of walkability, as measured [...]

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Climate Change? The Answer is Pork

February 3, 2012 / Food

Meat may play a much bigger role in climate change than is generally believed, according to a new study from the Worldwatch Institute which finds that 51 percent of global emissions are being caused by meat. The commonly-accepted figure until now has been 18 percent. The controversial paper claims that United Nations figures have severely underestimated the greenhouse gases caused by tens of billions of cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and other animals in three main areas: methane, land use and respiration. Their findings [...]

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Preventable Chronic Disease on the Rise; Obesity, Diabetes Undermining Country’s Overall Health

February 3, 2012 / Health

United Health Foundation’s 2011 America’s Heath Rankings finds that troubling increases in obesity, diabetes and children in poverty are offsetting improvements in smoking cessation, preventable hospitalizations and cardiovascular deaths. The report finds that the country’s overall health did not improve between 2010 and 2011 – a drop from the 0.5 percent average annual rate of improvement between 2000 and 2010 and the 1.6 percent average annual rate of improvement seen in the 1990s. Highlights of the report: Nation made no [...]

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How Green Is That Fish?

February 3, 2012 / Food

It’s not easy for conscientious shoppers to identify seafood that has been raised or caught with an eye towards environmental protection, and a new report from the University of Victoria says some of the labels on fish aren’t as much help as they might be. “How Green is Your Eco-label?” is designed to help seafood buyers sort through competing sustainability claims and better identify those labels that result in farming methods with less damage to the ocean. Key findings include: [...]

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Vancouver Plans a Farm Atop a Parking Garage

February 3, 2012 / Transportation

Generally speaking, there’s not much on top of parking garages except cars. But in downtown Vancouver, B.C., a parking garage will host a high-density “VertiCrop” farming structure, the first in North America. Valcent Products has signed an agreement with the garage owners to build the 6,000-square-foot vertical farm, which will feature 12-foot-high stacks of growing trays on motorized conveyors that will ferry plants around to be watered, to catch the sun and, finally, to be harvested. The array will produce [...]

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Atlanta Getting New Streetcar Line

February 3, 2012 / Transportation

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and local officials have kicked off construction of a new 2.6-mile streetcar line that will run through the heart of Atlanta’s business, tourism, and convention corridor, bringing jobs and new development to the city and reflecting President Obama’s blueprint for an America that’s built to last. “President Obama called on us to rebuild America by putting people back to work on transportation projects that are built to last, like Atlanta’s modern streetcar [...]

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California’s Newest Parks Are Underwater

January 18, 2012 / Design

You normally think of parks as being places to walk or ride around. But on January 1, Southern California will celebrate the grand opening of a series of underwater parks, or “marine protected areas,” that includes wildlife hot spots such as the La Jolla kelp forest, Laguna tidepools, and Catalina Island coral gardens. These parks will join a growing system that currently dots the shore from Santa Barbara to Mendocino, and will soon stretch the length of California’s coast. California will [...]

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Twin Cities Light Rail Presents Health Opportunities and Risks, Pew Finds

January 18, 2012 / Transportation

The rezoning around a planned light rail line in the Twin Cities would create both opportunities and potential risks for the health of the people in the communities it would pass through, according to a health impact assessment (HIA) released today by PolicyLink, TakeAction Minnesota, and ISAIAH, a nonprofit coalition of 90 congregations of various faiths in the Minneapolis, St. Paul and St. Cloud region. The HIA was made possible through a grant by the Health Impact Project, which is [...]

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