Urban environments have enormous impacts on health of populations, with close to 80% of the US population living in cities, and public health and planning professionls are presented with real challenges to create the healthiest environment possible.

Traditionally, the discipline of urban planning has concerned itself with the built environment - buildings, roads, utilities, and the like - while public health concerns itself with the health of people who live in that environment. A major challenge, then, is how to incorporate concerns for health as an integral part of urban planning initiatives, rather than simply measuring the health outcomes after planning decisions have been made.

This book now equips public health professionals to participate effectively in the planning process, building positive health outcomes into planning schemes. It not only provides real guidance on how to solve these issues, but also has case studies that show how effective these policies can be.