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This book provides a far-reaching follow-up to the pathbreaking Urban Sprawl and Public Health, published by Island Press in 2004. That book sparked a range of inquiries into the connections between constructed environments, particularly cities and suburbs, and human health. Since then, numerous studies have extended and refined the book's research and reporting. Making Healthy Places offers a fresh and comprehensive look at this vital subject today, from the scale of buildings up to the scale of metropolitan areas.
There is no other book with the depth, breadth, vision and accessibility that this book offers. Like a well-trained doctor, it presents a diagnosis of-and offers treatment for-problems related to the built environment. Drawing on the latest scientific evidence, with contributions from experts in a range of fields, it imparts a wealth of practical information, emphasizing demonstrated and promising solutions to common problems. Health professionals, planners, architects, developers, elected officials, students, and concerned members of the public will find this book invaluable.
Andrew Dannenberg, M.D., M.P.H., serves as a consultant to and formerly was Team Leader of the Healthy Community Design Initiative in the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He holds affiliate faculty appointments in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences and in the Department of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Howard Frumkin, M.D., Dr.P.H., is Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Washington. He previously served as Director of the National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at CDC, where he established programs in climate change and in the built environment. He is co-author of Urban Sprawl and Public Health (Island Press, 2004).
Richard Jackson, M.D., M.P.H., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a pediatrician, and previously served as director of the National Center for Environmental Health at CDC and as the State Public Health Officer for California. He is co-author of Urban Sprawl and Public Health (Island Press, 2004).
"This comprehensive, beautifully edited volume explains why and how our physical environment profoundly affects each of us, our family, our community, and our nation. A treasure of excellent chapters by well-respected experts, it is replete with practical wisdom on how to diagnose and ameliorate the wide range of environmental problems, with inspiring examples of success. Reading it is the equivalent of a top tier graduate level course in practical environmental health."
-Jonathan Fielding, MD, MPH
“The authors have crafted an exemplary look at the various components of community design that promote and support health. Through their perspective we see clearly how much community design matters to our health and well-being; and it matters a lot.”
-Georges C. Benjamin, MD
“The editors of this powerful volume put design squarely in the public health armamentarium. Both a guide and call to action, its well-researched chapters provide a foundation for profound change in design practice and education. The truly beautiful stairway is one that beckons us to use it—the same applies to sidewalks, parks, bike lanes, playgrounds, and public transportation.”
-Daniel S. Friedman, PhD, FAIA
"Here's a book that mayors, health officials, developers, architects, planners and environmentalists will want to read and keep handy. Dannenberg, Frumkin, and Jackson call for big gains in public health, environmental and economic performance and provide the necessary advice to achieve such a transformation."
-John Norquist
"Dannenberg ... et al. ...outline the major health issues that relate to the built environment, including physical activity, food, air and water quality, injury, mental health, and social bonds, and specific transportation and land use aspects. They also address how to create change, the future training of professionals, research, and urban health in low and middle-income countries."
“The book is an extensive, sometimes exhausting, overview of many related topics. The challenges it presents are sobering. The solutions it envisions are exciting. Landscape architecture is present throughout. Some may find it a “heavy lift” given its length and, in some instances, highly technical nature. But it is all there, providing landscape architects, architects, and planners with tools and strategies to think about how the built environment impacts our physical, mental, social, environmental, and economic well-being.”
-Mark A. Focht
"Making Healthy Places, although it is not a theological work, is deeply theological in the vision of health that is seeking and is a book that not only must be read and discussed in churches, we must also allow it to shape our vision of what the mission of the church is in our particular places, and as such it is one of the most significant books that I’ve read this year!"
-Chris Smith
"The book’s introduction states it is primarily aimed at students but it would disappointing if this timely research fails to reach other audiences – in particular politicians at all levels of government."
-Chris Quigley
"The editors seek to avoid technical jargon that might put off the students to whom the book is addressed."
"The thesis is simple. The urban environment should be planned and built to encourage physical exercise, a healthy diet, low pollution levels, accessible nature necounters, and mental serenity."
"It is just about the most authoritative and thorough examination of how our urban design (and house design) affects our health and wellbeing, and should be on the desk of every urban designer and planner as an important reference… I cannot imagine writing about urban issues involving food, health, safety or transportation without picking this up for a quote or a reference; it is going to be an essential tool."
-Lloyd Alter
