{"595981":{"#nid":"595981","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Creating Healthy Places to Improve Public Health","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENearly 15 years ago, Dr. Catherine Ross and a group of like-minded individuals came together to address the rising obesity epidemic and rates of chronic disease in the United States.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EShe believed that \u0026ldquo;to find solutions, we need all perspectives in the room.\u0026rdquo;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nTo bring these perspectives together, Ross worked with individuals from Georgia Tech, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Emory University, Georgia State University, local government leaders and health departments to create the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cqgrd.gatech.edu\/healthy-places-research-group\u0022\u003EHealthy Places Research Group (HPRG)\u003C\/a\u003E in 2003.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nThey set out to address questions such as: How is public health influenced by the built environment? What role do policy makers, planners, architects, engineers and designers play in addressing these challenges?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERoss, director of the Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development (CQGRD), and colleagues sought to answer these and other questions through both applied research and by building multi-disciplinary partnerships.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe group is guided by the concept that \u0026quot;Healthy Places\u0026quot; can refer to buildings, neighborhoods, and even entire metropolitan areas. HPRG works to explore how to develop, design, and build places that promote good health, support community values, and restore vitality to communities.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe overall goal of HPRG is to provide a forum to share research and build relationships, keeping dialogue open for opportunities to work together. Participants in HPRG have formed teams which have submitted successful research proposals.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe early supporters of HPRG were alarmed by the increasing rates of overweight and obesity in the United States, and felt that all individuals who could change this trajectory should strive to do so.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nThese initial discussions were motivated by the increasing body of evidence that planners, architects, engineers, policymakers, designers, and others who are not in the traditional fields of public health or medicine can still positively influence public health.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne early steering committee member was Andrew Dannenberg, an M.D. with a master\u0026rsquo;s in public health, who is currently an affiliate professor in Environment and Occupational Health Sciences as well as Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nHe states that, \u0026ldquo;The built environment influences public health in many ways - for example through rates of physical activity, air pollution, injuries, mental health, social capital and environmental justice. Multiple disciplines come together to create the built environment. \u0026hellip; Design and policy interventions can positively affect obesity and chronic disease rates. Public health can\u0026#39;t fix these problems alone.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHe still attends meetings if they occur when he is in Atlanta\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nHPRG meets monthly during the academic year at the CQGRD at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAt each meeting, speakers present their work on a common theme which explores how places can be built to promote good health. Some examples of previous topics have included:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ECreating Green Infrastructure\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EThe Relationship Between Health and Equity\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EHow Healthy and Sustainable Places Drive Economic Development\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ECreating Opportunities for Physical Activity: Developing the PATH400 Trail\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EHealthy Food Access: Working with the Community\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe contributions of the HPRG program were recognized in 2004 and 2005 by the\u0026nbsp; local pedestrian advocacy group \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/peds.org\/\u0022\u003EPedestrians Educating Drivers on Safety (PEDs)\u003C\/a\u003E, for work that encourages active lifestyles and other healthy choices, such as walking.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe goal of PEDS is \u0026ldquo;to make communities in Georgia safe, inviting and accessible to everyone who walks.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESally Flocks, the Executive Director and Founder of PEDs, describes what she sees as the value of the group:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;HPRG provides an opportunity for people in a variety of fields who are interested in connecting the built environment and public health, to come together to share their work through presentations and discussion.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFlocks has been a longtime supporter of HPRG and continues to attend HPRG meetings.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EParticipation is open to anyone interested in the characteristics and advancement of healthy places within the built environment. HPRG meetings typically include participants from the School of City and Regional Planning, CQGRD, Emory, the Georgia Health Policy Center at Georgia State University, the CDC, local, state and federal employees, and individuals from the private sector. It is also open to the public.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nThe first meeting of the school year in September was canceled in the wake of Hurricane Irma and will be rescheduled.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe October meeting will be from 7:30 \u0026ndash; 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 24, at CQGRD, 760 Spring St., Suite 213, Atlanta, Ga. 30308.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Healthy Places Research Group, an interdisciplinary group of planners, engineers, architects, and more, has been meeting for nearly 15 years to discuss ways to improve public health through the build environment.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The Healthy Places Research Group, an interdisciplinary group of planners, engineers, architects, and more, has been meeting for nearly 15 years to discuss ways to improve public health through the build environment."}],"uid":"32550","created_gmt":"2017-09-15 13:08:10","changed_gmt":"2017-09-26 16:31:46","author":"Malrey Head","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-09-15T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-09-15T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"595982":{"id":"595982","type":"image","title":"Healthy Places Research Group (2016)","body":null,"created":"1505481329","gmt_created":"2017-09-15 13:15:29","changed":"1505481353","gmt_changed":"2017-09-15 13:15:53","alt":"Healthy Places Research Group (2016)","file":{"fid":"227125","name":"promo.hprg_.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/promo.hprg_.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/promo.hprg_.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":269760,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/promo.hprg_.jpg?itok=Fftj3_bL"}}},"media_ids":["595982"],"groups":[{"id":"1221","name":"College of Design"},{"id":"1260","name":"CQGRD - Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development"},{"id":"1224","name":"School of City \u0026 Regional Planning"},{"id":"60380","name":"CSPAV - Center for Spatial Planning Analytics and Visualization"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMalrey Head\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDigital Communications Specialist\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nmalrey.head@design.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}