Summary
Healthy people require healthy environments, neighborhoods, schools, childcare centers, and workplaces. People need their environments to be structured in ways that help them access healthy foods and easily incorporate physical activity into their daily routines. Creating healthy environments cannot be done in isolation by any one organization or field. It requires coordinated and comprehensive efforts by multiple organizations, leaders, fields, and sectors.
Though this brief primarily views the built environment through a public health lens, it also describes built environment issues from the perspective of environmental justice, sustainable food systems, economic development, equity, and climate change. There is a tremendous opportunity for diverse sectors to forge effective partnerships that bring together their varied, yet intersecting interests. Ultimately, it is the convergence of efforts and partnerships that will make it more likely to achieve the larger vision of community health.