Report Links Public Health to the Built Environment

The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) has released a report detailing the connections between a range of public health concerns and the built environment. According to CNU, this report is the first to summarize the effects of the built environment on public health while also discussing potential improvements.

The 132-page report, “Understanding the Relationship Between Public Health and the Environment,” was designed to interpret the latest research on these connections in order to inform the development of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC’s) LEED® for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) rating system. Commissioned by USGBC, CNU, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the federally funded report was prepared by representatives from each of those groups as well as from the National Center for Smart Growth, the California Department of Health Services, and others.