Healthy Built Environment

How communities are planned and built, and the services and resources provided within them, directly impacts health. Developing land use planning policies and practices that promote health and well-being is important for health promotion and illness prevention.

PPH has undertaken several healthy built environment (HBE) activities. For more information:

• BC’s Healthy Built Environment Alliance: Building Collaborations for Healthier BC Communities – PHSA supports this voluntary cross-sector alliance that provides leadership and action for healthier, more livable communities
• BC's Healthy Built Environment Alliance: Inventory of member activities 2009/2010
• Healthy Built Environment Resource Kit
– Includes knowledge, communication and training resources as follows:

• Health 201: Healthy Built Environment Concepts for Planners and Design Professionals - this module is intended for architects, planners, design professionals, engineers, parks and recreation, and decision-makers in municipal and regional governments. The purpose of this initiative is to provide a set of tools that allows these professionals to take action in their respective sectors to reduce preventable illness and injury through design, by creating healthier built environments.
• Health 201: A Knowledge-to-Action Framework for Creating Healthier Built Environments Guide - a step-by-step guide composed of 3 components: a self-assessment tool, a Health and the Built Environment Primer, and a list of relevant references and resources from BC and beyond.
• Health 201: Five Things that Planners and Design Professionals need to know about Health and the Built Environment Powerpoint - a packaged 15 minute introduction presentation created for staff to deliver to their senior staff and elected officials who may be unfamiliar with the topic.
• Health 201 Workshops: In early 2011, two workshops were designed and implemented in BC with the goal of increasing awareness and understanding of HBE concepts: one was held in Vernon, BC on February 24, 2011; the other was held in Surrey, BC on March 31, 2011. The two workshops differed in content and structure, but they both encouraged increased collaboration between the health and planning sectors, and both introduced PHSA's Health 201 knowledge product (see above). Attached here are invitations/agendas for both workshops, as well as the workshop final reports and an evaluation of both events.
• Vernon Workshop February 24 2011 Collaborative Planning Action for Community Wellness Invitation Agenda - an invitation to the event including detailed agenda.
• Vernon Workshop February 24 2011 Collaborative Planning Action for Community Wellness Workshop Report - an overview of workshop logistics and outcomes.
• Surrey Workshop March 31 2011 Housing Transportation Health Invitation Agenda - an invitation to the event including high-level agenda.
• Surrey Workshop March 31 2011 Housing Transportation Health Workshop Report Executive Summary - the executive summary excerpted from the full report.
• Surrey Workshop March 31 2011 Housing Transportation Full Workshop Report - an overview of the workshop logistics and objectives, key messages, themes and evaluation highlights as well as a complete participant list.
• Evaluation of Healthy Built Environment Workshops Introduction of the Health 201 for Planners Tool - an evaluation of both workshops, including assessments of the individual events, cross-event comparisons, conclusions, and considerations for future events.
• Foundations for a Healthier Built Environment Summary Report - document that explains the link between health and the buildt environment and calls for improved collaboration between the health and planning sectors.
• Foundations for a Healthier Built Environment Power Point Presentation – presentation slides that support the Foundations document
• Introduction to Land Use Planning For Health Professionals: Workshop Reader – training module introducing health professionals to planning terms and processes.
• Introduction to Land Use Planning for Health Professionals: Sample Workshop Agenda – sample agenda for a 1-day workshop that highlights the Foundations Summary Report and Workshop Reader
• Introduction to Land Use Planning for Health Professionals: Sample Facilitators’ Agenda – detailed facilitator’s agenda to support the sample 1-day workshop agenda
• Introduction to Land Use Planning for Health Professionals: Sample Feedback Form – feedback form to gather input from workshop participants
• From Strategy to Action: Case Studies on Physical Activity and the Built Environment – report highlighting built environment initiatives to increase physical activity and promote health through community planning and design
• Creating a Healthier Built Environment in British Columbia – report on best practices related to the built environment that address obesity-promoting factors.
• Creating a Healthier Built Environment in British Columbia – summary paper
• Indicators for a Healthy Built Environment in BC – list of indicators that provide objective ways to measure and track changes in community status and population health
• Other Resources
• Bringing Health to the Planning Table: A Profile of Promising Practices in Canada and Abroad - this report profiles 13 Canadian communities where collaborative approaches to improve health outcomes have been a key consideration in planning decisions releated to the built environment. Prepared for the Healthy Living Issue Group of the Pan-Canadian Public Health Network.