Planning for Health Through the Built Environment: An Introduction (Report‪)‬

To begin, consider the conception of planning as the link between knowledge and action (Friedmann 1987). Or as the process and practice that mediates between past, present and future (Dempster 1998). These notions indicate the essential nature of planning: to take what we know and apply it towards improving our future by informing current actions. With respect to public health, the relevant knowledge has primarily been medical knowledge, resulting in actions ranging from surgery and antibiotics to fitness classes, food guides and anti-smoking campaigns. An increasing amount of research, however, suggests that additional types of knowledge are important and that the typical role of planning--shaping land use actions--also has a significant influence on health. Researchers and practitioners are drawing attention to the influence that the physical design of our neighbourhoods, towns and cities has on public health (e.g. Transportation Research Board 2005, Frumkin 2004, Frank and Engelke 2001). Indicating some measure of significance, several recent reports have been sponsored by key health and planning organizations such as the Ontario College of Family Physicians (Abelsohn 2005), the Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health (Basrur 2004), the Canadian Institute for Health Information (2006), the Ontario Professional Planner's Institute (2007), the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition (Tucs and Dempster 2007) and Smart Growth BC (Frank et al. 2006a).