Healthy Community Design

The Healthy Community Design Initiative, also known as the Built Environment and Health Initiative, is no longer a funded program and the information on this website is not being reviewed and updated on a regular basis.

Healthy Community Design Video

Dr. Howard Frumkin, discusses the benefits of walkable communities as they relate to health, the environment, and social interaction.

Click the links below to view the Healthy Community Design video. You can also download the video to your computer, RIGHT CLICK the appropriate file size below and select the “Save Target As…” option.

• Low [WMV – 6 MB]
• Medium [WMV – 19 MB]
• High [WMV – 37 MB]

To read a transcript of the video:

• English Version [PDF – 130 KB] | Credits [PDF – 177 KB]
• En Español [PDF – 145 KB]

Additional Resources

Healthy Community Design Fact Sheet
This fact sheet is an overview of Dr. Frumkin’s Healthy Community Design discussion.
English Version [PDF – 345 KB]
En Español [PDF – 347 KB]

LEED-ND and Healthy Neighborhoods [PDF – 282 KB]
This fact sheet explains the possible health benefits of LEED-ND certified neighborhoods.

Walkable Communities Podcast
This podcast discusses the benefits of walkable communities, as they relate to health, the environment, and social interaction.

Planning Information Sheet: Integrating Health into Comprehensive Planning [PDF – 1.1 MB]
Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Design for Health; 2007.
This first sheet in the series helps communities begin thinking about how to integrate health into their planning and design decisions. The sheet showcases: Background information on the relationship between health and the built environment; various approaches to integrate health into comprehensive planning; examples from the Twin Cities region and across the U.S.related to integrating health and planning; and opportunities to integrate health into a traditional comprehensive plan framework.

Healthy Community Checklist [PDF – 172 KB]
The checklist, created by the Michigan Department of Community Health, is a 40-item questionnaire that provides a quick assessment of a community’s health environment with regard to promoting physical activity; healthy eating and healthy weight; and smoke-free environments and tobacco-free lifestyles.