Health and Livability

For PC 3, you will use information you have compiled in PC 1 and PC 2 to begin to assess the livability of your chosen city. As with PC 1 and PC 2, you may choose another city if you are unable to find what you need.

Portfolio Component 3:  Sustainable Healthy City Plan

1. For your chosen city, go online and locate the city’s latest planning document. This may be in the form of a sustainability plan, an improvement plan, a strategic plan, a comprehensive plan, etc.  If you cannot find one for your city, feel free to choose a different city for which you can find a plan.
2. Using what you have learned about how urban planning and design affect health, how health and liveability can be assessed, and what factors can affect health and liveability, review the city’s plan with a focus on how well they have accounted for and addressed various determinants of health. For example:
   1. Have they considered food deserts, walkability, the built environment?
   2. What data and methods were used to generate plan?
   3. Do they appear to have involved appropriate stakeholders in creating the plan?
   4. Does the data appear to be appropriate and of high enough quality to draw the conclusions outlined in the plan?
   5. Were healthy urban planning principles followed?
   6. Document your findings with examples from the plan.
3. For your portfolio, write a summary of your findings. Evaluate the usefulness of the document as an actual plan. Would this plan be useful in a practical way in guiding future planning and development or does it seem more like a public relations document?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of the plan as they relate to citizen health and well-being?  Defend your opinion with examples from the document.