Community Design and Public Health: An Assessment and Evaluation of EPA's Sustainability Initiatives

The U.S. Enviornmental Protection Agency defines smart growth as development for the environment, community, economy, and public health. Over the years, the Smart Growth Program, and now the Office of Sustainable Communities (OSC), has developed a series of programs, initatives, and technical assistance offerings that align with goals for protection human health. Broadly, these relate to protecting air, water, and land quality through encouraging communities to create the built enviornment to preserve resources and encourage mixed-use, compact development patterns. Specifically, OSC has focused on development topics that can help acheive these goals and objectives. These efforts include promoting communities that feature design elements that enable pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists all to have access and use roads in a safe and convienent manner. Communities achieve this by promoting walkability audits, ensuring that streets are complete (all users have access), and sponsoring bikeshare programs. Given OSC's propensity to promote these initiatives, it is fair to critically assess how investments in these core design programs have had a positive affect on public and community health. This session will evalute OSC's influence and accomplishments and demonstrate the extent to which communities are focusing on health outcomes as they try to grow and sustain dynamic places to live, work, and play.