Community design elements are related to some of the leading causes of death and disability in the United States such as injuries, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and asthma. Healthy community design provides the following benefits:

• Promotes physical activity, thereby reducing adult and childhood obesity
• Improves air quality by lowering air pollution
• Lowers risk of injuries
• Reduces traffic injuries
• Increases social connection and sense of community
• Reduces contributions to climate change

Healthy community design includes a variety of principles:

Where you live matters to your health and many experts agree that zip code can be a better predictor of health than genetic code. Income, education, and health are intimately connected; residents in lower educated and lower income zip codes are more likely to have heart disease, cancer and a lower life expectancy than those in zip codes with higher levels of education and income. For example, in some parts of the U.S., the life expectancy of babies born to mothers in different neighborhoods within the same city can vary by as much as 25 years. However, everybody has the right to live the healthiest life possible, regardless of zip code. Through a variety of efforts which include healthy community design, many community-related risk factors can be addressed and it is possible to create healthier communities where we can live, work and play.

The primary way to promote health through community design is to make sure there is access to many types of transportation, healthy food, safe housing, and public spaces that promote health. This includes access to:

• transit, like buses or trains
• sidewalks and bike paths
• stores that sell food, especially those stocked with fresh fruits and vegetables
• safe and energy efficient housing
• parks and public spaces

Because healthy community design is such an integrated effort amongst architects, city planners, and government officials, it is important to be a responsible and proactive citizen in regards to your health. You can help take action to promote a healthy community by:

• Attending community meetings where decisions are made about how land will be used
• Talking with elected officials
• Working for policy change

Resources

• EnviroAtlas home page - EnviroAtlas is a tool provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EnviroAtlas provides interactive resources for exploring the benefits people receive from nature, or "ecosystem goods and services." It uses seven broad categories to organize its information and data: clean air; clean and plentiful water; natural hazard mitigation; climate stabilization; recreation, culture, and aesthetics; food, fuel, and materials; and biodiversity conservation.
• Healthy Community Design Checklist
• Planning and Health Resource Guide for Designing and Building Healthy Neighborhoods
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Utah Geological Survey
• Greenhouse Gas Information - U.S. Energy Information Administration

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The Utah EPHT Network collects greenhouse gas data from the Greenhouse Gas Inventories from the Utah Geological Survey. Remaining community design data were obtained using the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network application program interface (API).

View complete metadata for: green house gas, access to parks and elementary schools, commute time, proximity of population and schools to highways, and types of transportation to work.