Designing Healthy Communities

Abstract

Designing Healthy Communities points out that our car-focused and pedestrian-unfriendly community design has significantly worsened the obesity epidemic and has created a pandemic of health crisis and inequities. Many health impacts resulting from our built environment disproportionately affect vulnerable groups. Along with a 4-hour DVD set, the Designing Healthy Communities companion book was recently published by Jossey-Bass (a Wiley imprint) and copublished by the American Public Health Association to document how the built environment and where we live affect our health. Dr. Jackson provides visionary discussions of how we can design healthy communities to address and prevent many of our devastating health concerns. A number of case studies illustrated how community issues were identified and ways communities were transformed into healthful physical environments. This text provides refreshing perspectives and challenges policy makers, health professionals, and citizens to work together, take charge, and be the change agent for our own communities.