Our activities
The Population & Public health team (PPH) collaborates with diverse stakeholders in order to support the inclusion of health considerations within community planning and design processes.
A key factor in the success of healthy built environment collaborative initiatives is shared understanding of the important influence that our environment has on population health, and the role each stakeholder has to play.
PPH coordinates the BC Healthy Built Environment Alliance (HBEA), a cross-sectoral of leaders interested in professional development and collaborative action for healthier, more livable communities. HBEA membership includes regional health authorities, Ministry of Health, local governments, planners and community organizations.
PPH has developed resources for health professionals, community planners and local governments so that they are better equipped to promote healthier built environments. For example, "Health 201" is a step-by-step guide that supports planners, design professionals and local governments to take actions towards creating healthier built environments. For audiences new to healthy built environment issues, the Foundations for a Healthier Built Environment summary report is an introductory educational resource.
As an on-going contribution, PPH leads efforts to review and synthesize current research in order to continually expand our understanding of how the built environment influences population health. The medium that we use to summarize the body of research evidence is the "Healthy Built Environments Linkages Toolkit"
Using an evidence based approach, the healthy built environment Toolkit outlines a series of planning principles and describes how these lead to behavioural and environmental impacts (e.g., walking, transit use, noise levels, and traffic safety) correlated to specific population health outcomes.
