Urban Planning Model Course Units

Unit 1: Planning & Public Health Foundations

The first unit, Planning and Public Health Foundations, provides students with an overview of both fields, from their origins to the present. Emphasizing the first learning goal, foundational knowledge, this unit orients students to core values and histories of both fields and interdisciplinary connections. Two weeks are devoted to teaching this unit.

Length: 2 weeks

Keywords: Planning History, Public Health History, Interdisciplinary Applications

LEARNING GOAL

Foundational Knowledge. Understand public health and planning history, evolution and significant movements to the present, and historical and current theories on the relationship between the built environment and public health.

UNIT TOPICS

  • Planning History
  • Public Health History
  • Interdisciplinary Applications

SUGGESTED READINGS

Books (select chapters)

  • Frumkin H, Frank L, Jackson R. Urban sprawl and public health: designing, planning, and building for healthy communities. Washington DC: Island Press, 2004.
  • Kawachi I, Berkman LF. Neighborhoods and health. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
  • Morris M, Duncan R, Hannaford K, et al. Integrating planning and public health. Chicago: APA Planning Advisory Service, 2006.

Articles

  • Dannenberg AL, Jackson RJ, Frumkin H, Schieber RA, Pratt M, Kochitzky C, Tilson HH. The impact of community design and land-use choices on public health: a scientific research agenda. Am J Public Health 2003;93(9):1500-8.
  • Malizia EE. Planning and Public Health: Research Options for an Emerging Field. Journal of Planning Education and Research 2006;25:428-432.
  • Northridge ME, Sclar ED, Biswas P. Sorting out the connections between the built environment and health: a conceptual framework for navigating pathways and planning healthy cities. J Urban Health 2003;80(4):556-68.
  • Peterson J. The impact of sanitary reform upon American urban planning, 1840-1990. J Soc Hist 1979;13(1):83-103.
  • Shoshkes E, Adler S. Planning for healthy people/healthy places: lessons from mid-twentieth century global discourse. Planning Perspectives 2009; 24(2):197-217.

IN AND OUT OF CLASS ASSIGNMENTS

  • Local neighborhood case study
  • Campus and neighborhood walkability assessment
Unit 2: Natural and Built Environments

The second unit, Natural and Built Environments, provides students with instruction on important dimensions of the natural environment and the human impact on these systems through application of tools from planning to shape the built environment and from public health to address health. A highlight of this unit is a service-learning group project where students apply lessons from environmental planning, transportation planning and environmental health to a local issue. Six weeks are devoted to teaching this unit.

Length: 6 weeks

Keywords: Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality, Water Quality, Food Security, Land Use and Transportation, Planning Design Approaches, Environmental Impact Assessments, Health Impact Assessments

LEARNING GOAL

Application. Identify contemporary features of the built environment such as patterns of development, parks, public works projects, houses, and transportation systems that reflect past efforts to influence health, and use methods developed by architects, urban planners, public health professionals, sociologists and anthropologists to address current health impacts of the built environment.

UNIT TOPICS

  • Land Use and Transportation
  • Planning Design Approaches
  • Environmental Impact Assessments
  • Health Impact Assessments
  • Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality
  • Water Quality
  • Food Security

SUGGESTED READINGS
Books (select chapters)

  • Frumkin H, Frank L, Jackson R. Urban sprawl and public health: designing, planning, and building for healthy communities. Washington DC: Island Press, 2004.
  • Kawachi I, Berkman LF. Neighborhoods and health. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
  • Morris M, Duncan R, Hannaford K, et al. Integrating planning and public health. Chicago: APA Planning Advisory Service, 2006.

Online Resources

Planning for Healthy Places with Health Impact Assessment

Articles

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Barriers to walking and bicycling to school: United States, 2004. MMWR. 2005;54(38):949-52.
  • Dannenberg AL, Bhatia R, Cole BL, Heaton SK, Feldman JD, Rutt CD. Use of Health Impact Assessment in the United States: 27 Case Studies, 1999–2007. Am J Prev Med 2008;34(3):241-56.
  • Evans L. A New Traffic Safety Vision for the United States. Am J Public Health 2003; 93(9):1384-1386. * Please note website visitors have questioned the inclusion of this article in the curriculum given its emphasis on individual behavior rather than inclusion of the need to address the environment as a component of traffic safety. The article remains on the site to provide multiple viewpoints for discussion purposes. Note, Evans’ perspective may relate to his 33-year tenure with General Motors Corporation.
  • Friedman MS, Powell KE, Hutwagner L, Graham LM, Teague WG. Impact of changes in transportation and commuting behaviors during the 1996 summer Olympic Games in Atlanta on air quality and childhood asthma. JAMA 2001;285(7):897-905.
  • Giles-Corti B, Donovan RJ. Relative influences of individual, social environmental and physical environmental correlates of walking. Am J Public Health 2003;93(9):1583-9.
  • Lucy WH. Mortality risk associated with leaving home: recognizing the relevance of the built environment. Am J Public Health 2003; 93(9):1564-1569.
  • Pucher J, Dijkstra L. Promoting safe walking and cycling to improve public health: lessons from the Netherlands and Germany. Am J Public Health. 2003;93(9):1509-16.
  • Trowbridge MJ, Gurka MJ, O’Connor RE. Urban Sprawl and Delayed Ambulance Arrival in the U.S. Am J Pre Med 2009;37(5):428-432.
  • Twiss J, Dickinson J, Duma S, Kleinman T, Paulsen H, Rilveria L. Community gardens: lessons learned from California Healthy Cities and Communities. Am J Public Health 2003;93(9): 1435-41.

IN AND OUT OF CLASS ASSIGNMENTS

  • Service-learning group project
  • Activity diary
  • Transit use
Unit 3: Vulnerable Populations & Health Disparities

The third unit, Vulnerable Populations and Health Disparities, emphasizes a diversity of populations, their environments, and associated health issues. This unit allows students to understand the historical, socioeconomic and cultural dimensions of these groups, to speak persuasively about their human dimension, and to care about particular issues related to the natural and built environment from which to craft health prevention and intervention approaches. Three weeks are devoted to teaching this unit.

Length: 3 weeks

Keywords: Vulnerable Populations and Health Disparities, Mental Health, Social Capital, Environmental Justice

LEARNING GOAL

Human Dimensions. Learn about oneself and the context in which others operate to better integrate that understanding when evaluating differing built environments, socioeconomic positions, social and cultural backgrounds, and health status. Caring. Adopt new feelings, interests or values based on issues addressed throughout the semester.

UNIT TOPICS

  • Principles of Community Engagement, Second Edition
  • The Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health (PACE EH)
  • Lifelong Communities: A Framework for Planning
  • Vulnerable Populations (the poor, children, women, the elderly, the disabled, and minorities) and Health Disparities
  • Mental Health
  • Social Capital
  • Environmental Justice

SUGGESTED READINGS
Books (select chapters)

  • Frumkin H, Frank L, Jackson R. Urban sprawl and public health: designing, planning, and building for healthy communities. Washington DC: Island Press, 2004.
  • Kawachi I, Berkman LF. Neighborhoods and health. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
  • Morris M, Duncan R, Hannaford K, et al. Integrating planning and public health. Chicago: APA Planning Advisory Service, 2006.

Articles

  • Committee on Environmental Health, American Academy of Pediatrics. The Built Environment: Designing Communities to Promote Physical Activity in Children. Pediatrics 2009; 123:1591-1598.
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Blood lead levels in young children—United States and selected states, 1996–1999. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2000;49(50):1133-7.
  • Evans G. The built environment and mental health. J Urban Health 2003;80(4): 536-55.
  • International City/County Management Association. Active living for older adults: Management strategies for healthy and livable communities (2003) (E-43140).
  • Leyden KM. Social capital and the built environment: the importance of walkable neighborhoods. Am J Public Health 2003;93(9):1546 –51. McMillan TE. Urban form and a child’s trip to school: the current literature and a model for future research. J Planning Literature 2005; 19(4):440 –56.
  • Martin M, Leonard M, Allen S, Botchwey N, Carney M. Commentary: Using Culturally Competent Strategies to Improve Traffic Safety in the Black Community. Annals of Emergency Medicine 2004;44(4): 414-418.

IN AND OUT OF CLASS ASSIGNMENTS

  • Debates
  • Newspaper op-ed article or radio perspective
Unit 4: Health Policy & Global Impacts

The final unit, Health, Policy and Global Impacts, emphasizes health policies, and the impacts of policies and practices on the health of the planet. Students gain greater awareness of the ethical considerations in decision-making, and an understanding of how these decisions influence systems socially and physically. Three weeks are devoted to teaching this unit.

Length: 3 weeks

Keywords: Health Policy, Sustainable Planning and Global Warming, Healthy Housing

LEARNING GOAL

Learning How to Learn. Develop skills to identify studies and engage communities, critique methods and findings, and apply lessons from planning and public health research to current and future problems.

UNIT TOPICS

  • Health Policy
  • Sustainable Planning and Global Warming
  • Healthy Housing

SUGGESTED READINGS
Books (select chapters)

  • Frumkin H, Frank L, Jackson R. Urban sprawl and public health: designing, planning, and building for healthy communities. Washington DC: Island Press, 2004.
  • Kawachi I, Berkman LF. Neighborhoods and health. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
  • Morris M, Duncan R, Hannaford K, et al. Integrating planning and public health. Chicago: APA Planning Advisory Service, 2006.

Articles

  • Frank LD, Greenwald MJ, Winkelman S, Chapman J, Kavage S. Carbonless footprints: Promoting health and climate stabilization through active transportation. Am J Prev Med 2010; 50:99-105.
  • Geller A. Smart growth: a prescription for livable cities. Am J Public Health 2003;93(9):1410-5.
  • Librett JJ, Yore MM, Schmid TL. Local ordinances that promote physical activity: a survey of municipal policies. Am J Public Health 2003;93(9):1399-403.
  • McMichael AJ. The urban environment and health in a world of increasing globalization: issues for developing countries. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2000;78(9):1117-26.
  • Saegert SC, Klitzman S, Freudenberg N, Cooperman-Mroczek J, Nassar S. Healthy housing: a structured review of published evaluations of U.S. interventions to improve health by modifying housing in the United States, 1990-2001. Am J Public Health 2003;93(9):1471-7.
  • Younger M, Morrow-Almeida HR, Vindigni SM, Dannenberg AL. The built environment, climate change, and health: opportunities for co-benefits. Amer J Prev Med, in press, October 2008.

IN AND OUT OF CLASS ASSIGNMENTS

  • Policy memos
  • Photovoice report