Oral

A healthy community protects and improves the quality of life for its citizens, promotes healthy behaviors and minimizes hazards for its residents, and preserves the natural environment. Land use and transportation decisions and the design of houses, commercial buildings, roads, parks, and other features in the built environment can facilitate or obstruct the creation and maintenance of healthy communities. Sprawling developments deter physical activity and increase automobile dependence that contributes to air pollution, car crashes, and pedestrian injuries. The mental health of individuals and a community's social capital may also be influenced by the design of the built environment. In this session, presenters will describe the impact of light rail transit on physical activity, discuss the built environment features that affect physical activity in older adults in urban areas, present an assessment tool for examining the neighborhood built environment, explore the use of parks in relation to accessibility by nearby residents, and explain factors that influence adoption of innovative land use policies that promote health.

Session Objectives: Explain the characteristics of the built environment that influence physical activity and other healthy behaviors. Describe types of tools that can be used to measure built environment features. Identify factors that affect policies that influence the built environment.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)