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In 2001, RPA launched a strategic cooperative agreement with the Milbank Memorial Fund, the National Centers for Disease Control, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. Building on the work of RPA's Greensward, Mobility and Centers programs, RPA is aggressively working to reestablish the link that historically existed between public health planning and community design. This initiative is built around a variety of site-specific case studies as well as conferences, publications and research. Through this work and the new partnerships that support it, as well as by exploiting RPA's broad network of established relationships with decision makers and the civic community, RPA will play a key role in shaping as healthy communities agenda for the tri-state region.
• Report (1.8 mb)
• Healthy Communities Resources |
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The City of Stamford is making a major public investment in the Mill River corridor with the creation of a new park system in the downtown and with the commitment, made in the new Master Plan, to a larger greenway network extending from the Merritt Parkway to the South End waterfront. This Healthy Communities project will leverage the benefits of these investments by promoting increased activity levels in the disadvantaged and largely minority neighborhoods on the west side of the new Mill River Park, both through recreational opportunities in the park itself and through increased connectivity between the neighborhoods and the new downtown Mill River Park. The project will explore ways of by promoting pedestrian and bicycle connections to the park, to the downtown beyond, and to the larger greenway network.
The project will also measure activity levels in this neighborhood before and after the greenway as constructed in an attempt to measure the health impacts of community design interventions. Project partners include the Yale-Griffen School of Public Health, The City of Stamford Health Department and other city agencies, and the Connecticut State Department of Health.
• Stamford West Side Healthy Communities Project Summary
• Stamford West Side Healthy Communities Interim Report [PDF, 723 KB]
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Other Healthy Communities Initiatives: |
Transit Access and Activity Levels, a New Jersey Case Study
This project will investigate the impact of transportation improvements on activity levels in several communities and relate those outcomes to the physical design of the communities. Specifically, it will measure the impact of the Secaucus Transfer on up to three communities that, as a group, represent a range of suburban built environments.
The Healthy Region - Regional Assessment Strategies of the Metropolitan Landscape
Walking to transit and to school have become basic goals for promoting active, healthy lifestyles in the region. So, how much of the region's growth has been within walking distance of the commuter rail? In answer to this question, all of the commuter lines were mapped, a 1/3 mile radius buffer was created around each station, and working age population was determined. What about walking to bus lines? Here, a contiguous buffer 1/3 mile wide on either side of the bus route was created.
• Regional Assessment Project Summary
• Healthy Communities Regional Assessment Interim Report [PDF, 469 KB]
Schools and Healthy Communities
The question is not just why children can't walk to school but why are schools, more and more, placed at the periphery of communities, making them inaccessible and limited in capacity to support a variety of community needs. In New Jersey, RPA is using the Abbott decision as a platform to address both local planning and state policy issues. As a result of the Abbott decision, New Jersey is embarking on an unprecedented amount of school construction in both Abbott and non-Abbott school districts. As seen in some exemplary cases, such as in Paterson, New Jersey, schools can become an integral part of civic life through strategic siting, design and programming. By enhancing a school's connections throughout the community, schools can support healthier and more active lifestyles for the entire population.
RPA is currently working with Rutgers in Plainfield, New Jersey, to leverage a new middle school construction project for broader neighborhood revitalization efforts.
Building on the RPA white paper, “Designing Healthy Communities, Schools: The Heart of a Healthy Community,” a conference is being planned to bring together key actors to ensure that this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is completed successfully. With the State requiring each school district to undertake and complete a Long Range Facilities Plan by October 2005, the time is right to begin considering opportunities for making our schools the heart of a healthy community. As with the paper, the conference will examine current health trends and the role schools can play in reversing the epidemic of childhood obesity and related illnesses. Panels will explore how designing schools in conjunction with their environs can help create healthy and active communities, the unique opportunity that exists in New Jersey's Abbott districts to build exemplary schools and school-centered neighborhoods, and specific examples of community schools and the creative processes behind their development. New paradigms and policies that are shaping how schools get built in the 21st century will be illustrated and examined. Each panel will include experts as well as a respondent to ground the discussion in reality. A Question and Answer session will enable the give-and-take necessary to ensure that ideas are more fully explored and understood. It is hoped that the conference will enlighten local and state officials about healthy school design, as well as identify roadblocks to progress and opportunities for excellence.
• Schools and Healthy Communities Project Summary
• Schools and Healthy Communities Interim Report [PDF, 809 KB]
Outreach and Advocacy for Healthy Communities
RPA has the opportunity to promote a healthy communities agenda through a variety of outlets, including the many conferences and workshops RPA convenes during the year. This includes the New Jersey Mayors Institute on City Design, the Northeast State Planners conference, and RPA's annual Regional Assembly. Over the last few years, RPA has made healthy community issues a centerpiece of these programs. At the Mayor's Institute, this has taken the form of addressing active "living by design" initiatives, bikeway and greenway connections, transit connections, and walkable mixed-use centers.
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