Setting priorities for promoting activity and food access: A case study of healthy comprehensive planning in Washington State

Over the past decade, a broad range of disciplines including planning, design and public health have become increasingly aware that the design of the built environment can have a major impact on the health of the public. However, it’s not just local site design standards that impact the way our communities are built and organized. While built environment changes can occur at many levels of legislation, comprehensive plans serve as an ideal starting place for coordinated, evidence-based revisions in policies that drive major land use decisions and shape the nature of development.

As part of the Healthy Comprehensive Plan Technical Assistance project, a team of public health staff, planners, and technical consultants worked to identify specific strategies for integrating health supportive language into their comprehensive plan updates.  The work focused on three Washington Counties - Kitsap, Whatcom and Skagit.  In each county, the team focused on identifying specific priority policy areas that served to diminish health disparities within the county and increase access to opportunities for physical activity and food access.  The priorities were determined through a process of combining the subject matter evidence with local knowledge of health conditions and clear connections to potential health outcomes.  

In addition to the developing a unique pathway for priority policy selection, the team developed materials to communicate the need for and evidence behind policy change approaches and recommendations to planning staff, elected officials and the general public.