Building resilient, healthy, literate communities: Developing common language, programs, and measures of success across planning, public health, and education

Urban planning, public health, and education were historically intertwined around a local, place-based approach with schools as the centers of democratic communities, but later dissociated. Yet despite the magnitude of the urban challenges that exist today, which have implications for community health, literacy, and civic engagement, these three disciplines too often attempt to work independently rather than collaboratively, failing to realize their full potential and shared power. By once again synthesizing across these three fields, we can foster healthier, engaged communities. Case studies will be presented that showcase the potential of a unified approach. Where schools are physically located and how they are built have environmental, health, and educational implications; healthy school siting policy challenges planners, public health practitioners, and educators to work towards both equity and excellence. Similarly, all three fields are committed to deliberative democratic practices and empowering citizens, and applied civics education and youth empowerment programs have emerged from each of the three fields. This presentation will also discuss how this framework can be applied to three programs within the federal government's Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (the Community Health Centers, Promise Neighborhoods, and Choice Neighborhoods, spearheaded by federal public health, education, and planning/community development departments, respectively) and the case of community schools. At the conclusion of this presentation, attendees will be able to: describe how planners, public health practitioners, and educators can have overlapping goals in solving common problems, and apply this to their own work in program planning, policy analysis, and research for healthy communities.