P – T – BUILT ENVIRONMENT & PUBLIC HEALTH CLEARINGHOUSE

P

Paratransit: 1) Comparable transportation service required by the American Disabilities Act (ADA) for individuals with disabilities who are unable to use fixed route transportation systems. (49CFR37) (APTA1) 2) A variety of smaller, often flexibly scheduled-and-routed transportation services using low-capacity vehicles, such as vans, to operate within normal urban transit corridors or rural areas. These services usually serve the needs of persons that standard mass-transit services would serve with difficulty, or not at all. Often, the patrons include the elderly and persons with disabilities. Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Park: A place or area set aside for recreation or preservation of a cultural or natural resource. (DOI4) Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Parking Area: An area set aside for the parking of motor vehicles. (DOI4) Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Parkway: A highway that has full or partial access control, is usually located within a park or a ribbon of park-like developments, and prohibits commercial vehicles. Buses are not considered commercial vehicles in this case. (FHWA2) Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Participating Agency: A federal department or agency which transferred (consolidated) vehicles to the Interagency Fleet Management System (IFMS). (GSA2) Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Particulate Matter (PM10 and PM2.5): (See also, Particulate Matter Emissions.) Particulate matter consists of airborne solid particles and liquid droplets. Particulate matter may be in the form of fly ash, soot, dust, fog, fumes, etc. These particles are classified as \coarse\ if they are smaller than 10 microns, or \fine\ if they are smaller than 2.5 microns. Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Particulate Matter Emissions (PM): Particulate matter (PM) is the general term used for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. They originate from many different stationary and mobile sources as well as from natural sources, including fuel combustion from motor vehicles, power generation, and industrial facilities, as well as from residential fireplaces and wood stoves. Fine particles are most closely associated with such health effects as increased hospital admissions and emergency room visits for heart and lung disease, increased respiratory symptoms and disease, decreased lung function, and even premature death. Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Parts Per Million (PPM): A measure of air pollutant concentrations. Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Passenger Car: A motor vehicle designed primarily for carrying passengers on ordinary roads, includes convertibles, sedans, and stations wagons. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Passenger Mile: 1) One passenger transported one mile. Total passenger miles are computed by summation of the products of the aircraft miles flown on each inter-airport flight stage multiplied by the number of passengers carried on that flight stage. (AIA1) (FAA11) (NTSB1) 2) The cumulative sum of the distances ridden by each passenger. (FTA1) Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Passive Survivability: The ability of a building to maintain critical life-support conditions for its occupants if a service such as power, heating fuel, or water is lost for an extended period. Source: Making Healthy Places
Pedestrian: Any person not in or on a motor vehicle or other vehicle. Excludes people in buildings or sitting at a sidewalk cafe. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also uses another pedestrian category to refer to pedestrians using conveyances and people in buildings. Examples of pedestrian conveyances include skateboards, non-motorized wheelchairs, roller skates, sleds, and transport devices used as equipment. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Pedestrian Districts: A comprehensive plan designation or implementing land-use regulations, such as an overlay zone, that establish requirements to provide a safe and convenient pedestrian environment in an area planned for a mix of uses likely to support a relatively high level of pedestrian activity. Such areas include but are not limited to: (a) lands planned for a mix of commercial or institutional uses near lands planned for medium- to high-density residential use; or (b) areas with a concentration of employment and retail activity, and which have or could develop a network of streets and accessways which provide convenient pedestrian circulation. Source: (A Planners Dictionary, ed. by M. Davidson & F. Dolnick. PAS Guide 521/522)
Pedestrian Oriented Development: Development designed with an emphasis primarily on the street sidewalk and on pedestrian access to the site and building, rather than on auto access and parking areas. The building is generally placed close to the street and the main entrance is oriented to the street sidewalk. There are generally windows or display cases along building facades which face the street. Typically, buildings cover a large portion of the site. Although parking areas may be provided, they are generally limited in size and they are not emphasized by the design of the site. Source: A Planners Dictionary, ed. by M. Davidson & F. Dolnick. PAS Guide 521/522
Pedestrian Safety Zone: An area that is targeted to improve conditions for pedestrians, often by decreasing vehicle speeds through environmental modification, enhanced police enforcement, and/or community outreach and media. Source: Making Healthy Places
Pedestrian Walkway: A continuous way designated for pedestrians and separated from the through lanes for motor vehicles by space or barrier. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Safety equipment including respirators, face shields, safety glasses, hard hats, safety shoes, goggles, coveralls, gloves, vests, and earplugs used in hazardous workplace settings. Source: Making Healthy Places
Person-environment Fit: The degree to which a person or his or her personality is compatible with the person’s environment. Source: Making Healthy Places
Person Miles of Travel (PMT): A measure of person travel. When one person travels one mile, one person mile of travel results. When one person travels five miles, five person miles of travel results. When four persons travel five miles in the same vehicle, 20 miles of travel result. Source: Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey Glossary and Abbreviations
Person Trip: A trip taken by an individual. For example, if three persons from the same household travel together, the trip is counted as one household trip and three person trips. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Person-environment fit: Individual behaviors are contingent on the dynamic interplay between the demands of the environment (press) and the person’s ability to successfully deal with that demand (competence). This dynamic interaction represents person-environment fit. Source: Glaas and Balfour
Person-Miles: An estimate of the aggregate distances traveled by all persons on a given trip based on the estimated transportation-network-miles traveled on that trip. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Pervious surface: Porous surface with spaces in the material, such as landscaping, gravel, and alternative pavers. Pervious surfaces allow rainwater or snowmelt to pass through into the ground, thereby reducing runoff and filtering pollutants. Source: EPA Top Green Home Terms
Photo-voice: A community engagement activity that uses photography to empower residents to express their views and opinions. Source: Making Healthy Places
Physical activity: Any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure. Regular physical activity – such as walking, cycling, or dancing – has significant benefits for health. Source: World Health Organization: Physical Activity
Place Attachment: The emotional bonds that people develop for places that are the sites of positive experiences and memories. Source: Making Healthy Places
Planned-unit Development: A preplanned development with subdivision and zoning rules that are applied to the project as a whole rather than to individual lots or areas. Source: Making Healthy Places
Planning Commission: A group of citizens, either elected or appointed by the mayor or city or county commissioners, that functions as a fact-finding and advisory board to elected officials in areas of planning and development. Source: Making Healthy Places
Plat: A map representing land subdivided into lots, blocks, and streets. Source: Making Healthy Places
Point of Exposure: The place where someone can come into contact with a substance present in the environment. Source: ASTDR Glossary of Terms
Police Power: The state’s power or right to restrict and regulate private prerogative, such as property rights, in the interest of the public good. Source: Making Healthy Places
Policy: A guiding principle upon which governments, businesses, organizations or other entities develop plans or courses of action, or that is intended to influence and determine decisions, actions, and other matters. Source: Making Healthy Places
Policy Research: Social scientific research related to policies that may be descriptive or analytical or may deal with causal processes and explanations for policies. Source: Making Healthy Places
Population Health: Health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group. Source: Kindig D, Stoddart G. What is population health? American Journal of Public Health 2003 Mar;93(3):380-3. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
Precautionary Principle: “When an activity raises threats of harm to the environment or human health, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.” (1998 Wingspread Statement). Source: Making Healthy Places
Prevalence: The number of existing disease cases in a defined population during a specific time period Source: ASTDR Glossay of Terms
Prevention: Actions that reduce exposure or other risks, keep people from getting sick, or keep disease from getting worse. Source: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Prevention Through Design: A design approach aimed at preventing or minimizing work-related hazards and risks associated with construction, manufacture, use, maintenance, and disposal of facilities, materials, and equipment. Source: Making Healthy Places
Primary Pollutants: Pollutants emitted directly from a source, such as motor vehicle tailpipe emissions of carbon monoxide. Source: Making Healthy Places
Privately Owned Vehicle (POV): 1) A privately-owned vehicle or privately-operated vehicle. 2) Employee’s own vehicle used on official business for which the employee is reimbursed by the government on the basis of mileage. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Protective Factor: Social, economic or biological status, behaviors or environments which shield from or cause decreased susceptibility to a specific disease, ill health, or injury. Source: Health Inequalities Glossary
Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health (PACE-EH): a methodology to guide local communities in identifying and addressing environmental health priorities. Source: CDC-Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health
Public Crossing: A location open to public travel where railroad tracks intersect a roadway that is under the jurisdiction and maintenance of a public authority. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Public Facilities Law: A local law controlling growth by requiring completion of infrastructure—roads, sanitary and storm sewers, waterlines, and schools—prior to, or at the same time as, new private development that will need those services. Source: Making Healthy Places
Public Health: What we as a society do collectively to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy. Source: (National Academies of Science, Institute of Medicine. The Future of the Public’s Health in the 21st Century, 2002 )
Public Health Surveillance: The ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data. This activity also involves timely dissemination of the data and use for public health programs. Source: ASTDR Glossary of Terms
Public Health System: a complex network of individuals and organizations that have the potential to play critical roles in creating the conditions for health. The governmental public health infrastructure (e.g., local and state health departments and laboratories), the health care delivery system, and the public health and health sciences segments of academia are most heavily engaged in and identified with health-related activities and are obvious actors in a public health system. There are other, less obvious actors who can shape population health by influencing and even generating the multiple determinants of health (e.g., economic change, political will, knowledge, social connectedness, information, and language and cultural barriers). Source: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services
Public Road: Any road under the jurisdiction of and maintained by a public authority (federal, state, county, town or township, local government, or instrumentality thereof) and open to public travel. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Public Space: Open space, including any park, lake, stream, stadium, athletic field, playground, school yard, street, avenue, plaza, square, bus, train or railroad depot, station, terminal, cemetery, open space adjacent thereto, or any other place commonly open to the public, including but not limited to, areas on private property commonly open to the view by the public. Source: A Planners Dictionary, ed. by M. Davidson & F. Dolnick. PAS Guide 521/522
Public Transit: Passenger transportation services, usually local in scope, that is available to any person who pays a prescribed fare. It operates on established schedules along designated routes or lines with specific stops and is designed to move relatively large numbers of people at one time. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Public Transit Agencies: An organization that provides transportation services owned, operated, or subsidized by any municipality, county, regional authority, state, or other governmental agency, including those operated or managed by a private management firm under contract to the government agency owner. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Public Transit System: An organization that provides transportation services owned, operated, or subsidized by any municipality, county, regional authority, state, or other governmental agency, including those operated or managed by a private management firm under contract to the government agency owner. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Public Transportation: Transportation by bus, rail, or other conveyance, either publicly or privately owned, which provides to the public general or special service on a regular and continuing basis. Also known as “mass transportation”, “mass transit” and “transit.” Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Public Water Systems: Systems that provide water through pipes or other conveyances to at least twenty-five people or fifteen service connections for at least sixty days per year. Source: Making Healthy Places
Public Way: Any street, alley or other parcel of land open to the outside air leading to a public street, which has been deeded, dedicated or otherwise permanently appropriated to the public for public use and which has a clear width and height of not less than 10 feet (3050 mm). Source: Public Way

Q

Quality of Life: defined as individuals perceptions of their position in life in the context of the culture and value system where they live, and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. It is a broad ranging concept, incorporating in a complex way a person’s physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships, personal beliefs and relationship to salient features of the environment. Source: World Health Organization

R

Rail: A rolled steel shape laid in two parallel lines to form a track for carrying vehicles with flanged steel wheels. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Rain Garden: A shallow depression planted with native plants, particularly grasses that hold and slowly absorb storm water. Source: Making Healthy Places
Raised Crosswalks: Raised crosswalks are essentially broad, flat-topped speed humps that coincide with pedestrian crosswalks at street intersections. The crosswalks are raised above the level of the roadway to slow traffic, enhance crosswalk visibility, and make the crossing easier for pedestrians who may have difficulty stepping up and down curbs. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Ramp: A walking surface that has a running slope steeper than 1:20. Source: United States Access Board
Randomized Controlled trail (RCT): A clinical trial in which persons are randomly assigned to exposure or treatment groups, commonly used to test new drugs. Source: Making Healthy Places
Rapid Rail Transit: Transit service using railcars driven by electricity usually drawn from a third rail, configured for passenger traffic, and usually operated on exclusive rights-of-way. It generally uses longer trains and has longer station spacing than light rail. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Recreational Physical Activity: Physical activity that is done for recreation, enjoyment, sports, hobbies, health, or exercise during leisure time (cf. utilitarian physical activity). Source: Making Healthy Places
Recreational Trails Program (RTP): Provides funds to the States to develop and maintain recreational trails and trail-related facilities for motorized and nonmotorized recreational trail uses. 23 U.S.C. 206. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Redlining: The practice of designating certain lower-income or minority neighborhoods as ineligible for credit. Source: Federal Reserve
Reference Dose (RfD): An EPA estimate, with uncertainty or safety factors built in, of the daily lifetime dose of a substance that is unlikely to cause harm in humans. Source: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Reformulated Gasoline: 1) Gasoline whose composition has been changed to meet performance specifications regarding ozone-forming tendencies and release of toxic substances into the air from both evaporation and tailpipe emissions. Reformulated gasoline includes oxygenates and, compared with gasoline sold in 1990, has a lower content of olefins, aromatics, volatile components, and heavy hydrocarbons. 2) Gasoline specifically developed to reduce undesirable combustion products. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Refueling Emissions: Emissions released during vehicle re-fueling. Source: Environmental Protection Agency
Regional Planning Organization (RPO): An organization that performs planning for multi-jurisdictional areas. MPOs, regional councils, economic development associations, rural transportation associations are examples of RPOs. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Regionally Significant Project: A project that is on a facility which serves regional transportation needs. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Relative Need Formula: An allocation formula used by BIADOT to distribute construction funds to the 12 BIA area offices. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Reliability: Refers to the degree of certainty and predictability in travel times on the transportation system. Reliable transportation systems offer some assurance of attaining a given destination within a reasonable range of an expected time. An unreliable transportation system is subject to unexpected delays, increasing costs for system users. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Residential Density: The number of residential dwelling units per unit of land area. Source: Making Healthy Places
Resilience: The ability of a system to respond to and bounce back from a disturbance or crisis. Source: Making Healthy Places
Restricted Road: Public road with restricted public use. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Revenue Passenger-Mile: One revenue passenger transported one mile. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Revenue Vehicle-Miles (Transit): One vehicle (bus, trolley bus, or streetcar) traveling one mile, while revenue passengers are on board, generates one revenue vehicle-mile. Revenue vehicle-miles reported represent the total mileage traveled by vehicles in scheduled or unscheduled revenue-producing services. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Right of Way: The land (usually a strip) acquired for or devoted to highway transportation purposes. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Riparian habitat (corridor): Areas adjacent to rivers and streams with a differing density, diversity, and productivity of plant and animal species relative to nearby uplands. Source: EPA Terms and Acronyms
Risk Behavior: Specific forms of behavior which are proven to be associated with increased susceptibility to a specific disease or ill-health. Source: World Health Organization
Risk Factor: Social, economic or biological status, behaviors or environments which are associated with or cause increased susceptibility to a specific disease, ill health, or injury. Source: World Health Organization
Road: An open way for the passage of vehicles, persons, or animals on land. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Road Class: The category of roads based on design, weatherability, their governmental designation, and the Department of Transportation functional classification system. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Road Diet: Narrowing or eliminating travel lanes on a roadway to make more room for pedestrians and bicyclists. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Road Functional Classification: The classification of a road in accordance with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) 9113.16. Code as follows C-collector, L-local, R-resource. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Road Pricing: An umbrella phrase that covers all charges imposed on those who use roadways. The term includes such traditional revenue sources as fuel taxes and license fees as well as charges that vary with time of day, the specific road used, and vehicle size and weight. Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
Road Rage: An act of aggression on the part of one driver directed toward another driver, passenger, or pedestrian. Source: Making Healthy Places
Roundabout: A roundabout is a one-way, circular intersection in which traffic flows around a center island. Because roundabout traffic enters or exits only through right turns, the occurrence of severe crashes is substantially reduced. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Route of Exposure: The way people come into contact with a hazardous substance. Three routes of exposure are breathing [inhalation], eating or drinking [ingestion], or contact with the skin [dermal contact]. Source: ASTDR Glossary of Terms
Running Losses: Evaporation of motor vehicle fuel from the fuel tank while the vehicle is in use. Source: EPA Terms and Acronyms
Rural Highway: Any highway, road, or street that is not an urban highway. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Rural Mileage (Highway): Roads outside city, municipal district, or urban boundaries. Source: Federal Highway Administration

S

Safe Routes to School: The Safe Routes to Schools Program is a Federal-Aid program of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The Program was created by Section 1404 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users Act (SAFETEA-LU). The purposes of the program are: 1)to enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school; 2) to make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative, thereby encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age; and 3) to facilitate the planning, development, and implementation of projects and activities that will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption, and air pollution in the vicinity (approximately 2 miles) of primary and middle schools (Grades K-8). Each state administers its own program and develops its own procedures to solicit and select projects for funding. The program establishes two distinct types of funding opportunities: infrastructure projects (engineering improvements) and non-infrastructure related activities (such as education, enforcement and encouragement programs). Source: Federal Highway Administration
Safe Systems: A coordinated injury prevention approach that involves the design and modification of environments to prevent serious injury and death. Source: Making Healthy Places
Safety Management System: A systematic process that has the goal of reducing the number and severity of transportation related accidents by ensuring that all opportunities to improve safety are identified, considered and implemented as appropriate. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Sanitation: A set of technologies and policies used to promote health through provision of clean water, management of sewage and solid waste, food safety, and rodent control. Source: Making Healthy Places
School Bus: A passenger motor vehicle that is designed or used to carry more than 10 passengers, in addition to the driver, and as determined by the Secretary of Transportation is likely to be significantly used for the purpose of transporting pre-primary, primary, or secondary school students between home and school. Source: Federal Highway Administration- Planning Glossary
School Environmental Health Audit: A systematic process, based on continuous quality improvement concepts and involving school administrators, teachers, parents, students, and perhaps the local health department, to identify environmental health goals, regularly inspect school facilities, and identify problems. Source: Making Healthy Places
School Siting: The process of choosing a location for a school facility. Source: EPA glossary
Secondary Pollutants: Pollutants that are formed in the atmosphere through the physical and chemical conversion of precursors; for example, ozone is formed in the atmosphere from the chemical conversion of other pollutants. Source: Making Healthy Places
Secondary Prevention: Interventions to stop or delay the onset of adverse symptoms or effects once disease has started or an injury is occurring. Source: Making Healthy Places
Selection Bias: Systematic difference in the enrollment of participants in a study that leads to an incorrect result or inference. Source: Making Healthy Places
Self-efficacy: People’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce effects. Source: Making Healthy Places
Self-selection: Assignment of oneself to a particular condition: for example, individuals with particular needs or preferences choose to live in places that facilitate their preferred behaviors. Source: Making Healthy Places
Sense of Place: Characteristics or perceptions of such characteristics of a place that make it special to people. Source: Making Healthy Places
Setback: The distance that must be provided between a building and a street or other feature, as specified by a municipal code. Source: Making Healthy Places
Septic Tank: An on-site system designed to treat and dispose of domestic sewage. A typical septic system consists of a tank that receives waste from a residence or business and a system of tile lines or a pit for disposal of the liquid effluent (sludge) that remains after decomposition of the solids by bacteria in the tank and must be pumped out periodically. Source: EPA Terms and Acronyms
Sewage: The waste and wastewater produced by residential and commercial sources and discharged into sewers. Source: EPA Terms and Acronyms
Sewage System Overflow (SSO): An unintentional discharge (overflow) of untreated sewage that can contaminate other water and that is typically caused by severe weather, improper system design, operation, maintenance, or vandalism. Source: Making Healthy Places
Shared Use Path (multi-use trail): Paths that may also serve a pedestrian circulation/transportation function, particularly in suburban and rural rights-of-way. Where such a route is located in a public right-of-way and provides a direct pedestrian connection between neighborhoods, residential areas, schools, employment centers, and other origins and destinations, it must be accessible. Source: United States Access Board
Sick Building Syndrome: A set of symptoms reported by people living or working in buildings with indoor air problems, including irritation of the nose, eyes, and mucous membranes; fatigue; dry skin; and headaches. Source: Making Healthy Places
Sidewalks: Walkways that parallel a street or highway within the roadway border width. The term generally implies a separated (horizontally and/or vertically) and paved surface. Sidewalks in the public right-of-way most commonly border and take the slope of adjacent roadways. Source: Street Works Manual
Single Occupancy Vehicle (SOV): Any motor vehicle not meeting the established occupancy requirement of a HOV lane. While it is possible for a vehicle with more than one occupant to not meet the occupancy requirement if the standard is established at more than two persons, the term SOV is used to encompass all such vehicles not meeting the occupancy requirement. Source: EPA Terms and Acronyms
Site Plan: A plan (to scale) showing uses and structures proposed for a parcel of land as required by the regulations involved. Its purpose is to show how the intended use relates to the major landscape features, the sun and weather, and the surrounding area. Source: (A Planners Dictionary, ed. by M. Davidson & F. Dolnick. PAS Guide 521/522)
Size and Space For Approach And Use: Resources will provide healthier air and cleaner drinking water. Source: Smart Growth America
Small Particulate Matter (PM-10): Particulate matter which is less than 10 microns in size. A micron is one millionth of a meter. Particulate matter this size is too small to be filtered by the nose and lungs. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Smart Codes: Zoning codes designed to promote smart growth; “SmartCode,” a model transect-based development code created by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company. Source: Making Healthy Places
Smart Growth: using comprehensive planning to guide, design, develop, revitalize and build communities for all that: 1) have a unique sense of community and place; 2) preserve and enhance valuable natural and cultural resources; 3) equitably distribute the costs and benefits of development; 4) expand the range of transportation, employment and housing choices in a fiscally responsible manner; 5) value long-range, regional considerations of sustainability over short term incremental geographically isolated actions; and 6) promotes public health and healthy communities. Source: American Planning Association; Federal Highway Administration; Smart Growth America
Social Capital: Refers to cultural institutions, rules, and norms that facilitate interactions within our communities and include institutions, governance, neighborhoods, business, finance, organizations, regulations, social services, and social equity; 2) features of social organization, such as networks, norms and trust, that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit, social capital then, is a byproduct of social relationships that provides the capacity for collective understanding and action. Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Social Cohesion: The extent of connectedness and solidarity among groups in society. It identifies two main dimensions: the sense of belonging of a community and the relationships among members within the community itself. Source: Springer 2014
Social Density: The number of people per room; increasing numbers subject individuals to unwanted interactions, which can lead to frustration and even to aggressive behavior (cf. spatial density). Source: Making Healthy Places
Social Determinants of Health (SDOH): 1) the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the health system. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels, which are themselves influenced by policy choices. The social determinants of health are mostly responsible for health inequities – the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries. 2) life-enhancing resources, such as food supply, housing, economic and social relationships, transportation, education, and health care, whose distribution across populations effectively determines length and quality of life. Social determinants of health broadly include both societal conditions and psychosocial factors, such as opportunities for employment, access to health care, hopefulness, and freedom from racism. Source: World Health Organization; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Socio-ecological Model: An ecological perspective emphasizing the interaction between, and interdependence of, factors (individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and public policy) within and across all levels of a health problem. Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Social Equity: The fair management and distribution of public services. Source: Making Healthy Places
Social Marketing: The application of marketing principles to benefit not the marketer but the target audience and the general society; social marketing is often used to convey public health messages. Source: Making Healthy Places
Social Resilience: The ability of groups or communities to cope with external stresses and disturbances as a result of social, political, and environmental change. Source: Making Healthy Places
Sources: Refers to the origin of air contaminants. Can be point (coming from a defined site) or non-point (coming from many diffuse sources).[Stationary sources include relatively large, fixed facilities such as power plants, chemical process industries, and petroleum refineries. Area sources are small, stationary, non-transportation sources that collectively contribute to air pollution, and include such sources as dry cleaners and bakeries, surface coating operations, home furnaces, and crop burning. Mobile sources include on-road vehicles such as cars, trucks, and buses; and off-road sources such as trains, ships, airplanes, boats, lawnmowers, and construction equipment. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Spatial Density: The number of people per acre (cf. social density). Source: Making Healthy Places
Spatial Scale: A concept of geographic extent, ranging from small (such as a room or building) to intermediate (such as a neighborhood or city) to large (such as a region, nation, or planet). Source: Making Healthy Places
Special Local Options Tax: A special purpose tax implemented at the city or county level to pay for a specific project, such as adding sidewalks or repairing sewers. Source: Making Healthy Places
Special (or vulnerable) Populations: those put at-risk by circumstances such as financial circumstances or place of residence; health, age or functional or developmental status; ability to communicate effectively; presence of chronic illness or disability; or personal characteristics. Source: NIH Guide
Special Use (or Conditional Use) Permits: A permit that is issued after public review and that allows a previously excluded use or activity in a specific zone. Source: Making Healthy Places
Speed Bumps: A speed bump is a raised area in the roadway pavement surface extending transversely across the travel way, generally with a height of 3 to 6 inches and a length of 1 to 3 feet. Source: New York City DOT
Speed Humps: A speed hump (or “road hump”) is a raised area in the roadway pavement surface extending transversely across the roadway. Speed humps normally have a minimum height of 3 to 4 inches and a travel length of approximately 12 feet, although these dimensions may vary. In some cases, the speed hump may raise the roadway surface to the height of the adjacent curb for a short distance. The humps can be round or flat-topped. The flat-topped configuration is sometimes called a “speed table.” Humps can either extend the full width of the road, curb-to-curb, or be cut back at the sides to allow bicycles to pass and facilitate drainage. Source: SCDOT Traffic Calming Guidelines
Staggered Work Times: Shifts are staggered to reduce the number of employees arriving and leaving a worksite at one time. For example, some shifts may be 8:00 to 4:30, others 8:30 to 5:00, and others 9:00 to 5:30. Source: Alternative Work Schedules
State Implementation Plan (SIP): Produced by the state environmental agency, not the MPO. A plan mandated by the CAA that contains procedures to monitor, control, maintain, and enforce compliance with the NAAQS. Must be taken into account in the transportation planning process. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
State Infrastructure Bank (SIB): A revolving fund mechanism for financing a wide variety of highway and transit projects through loans and credit enhancement. SIBs are designed to complement traditional Federal-aid highway and transit grants by providing States increased flexibility for financing infrastructure investments. Source: Federal Highway Administration
State Planning and Research Funds (SPR): Primary source of funding for statewide long-range planning. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
State Transportation Agency: The State highway department, transportation department, or other State transportation agency to which Federal-aid highway funds are apportioned. (23CFR420) Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Guide
State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP): A staged, multi-year, statewide, inter-modal program of transportation projects, consistent with the statewide transportation plan and planning processes as well as metropolitan plans, TIPs, and processes. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
State-Designated Route: A preferred route selected in accordance with U.S. DOT “Guidelines for Selecting Preferred Highway Routes for Highway Route Controlled Quantities of Radioactive Materials” or an equivalent routing analysis which adequately considers overall risk to the public. (49CFR171) Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP): A statewide recreation plan required by the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965. Addresses the demand for and supply of recreation resources (local, State, and Federal) within a State, identifies needs and new opportunities for recreation improvements, and sets forth an implementation program to meet the goals identified by its citizens and elected leaders. [National Park Service] NOTE: Metropolitan and statewide transportation plans should be coordinated with SCORPs. Source: Department of Transportation
Statewide Transportation Plan: The official statewide intermodal transportation plan that is developed through the statewide transportation planning process. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Stationary Source: Relatively large, fixed sources of emissions (i.e. chemical process industries, petroleum refining and petrochemical operations, or wood processing). Source: Federal Highway Administration
Stormwater: The flow of water which results from precipitation and which occurs immediately following rainfall or a snowmelt. Source: A Planners Dictionary, ed. by M. Davidson & F. Dolnick. PAS Guide 521/522
Stormwater management: The system, or combination of systems, designed to treat stormwater, or collect, convey, channel, hold, inhibit, or divert the movement of stormwater on, through, and from a site. Source: (A Planners Dictionary, ed. by M. Davidson & F. Dolnick. PAS Guide 521/522)
Streetcars: Relatively lightweight passenger railcars operating singly or in short trains, or on fixed rails in rights-of-way that are not always separated from other traffic. Streetcars do not necessarily have the right-of-way at grade crossings with other traffic. Source: Federal Highway Administration Planning Glossary
Subdivision: The process of laying out a parcel of raw land into lots, blocks, streets, and public areas. In most states, a subdivision is defined as the division of a tract of land into five or more lots. Source: A Planners Dictionary, ed. by M. Davidson & F. Dolnick. PAS Guide 521/522
Subdivision Code: The implementing legislation for a municipality’s subdivision policies, specifying the allowable locations, types, sizes, and uses of buildings. Source: Making Healthy Places
Subdivision Regulations: Local ordinances that outline specific requirements for the conversion of undivided land into building lots for residential or other purposes. Source: Making Healthy Places
Substandard Housing: A house or apartment that does not have a safe, working kitchen, bathroom, or plumbing or electrical service, or lacks an adequate source of heat, and may have leaks, moisture damage, pest portals of entry, and inadequate lighting. Source: Making Healthy Places
Surface Transportation Program (STP): Federal-aid highway funding program that funds a broad range of surface transportation capital needs, including many roads, transit, sea and airport access, vanpool, bike, and pedestrian facilities. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Surface Water: All water naturally open to the atmosphere (rivers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, streams, impoundments, seas, estuaries, etc.) Source: Environmental Protection Agency
Surveillance: The ongoing systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data essential to the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice, closely integrated with the timely dissemination of these data to those responsible for prevention and control of disease and injury. Source: Making Healthy Places
Sustainable Development: Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Source: United Nations. 1987. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development
Sustainability: Sustainability has three interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars: 1) economic development, 2) social development, and 3) environmental protection. Source: United Nations
Sustainable Lifestyle: A pattern of behaviors or policies that enhances individual health and well-being while simultaneously supporting the long-term visitability of the community within which the individuals reside. Source: Making Healthy Places
Symptom: A physical manifestation of a disorder or disease, such as fever or cough. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Syndemic: A term invented to describe a set of linked health problems; two or more afflictions or epidemics interacting simultaneously and synergistically (together having a greater effect than would be expected by adding the effects of each); epidemic synergy contributing to excess burden of disease in a population. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Syndrome: A combination of symptoms characteristic of a disease or health condition; sometimes refers to a health condition without a clear cause (e.g., chronic fatigue syndrome). Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Synergistic Effect: A biologic response to multiple substances where one worsens the effect of another. The combined effect of the substances acting together is greater than the sum of the substances acting alone. Source: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Systems Theory: The concept proposed to promote the dynamic interrelationship of activities designed to accomplish a unified system. Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Systems Thinking: A principle of design that recognizes components of a system are best understood in relation to their interactions with other components rather than in isolation. Source: Making Healthy Places

T

Table, Two-By-Two: A two-variable table with cross-tabulated data, in which each variable has only two categories. Usually, one variable represents a health outcome, and one represents an exposure or personal characteristic. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Tailpipe Standards: Emissions limitations applicable to mobile source engine exhausts. Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Tea-21: The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), which was enacted June 9, 1998, as Public Law 105-178. TEA-21 authorizes the federal surface transportation programs for highways, highway safety, and transit for the 6-year period 1998-2003. This law provides authorization and funding to transform outdated transportation priorities. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Telecommuting: Communicating electronically (by telephone, computer, fax, etc.) with an office, either from home or from another site, instead of traveling to it physically. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Teleworking: When paid workers reduce their commute by carrying out all, or part of, their work away from their normal place of business, usually from home or a telework center. Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration;
Temporary Housing: Housing units intended or provided for only short term use, as for temporary relocation purposes or to house disaster victims. Source: Community Action Partnership
Tenant-Based Rental Assistance: HUD assists low- and very low-income families in obtaining decent, safe, and sanitary housing in private accommodations by making up the difference between what they can afford and the approved rent for an adequate housing unit. Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Teratogen: A substance that causes defects in development between conception and birth. A teratogen is a substance that causes a structural or functional birth defect. Source: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Territoriality: A component of CPTED; territoriality results from design features that establish a sense of ownership or belonging, distinguishing people who belong from trespassers or intruders. Source: Making Healthy Places
Tertiary Prevention: Reducing adverse effects of existing disease or providing rehabilitation after an injury to minimize long-term sequelae. Source: Making Healthy Places
Threshold Limit Values (TLVs): Guidelines recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. TLVs are the airborne concentration of a substance below which all workers are believed to be protected while exposed to it day after day for 8-hour periods. Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Business Dictionary
Time-Of-Day Pricing: Facility tolls that vary by time-of-day in response to varying congestion levels. Typically, such tolls are higher during peak periods when the congestion is most severe. Many sectors of the economy (telephone, electric utilities, and airlines) use such pricing to manage demand within the available capacity. Source: U.S. Department of Transportation
Topography: The lay of the land, particularly its slope and drainage patterns; the science of drawing maps and charts or otherwise representing the surface features of a region or site, including its natural and man-made features. Source: American Society of Landscape Architects
Total Development Cost (TDC): The sum of all costs for site acquisition, relocation, demolition, construction and equipment, interest, and carrying charges. Source: Department of Housing and Urban Development
Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOCs): Molecules containing carbon and varying proportions of other elements such as hydrogen, oxygen, fluorine, and chlorine. They are the precursors that react with nitrogen oxides in sunlight and heat to form ground-level ozone. Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Toxic Agent: Chemical or physical (for example, radiation, heat, cold, microwaves) agents that, under certain circumstances of exposure, can cause harmful effects to living organisms. Source: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Toxic Substance: A chemical or mixture that may present an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment. Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Toxicological Profile: An ATSDR document that examines, summarizes, and interprets information about a hazardous substance to determine harmful levels of exposure and associated health effects. A toxicological profile also identifies significant gaps in knowledge on the substance and describes areas where further research is needed. Source: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Toxicology: The study of the harmful effects of substances on humans or animals. Source: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Tracer Gases: Compounds, such as sulfur hexafluoride, which are used to identify suspected pollutant pathways and to quantify ventilation rates. Trace gases may be detected qualitatively by their odor or quantitatively by air monitoring equipment. Source: Environmental Protection Agency
Traditional Development: Similar to neotraditional development. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Traditional Neighborhood Design: An approach to planning neighborhoods that features human scale, diversity of land uses, walkability, connectivity, and public spaces, drawing inspiration from historical approaches to city planning. Source: Making Healthy Places
Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND): Development that exhibits several or all of the following characteristics: alleys, streets laid out in a grid system, buildings oriented to the street, front porches on houses, pedestrian orientation, compatible and mixed land uses, village squares and greens. (See also New Urbanism) Source: The Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities
Traffic Calming: The combination of mainly physical measures that reduce the negative effects of motor vehicle use and improve conditions for non-motorized street users. However, the term traffic calming also applies to a number of transportation techniques developed to educate the public and provide awareness to unsafe driver behavior. Traffic Calming is the combination of mainly physical measures that reduce the negative effects of motor vehicle use, alter driver behavior and improve conditions for non-motorized street users. Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration; Institute of Transportation Engineers
Traffic Circles (Rotary): Small traffic circles (center island approximately 4 meters in diameter) can be used as traffic-calming devices at intersections, reducing vehicle speeds. Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Trafficway (Highway): Any right-of-way open to the public as a matter of right or custom for moving persons or property from one place to another, including the entire width between property lines or other boundaries. Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Transect: The characteristics of ecosystems and the transition from one ecosystem to another. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Transit Level of Service (LOS): Means characteristics of transit service provided which indicate its quantity, geographic area of coverage, frequency and quality (comfort, travel, time, fare and image). Source: Department of Housing and Urban Development
Transit Oriented Design/Development (TOD): Residential and commercial centers designed to maximize access by transit and nonmotorized transportation, and with other features to encourage transit ridership. A typical TOD has a rail or bus station at its center, surrounded by relatively high-density development, with progressively lower-density spreading outwards one-quarter to one-half mile, which represents pedestrian scale distances. Source: Victoria Transport Policy Institute
Transit Vehicle: Includes light, heavy, and commuter rail; motorbus; trolley bus; van pools; automated guideway; and demand responsive vehicles. Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Transitional Housing: A project that has as its purpose facilitating the movement of homeless individuals and families to permanent housing within a reasonable amount of time (usually 24 months). Transitional housing includes housing primarily designed to serve deinstitutionalized homeless individuals and other homeless individuals with mental or physical disabilities and homeless families with children. Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Transmission (Of Infection): Any mode or mechanism by which an infectious agent is spread to a susceptible host. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Transmission, Airborne: Transfer of an agent suspended in the air, considered a type of indirect transmission. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Transmission, Biologic: Indirect transmission by a vector in which the infectious agent undergoes biologic changes inside the vector as part of its life cycle before it is transmitted to the host (see also transmission, mechanical). Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Transmission, Direct: Immediate transfer of an agent from a reservoir to a host by direct contact or droplet spread. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Transmission, Indirect: Transfer of an agent from a reservoir to a host either by being suspended in air particles (airborne), carried by an inanimate objects (vehicleborne), or carried by an animate intermediary (vectorborne). Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Transmission, Mechanical: Indirect transmission by a vector in which the infectious agent does not undergo physiologic changes inside the vector (see also transmission, biologic). Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Transmission, Vectorborne: Transmission of an agent by a living intermediary (e.g., tick, mosquito, or flea); considered a type of indirect transmission. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Transport: Movement of natural, synthetic, and/or supplemental gas between points beyond the immediate vicinity of the field or plant from which produced except 1) For movements through well or field lines to a central point for delivery to a pipeline or processing plant within the same state or 2) Movements from a citygate point of receipt to consumers through distribution mains. (DOE5) Source: Federal Highway Administration
Transportation Administration and Support: All activities associated with transportation administration, revenue vehicle movement control and scheduling including supervision and clerical support. (FTA1) Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Transportation Conformity: Process to assess the compliance of any transportation plan, program, or project with air quality implementation plans. The conformity process is defined by the Clean Air Act. Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Transportation Control Measures (TCM): Transportation strategies that affect traffic patterns or reduce vehicle use to reduce air pollutant emissions. These may include HOV lanes, provision of bicycle facilities, ridesharing, telecommuting, etc. Such actions may be included in a SIP if needed to demonstrate attainment of the NAAQS. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Transportation Demand Management (TDM): Programs designed to reduce demand for transportation through various means, such as the use of transit and of alternative work hours. Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Transportation Enhancement Activities (TE): Provides funds to the States for safe bicycle and pedestrian facilities, scenic routes, beautification, restoring historic buildings, renovating streetscapes, or providing transportation museums and visitors centers. 23 U.S.C. 101(a) and 133(b)(8). Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21): Authorized in 1998, TEA-21 authorized federal funding for transportation investment for fiscal years 1998-2003. Approximately $217 billion in funding was authorized, which was used for highway, transit, and other surface transportation programs. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Transportation Improvement Program (TIP): A document prepared by a metropolitan planning organization that lists projects to be funded with FHWA/FTA funds for the next one- to three-year period. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Transportation Infrastructure: A federal credit program under which the USDOT may provide three forms of credit assistance – secured (direct) loans, loan guarantees, and standby lines of credit – for surface transportation projects of national or regional significance. The fundamental goal is to leverage federal funds by attracting substantial private and non-federal co-investment in critical improvements to the nation’s surface transportation system. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Transportation Management Area (TMA): 1) All urbanized areas over 200,000 in population, and any other area that requests such designation. 2) An urbanized area with a population over 200,000 (as determined by the latest decennial census) or other area when TMA designation is requested by the Governor and the MPO (or affect local officials), and officially designated by the Administrators of the FHWA and the FTA. The TMA designation applies to the entire metropolitan planning area(s). (23CFR500). Source: Federal Highway Administration
Transportation Plan: A document resulting from regional or statewide collaboration and consensus on a region or state’s transportation system, and serving as the defining vision for the region’s or state’s transportation systems and services. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Transportation Planning: A field of planning that focuses on transportation infrastructure, including roads, transit, and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. Source: Making Healthy Places
Transportation-related Physical Activity: Physical activity that is done for the purpose of moving from one destination to another, usually by walking or bicycling (cf. recreational physical activity). Source: Making Healthy Places
Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS): The Transportation Research Board-maintained computerized storage and retrieval system for abstracts of ongoing and completed research, development, and technology transfer (RD&T) activities, including abstracts of RD&T reports and articles. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Travel Day: A 24-hour period from 4:00 am to 3:59 am of the following day designated as the reference period for studying trips and travel of a particular household. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Travel Day Trip: A travel day trip is defined as any one-way travel from one place (address) to another by any means of transportation (e.g., private vehicle, public transportation, bicycle, walking). When travel is to more than one destination, a separate trip exists each time the following criteria are satisfied: the travel time between two destinations exceeds 5 minutes, and/or the purpose for travel to one destination is different from the purpose for travel to another. Source: Department of Transportation
Travel Demand: A transportation-planning concept referring to an individual’s or population’s need for travel; travel demand is directly related to distances among and between destinations such as homes, schools, workplaces, stores, and recreation facilities. Source: Making Healthy Places
Travel Model Improvement Program (TMIP): A program that supports and empowers planning agencies through leadership, innovation and support of planning analysis improvements to provide better information to support transportation and planning decisions. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Trend: Movement or change in frequency over time, usually upwards or downwards. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Trial, Clinical: An experimental study that uses data from individual persons. The investigator specifies the type of exposure for each study participant and then follows each person’s health status to determine the effects of the exposure. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Trial, Community: An experimental study that uses data from communities. The investigator specifies the type of exposure for each community and then follows the communities’ health status to determine the effects of the exposure. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Trial, Randomized Clinical: A clinical trial in which persons are randomly assigned to exposure or treatment groups. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Trip Purpose: The main reason that motivates that trip. For travel day trips, if there is more than one reason for the trip, and the reasons do not involve different destinations, then only the main reason is chosen. Source: Federal Highway Administration
Trolley Bus: Rubber-tired electric transit vehicle, manually steered and propelled by a motor drawing current, normally through overhead wires, from a central power source. Source: Federal Highway Administration