251657 Using local land use plan analysis to guide policy change - A Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) grantee's approach

Tuesday, November 1, 2011: 9:30 AM

Matthew Cunningham, MURP , CPPW Initiative, Tri-County Health Department, Greenwood Village, CO
Jennifer Barbour, MLA, MUD , CPPW Initiative, Tri-County Health Department, Greenwood Village, CO
Carol Maclennan, BS , CPPW Initiative, Tri-County Health Department, Greenwood Village, CO
Allison Hawkes, MD, MS , CPPW Initiative, Tri-County Health Department, Greenwood Village, CO
INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND Tri-County Health Department (TCHD) serves 29 jurisdictions in Colorado with a total population of 1.3 million. A goal of TCHD's CPPW grant is to facilitate local government land use policy change to support healthy eating and physical activity. The project described here systematically documented each jurisdiction's current healthy eating/active living (HEAL) policies and strategies. METHODS TCHD Urban Planners performed a literature review to develop an inventory of key words and phrases related to the influence of the built environment on health. Approximately 120 key words, such as “wide sidewalks,” “tree canopy,” “bike lanes,” were then grouped into key concepts (e.g., pedestrian friendly land use) for cataloging. The final key concepts were Comfort/Aesthetics, Connectivity, Environmental Deterrents, Healthy Eating, Parks/Recreation, Pedestrian-Friendly Land Use, Public Transportation, Traffic Safety and Walking/Biking. Staff then reviewed jurisdictions' Comprehensive/Transportation Plans and catalogued each jurisdiction's policies and strategies pertaining to the key concepts. RESULTS Of the 29 jurisdictions, 23 met criteria for analysis (i.e., sufficient population, existing plans with policies). Plans in the 23 jurisdictions had at least one HEAL-related policy. Policies related to walking/biking, parks/recreation, pedestrian-friendly land use and comfort/aesthetics were the most common (19 jurisdictions). Strategies for carrying out walking/biking policies were present in 16 plans; parks/recreation, 12; pedestrian-friendly land use, 11; comfort/aesthetics, 15. Policies related to healthy eating (6) and traffic safety (9) were less common. DISCUSSION TCHD developed a process for assessing HEAL-related land use planning policy, which is guiding our CPPW built environment activities, and can be replicated in other communities.

Learning Areas:
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Describe how to conduct an analysis of community comprehensive master plans and transportation plans for healthy eating and active living content.

Keywords: Community Planning, Physical Activity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to be the abstract author because I am the built environment specialist with the Tri-County CPPW project and assisted in designing the project to review and abstract the comprehensive plans.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.