Policy Implications This biennium, two of the nation’s leading experts in public health and the built environment joined our faculty. Together they help increase awareness of how public health issues should impact transportation policy in order to make communities healthier. School of Public Health Dean and Professor Howard Frumkin and Affiliate Professor Andrew Dannenberg came to the University of Washington from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where they both advocated for healthy community design. Frumkin directed the National Center for Environmental Health and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Dannenberg retired as associate director for science in the Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services at the National Center for Environmental Health. They co-edited a 2011 book, Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-being, and Sustainability. Frumkin said that the term “built environment” conjures images of places—buildings, neighborhoods, and parks—while transportation infrastructure forms the connective tissue that links these places together. Such linkages aren’t without problems, he noted. Communities of color and those with lower socioeconomic status disproportionately live near busy roads and rail lines and suffer health consequences.
Dannenberg encourages policymakers to consider health benefits such as increased physical activity and reduced obesity as part of their cost-benefıt calculations for new transit systems. He is helping promote the use of health impact assessments (HIA) in the United States. HIAs are objective evaluations of the potential health effects of a project or policy before it is built or implemented. HIAs are modeled in part on environmental impact statements, focusing on issues such as physical activity, respiratory disease, injury, mental health, social capital, and environmental justice. Washington state has been a leader in using HIAs. When the legislature approved funding to replace the State Route 520 bridge over Lake Washington, it mandated that an HIA be done. Dannenberg worked with Public Health – Seattle & King County to help guide the assessment in 2008. A new series of interdisciplinary courses co-taught by Dannenberg focuses on research and tools that demonstrate the associations between community design and human health. The courses draw students across campus and offer them an opportunity to influence policy decisions. In a Spring 2011 course, they assessed the health impacts of the King Street Transit Hub redevelopment project and submitted their report to the Seattle Department of Transportation.
H ow can the built environment affect health ?
Provide safe bicycling and
Develop community
Build parks, trails, and green
walking routes and physical
gardens and farmers’ markets
space to promote interaction with
activity increases
and nutrition improves
others and boost mental health
Illustrations, l to r, adapted from photos.com, Cathy Schwartz
2009–2011 Biennial Report
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