Creating Healthy Communities – The Intersection of Planning and Public Health -

This issue of the Journal focuses on Planning and Public Health.

Across the U.S., and here in Delaware, local governments are beginning to include goals and objectives that promote public health into their comprehensive plans. Here in Delaware the www.deplan4health.org project, funded by the CDC through the American Planning Association, is an example of planning and public health in action. These long-term plans impact how people make choices of where to live and how to get around, their ability to access healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity, and affect broader issues of social equity, clean air and water, and more.

Article 1. In this Issue: Planning and Public Health
Omar A. Khan, MD, MHS and Timothy E. Gibbs, MPH

Article 2. Guest Editors: Planning and Public Health
William Swiatek, AICP and David Edgell, AICP

Article 3. Example Delaware Planning Projects: Improving Health by Planning the Built Environment
William Swiatek, AICP; James J. Galvin, Jr., AICP; and David Edgell, AICP

Article 4. Public Health, Population Health, and Planning: Ideas to Improve Communities
Zeinab Baba, DrPH, MS; Stephanie Belinske, MPH; and Donald Post

Article 5. Postwar Growth in New Castle County is Defined by Suburban Pattern
William Swiatek, AICP and David Edgell, AICP

Article 6. Health Impacts of Suburban Development Patterns
Patti Miller, MPP

Article 7. It’s the Most Dangerous Time of the Year
Mitch Topal

Article 8. Principles for Incorporating Health into Comprehensive Plans: Delaware Plan4Health
Sara Ivey and David L. Edgell, AICP

Article 9. Health in All Policies: Cross-Sector Collaboration Prevents and Solves Health Problems
Cassandra Codes-Johnson, MPA; Karyl T. Rattay, MD, MS; Laura Saperstein, MS, MBA

Article 10. Urban Planning and Public Health: Synergies for Achieving a Healthy Delaware
Dona Schneider, PhD, MPH; Michael R. Greenberg, PhD

Article 11. Planning for the Complexity of Addressing Population Health Issues
Peggy Geisler

Article 12. Growing a More Food Secure Wilmington
Randi Novakoff; Konrad Kmetz; and Matthew Williams