Urban design, land use, and transportation policy can all affect the overall physical and mental health of communities. Planners impact public health through decisions that affect air quality, housing density, transportation options, land use, access to parks and green space, and more. Understanding public health can help planners make more equitable decisions that improve the lives of families and the sustainability of urban communities.
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Lewis Mumford on the City 3: The City and Its Region
This short documentary film is the third part of a larger series hosted by Lewis Mumford, an American historian, sociologist, philosopher, and literary critic whose studies in the 20th century included attention to cities and architecture that influences the study and planning of cities into the present day. This film takes a broader view of cities, expanding to the regional level and warning about the ill effects of the sprawling forms that most U.S. cities took on during the mid-20th century, erasing pastoral landscapes and rural communities and undermining the benefits of cities.