LEED-ND and healthy neighborhoods : an expert panel review

Land-use agencies such as local, state, and national parks and natural resource departments play a key role in determining how public lands are designed and utilized. The decisions these organizations make can affect the mental, physical, and social well-being of the communities they serve. By predicting or monitoring the health outcomes related to individual land-use decisions, agencies help to improve the health of their communities. The analyses conducted can provide decision-makers with valuable information regarding the interaction between a specific program, project, or policy and its effect on public health.Land-use agencies can examine the health outcomes of their actions using two public health tools: health impact assessment (HIA) and evaluation. This fact sheet provides information about HIA and evaluation, as well as background material that will help guide land-use agencies to consider health when making decisions about effective ways to use public lands.CS21634