We Don't Know Nearly As Much About the Link Between Public Health and Urban Planning As We Think We Do

In the mid-1800s, how we lived had a lot to do with how we caught disease. That's when we first discovered the connection between overcrowded, unsanitary housing and the spread of cholera, tuberculosis, and yellow fever. Back then, the fields of public health and urban planning were practically one and the same.

The two have long since moved in different directions. But there's growing concern that the communities we've built – full of highways, where few people walk, where whole neighborhoods lack food access – may be pushing us towards obesity, heart disease, and asthma. By this thinking, good architecture and urban planning could encourage us to walk more. It could mitigate pollution. It could illuminate the targeted need for amenities like parks and bike lanes in neighborhoods with the worst health outcomes.