Transportation and Land Use
The 5 D’s of development—density, diversity, design, destination accessibility, and distance to transit—affect the physical, social, and mental health of community residents. The 5 D’s influence whether a community is attractive and walkable, can support
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ntroduction Malaika and Maya Taylor, tired of the long commute to both work and school, moved from the suburbs to a 138-acre mixed-use development built on a former industrial site in midtown Atlanta (Atlantic Station, n.d.). Grocery stores, movie theaters, restaurants, and many other services are located within walking distance, and a free shuttle connects the development to MARTA, Atlanta’s rapid transit system. Malaika can now walk ten minutes to work, dropping Maya off at her school bus stop on the way. They find themselves walking more, driving less, and enjoying the extra hours they have each day. They also spend less on electricity for their smaller home and less on fuel for their car. Their desire for a simpler, more convenient lifestyle has also resulted A.L. Dannenberg et al. (eds.), Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-being, and Sustainability, DOI 10.5822/978-1-61091-036-1_10, © Island Press 2011
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DIAGNOSING AND HEALING OUR BUILT ENVIRONMENTS
in a smaller carbon footprint. “Reducing her carbon footprint was not Taylor’s intent when she moved. She just wanted her life back” [adapted from Shogren 2008].
As described in earlier chapters, the built environment has major impacts on health. Planners, architects, developers, policymakers, and others working in fields other than health care make most of the decisions on how the built environment is designed. This chapter discusses land-use and transportation policies that promote healthy community design. The World Health Organization started the Healthy Cities movement with the release of the report Healthy Cities: Promoting Health in the Urban Context (Hancock and Duhl 1986). A healthy city has been defined as “one that is continually creating and improving those physical and social environments and expanding those community resources that enable people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life and in developing to their maximum potential” (Hancock and Duhl 1986, 10). The Healthy Cities movement was a precursor to several other movements that have, de facto, defined the characteristics of healthy communities as described below. These movements all emphasize the 5 D’s of development: density, diversity, design, destination accessibility, and distance to transit (Cervero and Kockelman 1997; Ewing and Cervero 2001, 2010). s Density is usually measured in terms of persons, jobs, or dwellings per unit area. Areas that are dense are more likely to be walkable, served by transit, and have lower dependence on automobiles. s Diversity refers to land-use mix, often related to the number of different land uses in an area as well as the degree to which they are “balanced” in land area, floor area, or employment. Areas that are diverse are more likely to have a range of people and places that makes an area interesting and to have easier access to more destinations. s Design includes street network characteristics within a neighborhood, varying from highly interconnected dense urban grids to sparse, poorly conne
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