UD4H-Supported Project Selected for a 2022 American Planning Association Excellence Award
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UD4H can help you integrate health, equity, and the environment more fully into your work. Our innovative, evidence-based, and objectively-measured data and tools are used to promote human health, social equity, environmental resilience, and sustainable economic development.

Learn more about the services we offer. Contact us if you would like to discuss ways we can help.

Newsletter Overview

  • Upcoming Presentation for America Walks Featuring the Application of the National Public Health Assessment Model
  • 2022 American Planning Association Excellence Award for Developing Guidance for the Los Angeles Disadvantaged Communities Active Transportation Planning Initiative
  • UD4H Starts New Projects in California and Nevada
  • 2 New UD4H Publications in Environment & Behavior and the Journal of Transport Policy
Upcoming Presentation for America Walks: The Right Way to do Transportation Cost/Benefit Analysis
Register for free for this webinar with America Walks.
Date: December 15, 2022 | Time: 2:00PM EST/11:00AM PST
Learn how alternative future scenarios of regional growth can impact changes in health and wellbeing, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and other health outcomes. Three applications of UD4H'sThe National Public Health Assessment Model (N-PHAM) will be shared. These long-range transportation planning examples quantified a range of impacts and monetized the costs of future development patterns.
In this webinar, panelists will share how these tools have been applied in their communities. Cost-benefit analyses of road investments has traditionally been focused on time savings for people in vehicles. These new tools work to demonstrate the potential massive health benefits and environmental-related cost savings of investments in active transportation and transit infrastructure.
Body Mass Index > 30 current conditions for the Las Vegas region
The key learning objectives for this presentation include:
  • Experiences of regions that have measured the health impacts of transportation and land use plans
  • The current state of research of the health impacts of transportation decisions and how new tools can quantify these investments
  • How health costs can far outweigh claimed time savings from roadway expansion
Join Urban Design 4 Health's President, Dr. Larry Frank and guest speakers Alex Kone, Assistant Director of the Genesee Transportation Council (Rochester, NY), Deb Reardon, Regional Planning Manager of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (Las Vegas, NV), and Kim Anderson, Deputy Director of Planning of the San Joaquin Council of Governments (Stockton, CA).
Register for free for this webinar with America Walks.
Date: December 15, 2022 | Time: 2:00PM EST/11:00AM PST

National Public Health Assessment (N-PHAM) Applications
UD4H continues to assist agencies to better incorporate health-related outcomes into the transportation, land use, and community design planning process. A few examples are provided below.
Recent applications of the National Public Health Assessment Model
The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)'s Disadvantaged Communities Active Transportation Planning Initiative (DACPI) received an Excellence Award from the American Planning Association (APA), California Chapter. Urban Design 4 Health (UD4H), working as a subconsultant on an Alta Planning & Design team, played an instrumental role in the health impact analysis in this project.
Each year, the APA California Planning Awards review plans and programs to receive an award of excellence in appreciation of outstanding planning efforts in California.
The SCAG Active Transportation Plans for Disadvantaged Communities project developed a planning template for underserved communities with a focus on creating methods and providing "skeleton language" related to the inclusion of health considerations, as well as measures of the built, natural and social environment in the planning process.
UD4H led the development of the health assessment component of the project to identify best practices to guide communities in estimating the costs of health conditions. UD4H reviewed current best practices for incorporating health outcomes into active transportation planning and standardized these elements.
The guide was then applied in 7 disadvantaged communities in Greater Los Angeles. Performance measures such as physical activity, health outcomes, and safety, as well as environmental factors, including air quality and proximity to loud noise were examined.
Walkability and pedestrian and bicyclist-involved fatal traffic crashes in Perris, CA (SCAG region)
The project was recognized during the award ceremony at the 2022 APA California Conference on October 3, 2022 in Anaheim. UD4H was proud to be a sponsor for this year's Conference. Learn more about the 2022 APA California Conference.

Resources

New Project Starts
UD4H is excited to announce the start of two new projects:
1. Sacramento Blueprint Health Indicators with the Sacramento Council of Governments (SACOG)
  • Development of a set of public health performance metrics and evaluation the health impacts of future transportation and land use scenarios for Greater Sacramento
  • A localized version of the National Public Health Assessment Model (N-PHAM) will be used to forecast future health conditions as part of the 2024 Blueprint
2. Livable Centers Study - Henderson College Area with the City of Henderson and the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) of Southern Nevada
  • Evaluation of Henderson College Area neighborhood, which hosts the Nevada State College Campus, as a mixed-use and walkable Livable Center community
  • Application of the Regional Transportation Commission Public Health Assessment Model (RTC-PHAM) developed as part of the UD4H-led Las Vegas Transportation & Health Study

Recent Publications
Continuing its role as a groundbreaking research enterprise, UD4H staff have contributed to two recent journal articles.
1. Pathways from Built Environment to Health Care Costs: Linking Objectively Measured Built Environment w Physical Activity & Health Care Expenditures in Environment & Behavior
  • Completed by UD4H as part of the Health & Economic Effects of Light Rail Lines Study supported by the National Institutes of Health
  • Examined how detailed urban form related to mode specific moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and health care costs - controlling for transit access, residential choices/preferences and sociodemographic factors
  • Key Findings:
    • i.) a 1% increase in bike, walk, and transit-related MVPA associated with lower health care costs by -0.28%, -0.09% and -0.27% respectively
    • ii.) A 1-unit increase in neighborhood walkability correlates with a 6.48% reduction in health care costs
    • iii.) Indirect associations between residential choices, attitudes, and health outcomes through MVPA were also observed
2. The Effects of an Urban Light Rail Line on Health Care Utilization & Cost: A Pre-Post Assessment in Journal of Transport Policy
  • Examined the longitudinal effect of a new light rail transit (LRT) line intervention on health care costs in metro Portland, OR
  • Findings:
    • i.) The new LRT did not lower health care costs as hypothesized (decline over time, based on demonstrated health benefits of increased transit-related physical activity), at least relative to prior costs and within the first 4.5 years after the LRT opening
    • ii.) Results were consistent across outpatient visit costs, medication costs, and when only the 10% most expensive health plan members were considered
    • iii.) Despite the findings, research into the potential influence of public transit on physical activity and downstream health care costs remains warranted
Read more of our publications and past newsletters.

Let us know if you would like to explore further and discuss ways UD4H can help you integrate health, equity, and the built, natural, and social environment more fully into your work. Learn more about the services we offer, and contact us to begin a conversation.

 

- The UD4H Team
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Urban Design 4 Health (UD4H) develops evidence and tools to support healthy, sustainable, energy secure transportation and land use decision making.

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