Take Part in Creating a Healthy Community
By Denise Coin

The news these days is full of reports about childhood obesity in America, adults with weight problems and resulting illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. Is it really a result of too much time at the computer or the TV and too little exercise and fresh air, or is the problem more directly related to urban sprawl and transportation issues?

That question and others will be addressed on Saturday January 19, when the Coalition for Community Wellness presents Creating a Healthy Community with public health advocate Richard Joseph Jackson, MD, MPH, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Environmental Health, and several local experts on alternative transportation, nutrition, physical activity and air pollution. Dr. Jackson is nationally recognized for his expertise in the study of the connection of how we build our cities and neighborhoods and its ultimate relationship to obesity, diabetes and lung disease with our physical environment.

The City of Santa Barbara is co-sponsoring this event as part of the Plan Santa Barbara process, which is examining how the city will grow and develop over the next 20 years. Recently, during the Round I Community Input phase of this process, the public health community was very clear about identifying the correlation between certain health conditions and the “built environment,” and the need to take these issues into consideration during this update of the General Plan. Consequently, the City’s Planning Commission is keenly interested in exploring what types of planning policies and implementation measures, specific to Santa Barbara, can promote healthier environments and lifestyles.

Urban planning is a multidisciplinary field in which professionals work to improve the welfare of persons and communities by creating more convenient, equitable, healthful, efficient, and attractive places to live now and for the future. Urban planning and public health share common missions and perspectives. Both fields focus on the needs of vulnerable populations. Pioneering urbanist Jane Jacobs during the 60’s called for community design that offered safe and convenient options for walking, biking, and impromptu social interaction. The Healthy Cities movement began in Europe and the United States during the 1980's and now includes projects in approximately 1,000 cities that in various ways highlight the role of health as much more than the presence of medical care.

During the last 20 years, a variety of options have been considered, from the potential of parks and recreational facilities to contribute to physical and mental health, to transportation planning to improve air quality, encourage physical activity, prevent injuries, and promote wellness. Relatively recently, urban planning has focused on the effects of community design on energy use and greenhouse gas emissions to affect the growing public health concern of climate change. While automobiles offer extraordinary personal mobility and independence, they are also associated with major health hazards: motor vehicle crashes, pedestrian injuries and fatalities, and air pollution. Higher ozone levels are associated with higher incidence and severity of respiratory symptoms, emergency room visits and hospitalizations. Carbon dioxide, the end product of burning fossil fuels such as gasoline, is the major greenhouse gas, accounting for approximately 80% of emissions with global warming potential.

Patterns of urban land use are changing, and as we recognize and understand the health costs of urban sprawl, we can begin to design solutions. In addressing sprawl on a variety of levels, from personal transportation decisions to local zoning ordinances, from regional mass transit and land use decisions to federal regulations, it is essential to incorporate health considerations into policy making.

Creating a Healthy Community will present a unique opportunity for the members of the Santa Barbara community to learn more about important issues and ask specific questions of the panel of experts who will help elucidate the local issues.