Richard J. Jackson & Stacy Sinclair 
Designing Healthy Communities 

Designing Healthy Communities, the companion book to the
acclaimed public television documentary, highlights how we design
the built environment and its potential for addressing and
preventing many of the nation’s devastating childhood and adult
health concerns. Dr. Richard Jackson looks at the root causes of
our malaise and highlights healthy community designs achieved by
planners, designers, and community leaders working together.
Ultimately, Dr. Jackson encourages all of us to make the kinds of
positive changes highlighted in this book. 2012 Nautilus Silver
Award Winning Title in category of ‘Social
Change’

‘In this book Dr. Jackson inhabits the frontier between public
health and urban planning, offering us hopeful examples of
innovative transformation, and ends with a prescription for
individual action. This book is a must read for anyone who cares
about how we shape the communities and the world that shapes us.’
–Will Rogers, president and CEO, The Trust for Public
Land

‘While debates continue over how to design cities to promote
public health, this book highlights the profound health challenges
that face urban residents and the ways in which certain aspects of
the built environment are implicated in their etiology. Jackson
then offers up a set of compelling cases showing how local
activists are working to fight obesity, limit pollution exposure,
reduce auto-dependence, rebuild economies, and promote community
and sustainability. Every city planner and urban designer should
read these cases and use them to inform their everyday
practice.’

–Jennifer Wolch, dean, College of Environmental
Design, William W. Wurster Professor, City and Regional Planning,
UC Berkeley

‘Dr. Jackson has written a thoughtful text that illustrates how
and why building healthy communities is the right prescription for
America.’

–Georges C. Benjamin, MD, executive director, American
Public Health Association

Publisher Companion Web site: www.josseybass.com/go/jackson

Additional media and content:
http://dhc.mediapolicycenter.org/

Table of Content

Foreword vii

Anthony Iton

Preface ix

The Author xvii

Prologue: Why I Care About the Built Environment xix

PART I. HEALTH AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT: AN
INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 What Does Love, or Caritas, Have to
Do with the Built Environment? 3

We Love Our Families and Our Country, but Do We Really Love
Ourselves? 4

For Love of Family 6

For Love of Community 7

For Love of Our Nation and the World 14

Chapter 2 What Is Health, and How Do We Measure It?
15

Personal Health 17

Public Health Policy 23

Environmental Health 28

Mental and Social Health 30

Chapter 3 Can the Built Environment Build Community?
35

Organic Places Are Healthy Places 36

Urban Centers 41

State and Nation 45

PART II. EXAMPLES OF CHANGE

Chapter 4 From Monoculture to Human Culture: the
Belmar district of Lakewood, Colorado 53

Symptoms 54

Diagnosis 60

Cure 62

Prevention 64

Chapter 5 Using New Urbanism Principles to Build
Community: Prairie Crossing, Illinois 67

Symptoms 69

Diagnosis 70

Cure 73

Prevention 77

Chapter 6 Saving America’s Downtowns and Local
History Through the Political Process: Charleston, South Carolina
79

Symptoms 80

Diagnosis 82

Cure 86

Prevention 88

Chapter 7 Reinventing a Healthy City Through Community
Leadership for Sustainability: Elgin, Illinois 91

Symptoms 92

Diagnosis 94

Cure 98

Prevention 104

Chapter 8 Ending Car Captivity: Boulder, Colorado
107

Symptoms 108

Diagnosis 110

Cure 115

Prevention 117

Chapter 9 Ports as Partners in Health: Oakland,
California 119

Symptoms 120

Diagnosis 123

Cure 132

Prevention 135

Chapter 10 The City That Won’t Give Up: Detroit,
Michigan 139

Symptoms 140

Diagnosis 144

Cure (or at Least Treatment) 146

Prevention 155

PART III. BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD

Chapter 11 What’s Happening in Your Community?
159

Determining the Health of Your Community 159

Conducting an Audit of Your Built Environment 166

Chapter 12 Who Are the Players? 175

Finding Your Stakeholders 178

Social Networking 187

Getting Everyone to Pull Together 188

Chapter 13 Create an Action Plan 189

Analyze the Symptoms 189

Determine the Diagnosis 194

Implement the Cure 195

Protect Through Prevention 206

Epilogue: Now It’s Your Turn 207

Notes 213

Index 219

About the author

Richard J. Jackson, MD, MPH, is a pediatrician and professor
and chair of Environmental Health Sciences at the School of Public
Health at University of California, Los Angeles. He is former
California State Health Officer and for nine years was the director
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center
for Environmental Health in Atlanta.

Stacy Sinclair, Ed D, is director of education for Media
Policy Center in Santa Monica, California, which produced the
documentary Designing Healthy Communities. She also is cofounder of
Ed Excellence Consulting, Inc.