Online Program

Oral

The built environment — our neighborhoods and communities where we live, learn, work and play — has an impact on physical activity levels, access to healthy food, transportation behaviors and, ultimately, health outcomes. Public health, development, and transportation officials from Kane County, Illinois, implemented a model for collaborative public policy planning and implementation which fully integrates public health into land use and transportation decisions. A rich history of planning in Kane County served as the foundation for this integrated model and currently Kane County draws on several, integrated and complementary plans: the 2040 Transportation Plans, the Fit Kids 2020 Plan, the 2012-2016 Community Health Improvement Plan, and the 2040 Land Use Plan. The 2040 Land Use Plan contains a health chapter for the first time and recommends the formation of a Planning Cooperative that draws local and municipal planners and partners into the integrated planning model and enables all stakeholders to improve the built environment. With a Kane County health vision that seeks to have the healthiest residents in Illinois, the launch of the Planning Cooperative was jump-started by a grant initiative, Healthier Communities. This initiative offered mini-grants to local planners for built environment projects with a health focus, engaged the Kane County Planning commission in implementing the integrated Planning Cooperative, and produced an evaluation to assure that our community can understand, replicate, and enhance the success of the initiative.

Session Objectives: Describe an effective approach to improving the built environment through the integration of health into local/county land use and transportation planning. Discuss how the development of a local planning cooperative facilitates the integration of health into the planning approach used among all stakeholders.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH) , Masters Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES)