Health and the Built Environment

El Monte Health and Wellness Element

City of El Monte, CA

Raimi + Associates (R+A), in collaboration with the Public Health Law & Policy (PHLP), was contracted by the City of El Monte to write and begin implementation of a Health and Wellness Element for the City’s General Plan. El Monte, which is 12 miles from downtown Los Angeles, is the ninth largest city in Los Angeles County and is the hub of the San Gabriel Valley. Approximately 125,000 people live in El Monte, and form a diverse, moderate income, working community. The City also is challenged by a number of key health issues including high rates of obesity, limited healthy food outlets, inadequate recreational opportunities and many barriers to walking and other active transportation opportunities. R+A and PHLP are developing a Health and Wellness Element to provide the city with a comprehensive program to improve health and to adopt health policies and programs for the City to improve the health of City residents. In particular, the element will focus on the access to healthy food, healthy lifestyle and health education efforts, the mitigation of environmental hazards, and creating active transportation choices throughout the city. In addition to the Health and Wellness Element, R+A will help the City to produce a detailed Implementation Program to assist the City in accomplishing the vision articulated in the General Plan. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010.

Back to Top

Riverside County Healthy Community Element

Riverside County

Raimi + Associates is preparing a Healthy Communities Element as part of Riverside County’s General Plan Update. The Element is currently undergoing public review and provides clear and consistent policies and implementation strategies to support a healthy and active citizenry. Raimi + Associates developed the draft Element in collaboration with the County’s Department of Public Health and an ad hoc “Healthy Community Working Group” comprised of health professionals, department representatives and other stakeholders from throughout the County. The Element provides a framework for translating the General Plan vision for a healthy Riverside County into reality, along with strategies, policies and implementation actions to achieve that vision. It addresses the major intersections of public health and planning, including transportation and active living, access to nutritious foods, access to health care, mental health, quality of life, and environmental health. Since health is strongly impacted by land use and transportation, the Element references and is consistent with the Land Use, Circulation and Air Quality Elements of the General Plan.

Back to Top

Healthy Community Element, South Gate General Plan

City of South Gate, CA

In coordination with the L.A. Public Health Department, Public Health Law and Policy and the Kaiser Foundation, Raimi + Associates created a Healthy Community Element for incorporation into the General Plan it prepared for the City of South Gate. The Healthy Community Element addresses issues of physical activity, access to nutritious food, transportation safety, air quality, mental health and public safety as they relate to the built environment. While developing policy for the element, Raimi + Associates completed extensive research and mapping of existing health conditions in the city, focusing on obesity, impediments to walking, and the difficulty of finding healthy food in certain portions of the city. The project was a unique opportunity to apply the toolkits, research and healthy planning concepts that Raimi + Associates has developed, and to fully incorporate health into a general plan process while engaging multiple stakeholders. Recently adopted by the City, the South Gate Health Element is one of the first of its kind in the State of California and the United States.

Back to Top

LEED-ND Public Health Study

U.S. Green Building Council*

Matt Raimi and Sarah Patrick prepared a detailed study of the relationship between public health outcomes and the built environment. The report focuses on five key public health topics – respiratory and cardiovascular health, fatal and non-fatal injuries, physical activity, social capital and mental health – among the general population. It also looks at the impact of each of these five areas on special populations including children, the elderly and people of color. The report presents a comprehensive picture of which elements of the built environment have the greatest positive impact on these public health outcomes. The study was the first to not only summarize the impact of the built environment on public health topics but also to recommend positive changes to the built environment based on public health. The findings of the study supported development of LEED for Neighborhood Development, the U.S. Green Building Council’s most recent rating system.

Back to Top

Coachella Valley Design for Healthy Living

Coachella Valley, CA for the Coachella Valley Association of Governments as a subconsultant
to the Transportation and Land Use Collaborative

In partnership with CVAG, the Transportation and Land Use Collaborative (TLUC) obtained a Caltrans Community-Based Transportation Grant to educate and inform stakeholders in the Coachella Valley on the connection between health, smart growth and the built environment. TLUC hired Raimi + Associates to develop a toolkit of planning tools and techniques that can be used by local governments and other stakeholders in the Coachella Valley to improve public health outcomes. The document summarizes the current knowledge on the relationship between specific characteristics of the built environment and health and the presents a series of tools that can be used by planners, elected officials, appointed officials, and citizens to promote health outcomes.

Back to Top