Making the Case for Health in Urban Development: Case Study of the Healthy Development Measurement Tool

Transcription

1 Making the Case for Health in Urban Development: Case Study of the Healthy Development Measurement Tool Lili Farhang, MPH San Francisco Department of Public Health March 27,

2 Presentation Outline Summarize the drivers for SFDPH involvement in land use and development Review the Eastern Neighborhoods Community Health Impact Assessment (ENCHIA) process and primary outcome Provide an overview of the Healthy Development Measurement Tool (HDMT)

3 Community Drivers for SFDPH Involvement in Land Use Development Recognition that environmental justice issues are linked to land use patterns Dot com and housing development booms of late 1990s and early 2000s Gentrification and displacement of low income and minority communities Lack of comprehensive community planning Community demands for cumulative, social and health impact assessment

4 Evidence is Clear: Place Effects Health and Health Inequities Housing Poorly designed housing contributes to indoor air pollution that causes asthma Unaffordable housing contributes to crowding, poverty, displacement, and homelessness Auto oriented Transportation Increases noise and worsens air quality Increases accidents and injuries Complete Neighborhoods Neighborhood schools support child development Supermarkets facilitate better nutrition Parks increase physical activity

5 Health Impact Assessment Definition How do we assess the relationship of health to the built environment?...a combination of procedures or methods by which a policy, program, or project may be judged as to the effects it may have on the health of a population. WHO Regional Office for Europe Countries using HIA: Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, European Union

6 Health Impact Assessment Objectives HIA is defined by objectives: Predicting the health impacts of decisions and how those impacts are distributed between communities Involving stakeholders in the policy making process Informing and influencing policy decisions

7 Eastern Neighborhoods Rezoning = SFDPH Policy Opportunity In response to community demands, the City implements a rezoning and community planning process in Eastern Neighborhoods Continued community concern about how adequately the rezoning will incorporate social and health impacts SFDPH agrees to facilitate a health impact assessment of the Eastern Neighborhoods rezoning as an alternative, parallel process that considers community impacts

8 Eastern Neighborhoods Community Health Impact Assessment Overview Collaborative, consensus based health impact assessment to analyze how development in three SF neighborhoods affected health Facilitated by SFDPH Multi stakeholder Community Council guided the process Comprised of >20 organizations and government stakeholders

9 ENCHIA Participants and Constituencies Public Agencies recreation and parks, planning, redevelopment, police, transportation, parking and traffic, public health and elected officials Community Organizations community planning and design, economic and neighborhood development, environmental justice, homelessness, open space, housing, transportation, bicycle advocacy, low wage and union workers, food systems, local residents, and child care and childhood development Private Interests non profit and private developers, property owners, architects, and small businesses

10 ENCHIA Broad Goals Identify and analyze the likely impacts of land use plans and zoning controls on health determinants. Provide recommendations for land use policies and zoning controls that promoted community priorities. Develop capacity for inter agency working relationships. Demonstrate the feasibility of health impact assessment methods. Promote meaningful public involvement in land use policy making by making explicit competing interests and facilitating consensus.

11 ENCHIA Process Summary Phase 1. Phase 2. Phase 3. Phase 4. Phase 5. Phase 6. Created Healthy City Vision Developed Community Health Objectives to reflect Healthy City Vision Identified Community Health Indicators to measure Vision and Objectives Generated Data Profiles on selected indicators to assess neighborhood conditions Developed a menu of Policy/Strategy Briefs to advance Objectives Created the Healthy Development Measurement Tool (HDMT)

12 Why a Healthy Development Tool? Many development projects expected to result from the Eastern Neighborhoods rezoning Standard method to apply a health lens to dev t Lack of formal mandates to consider health in decision making Growing need for clear methods as few tools or guidelines were available Opportunity to build inter agency relationships

13 Healthy Development Measurement Tool (HDMT) Overview Goal: To support comprehensive and health responsive planning using a systematic and objective method Method: Multi objective, voluntary evaluation metric and checklist that incorporates measurable community health indicators and development targets

14 HDMT Components 1) Six Elements of a 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) Healthy City Community Health Objectives Measurable Indicators and Baseline Data Development Targets Health based Rationales Policy and Strategy Recommendations

15 HDMT Organization

16 HDMT Elements

17 HDMT Community Health Objectives

18 Objectives pages include: Indicator pages with associated data to advance the Objectives Development Targets that provide criteria to evaluate the healthiness of a Plan Health Based Rationales linking the Objectives to public health Established Standards (City, State, and/or Federal) that relate to the Objective Policy and Design Strategies that can be applied to improve a plan or project

19 Indicator pages include: Indicator data in the forms of maps and tables and often disaggregated by neighborhood Explanations and Limitations of the data Research connecting the indicator to health

20 HDMT Application Process 1) Does a place have healthy living and working conditions? Use HDMT indicator data to assess baseline conditions 2) Does a plan or project advance health related conditions? Assess the extent to which a Plan meets HDMT development targets 3) What recommendations for planning policies, implementing actions, or project design would advance community health objectives? Develop concrete, specific recommendations

21 HDMT Development Checklist

22 HDMT Policy Implications As plans and projects are evaluated against development targets, we provide policies and design strategies to help meet HDMT development targets and advance objectives Example: HDMT Development Target Policy / Design Strategies ES.5.c If within 500 feet of a truck route, does the project avoid placing sensitive uses adjacent to a truck route, or, if the project is sited in a location where a designated truck route is within 500 feet of a sensitive use, does the project provide an HVAC system with filtration to reduce mitigate infiltration of vehicle emissions? Provide HVAC systems with filtration to mitigate infiltration of vehicle emissions Re designate truck routes away from Re designate schools, residential areas, and areas where people have asthma Require warehouse and distribution facilities to provide adequate on site truck parking Require refrigerated warehouses to provide generators so refrigerated trucks do not have to be idle

23 HDMT Potential Users Users Applications Public agencies (i.e., Planning, Public Health, Redevelopment, Recreation and Parks, Public Works, Transportation) Neighborhood planning groups Resident initiated community planning processes Developers Provide a checklist or screening tool to evaluate projects, identify benefits and needs for improvement, and guide staff reports Provide a measurable set of health objectives and indicators to guide planning goals Provide useful monitoring indicators to evaluate the impact of and measure the progress of community plans Help stakeholders evaluate the merits and health impacts of development projects and plans Provide a checklist or screening tool to evaluate projects, identify benefits and needs for improvement To inform design choices and to demonstrate benefits of projects

24 HDMT Caveats HDMT is a voluntary assessment, not a new environmental regulation Works as a comprehensive preliminary survey tool the HDMT does not provide for in depth or scientific forecasting of impacts When comprehensively used, the HDMT is intended to reveal and make explicit trade offs of different decisions Should be used as early as possible in a planning process

25 How does the HDMT address equity? Framework: Fundamental fraemwork of the HDMT is that all communities should have access to health resources Use of the HDMT is primarily targeted to communities experiencing the most significant development externalities Objectives and indicators explicitly call out the need for development that serves existing and new residents and workers Inclusive process and diverse constituency contributed to the development and content of the HDMT Seeks to make the impacts of land use decisions more transparent and accessible to the public Details: Consideration of baseline conditions in application process Disaggregation and presentation of data by neighborhood Democratization of data Trainings and technical assistance

26 HDMT Broader value Growing movement for multi objective and holistic assessment of trade offs of public policy Provides systematic application of health and equity lenses to planning Overcome the lack of formal mandates to consider health impacts in planning In the absence of tools and guidelines, responds to the growing need for clear methods to understand the health impacts of land use decisions Build inter agency relationships and increases transparency of decision making processes

27 Other SFDPH Built Environment Work Air Quality Modeling Noise Modeling Pedestrian Injury Collision Modeling Pedestrian and Bicycle Environmental Quality Indices Pedestrian Flow Model Retail Food Index

28 Acknowledgements ENCHIA Community Council members HDMT partner organizations SF Planning Department SFDPH HDMT team Rajiv Bhatia, MD, MP Cyndy Comerford, MA Megan Gaydos, MPH Jennifer McLaughlin, MA Megan Wier, MPH Fernando Marti for Healthy City Vision illustrations

29 Contact Information Lili Farhang, MPH Program on Health, Equity and Sustainability San Francisco Department of Public Health 1390 Market Street, Suite 910 San Francisco, CA Phone: