Journal of the American Planning Association

Call for Papers: Special Issue on  “Community  Design and Revitalization to Promote Health”  

A symposium in tribute to the life’s work of Christopher Kochtitzky 

Abstracts Due: February 15, 2021

Virtual Symposium

Thank you for joining us on Thursday, January 28 for the Virtual Symposium. During the event we discussed the track record of innovations in promoting public health through city planning and design, to assess the current state of practice, and to consider next steps in the progression of the field.

Missed the event? View the recording here.

Recording of the Virtual Symposium

1:00 - 1:05 Opening (Bruce Stiftel)

1:05 - 1:10 Keynote Speakers Introductions (Nisha Botchwey)

1:10 - 1:40 Keynote Speakers

1:40 - 1:45 Kochtitzky Family Comments (Michele Kochtitzky Cracchiola)

1:45 - 2:45 Panel 1 - Where are we now? (Christopher Coutts, Mtafu Manda, Daniel Rodriguez, Patrice Williams, Gayle Souter-Brown)

2:45 - 3:45 Panel 2 - Where are we going? (Matthew Trowbridge, Noreen McDonald, Quency Phillips, Samina Raja, Mitchell Silver, Perry Yang) 

3:45 - 4:00 Reflections & Closing (Catherine Ross)

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Richard J. Jackson, MD

  • Professor emeritus, UCLA
  • Former Director, CDC
  • National Center for Environmental Health

 

Lois M. Takahashi, PhD

  • Houston I. Flournoy Professor of State Government
  • Director, USC Price School in Sacramento
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  • Mtafu Manda, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Mzuzu University
  • Noreen McDonald, PhD, Professor, UNC Chapel Hill
  • Quency Phillips, Community Partnerships Development Engagement Manager, GDV/Lendlease
  • Samina Raja, PhD, Professor, University at Buffalo
  • Daniel Rodriguez, PhD, Professor, UC Berkeley
  • Mitchell Silver, FAICP, Commissioner, NYC Department of Parks & Recreation
  • Gayle Souter-Brown, PhD, Director, Greenstone Design Limited
  • Patrice Williams, PhD, MPH, Postdoctoral IRTA Fellow, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
  • Perry Yang, PhD, Associate Professor, Georgia Tech
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Urban Planning and Health Imperatives

In the early 2000s, there was a renewed appreciation for the relationship between the built environment and public health. Subsequently, empirical analysis, pedagogy, and professional practice linking the fields has increased exponentially.  A seminal 2003 American Journal of Public Health special issue, “Built Environment and Health,” drew on these emerging ideas with a research agenda that inspired and identified best practices in designing new communities and revitalizing old ones to promote physical and mental health. Since that time, considerable research on these issues has been published, and the implementation of recommendations resulting from this body of work has transformed health and quality of life in communities, cities, and regions around the world. Unfortunately, many places remain tethered to unhealthy urban form and unequal opportunities to realize improved wellbeing and quality of life.    

Despite clearly established associations and visionary healthy place making over the past twenty years, the need to continue this work has never been more evident.  This JAPA Special Issue seeks to outline the transformational role urban planners have played, and can play going forward, in ensuring healthy environments for all.     

Papers in this special issue will:  

  • Scrutinize the results and implementation of built environment changes to document the extent to which health has improved overall, and especially for those who have disproportionately experienced disparities despite preceding policy, systems and environmental changes.  

  • Highlight technologies, tools, and frameworks that are imperatives for advancing tomorrow’s equitable, sustainable, and healthy places anchored in planning practice.   

  • Evaluate the successes and failures of past and current health-oriented interventions in community building.   

  • Recommend innovative planning practices that are vital to promoting good health outcomes for all.  

  • Identify key built environment and health issues critical to the next twenty years of planning practice globally.   

Manuscripts co-authored by multidisciplinary teams of academics and/or practitioners are especially encouraged.  

Instructions

Interested authors should submit an abstract to guest editor Nisha Botchwey (nisha.botchwey@gatech.edu) and cc Olivia Chatman (ochatman3@gatech.edu) by February 15, 2021. These should not exceed 1,000 words. Please include the phrase “Community Design and Revitalization to Promote Health” in the subject line. Following their review, a subset of authors will be invited by April 15, 2021, to submit full papers before August 15, 2021, subject to the customary JAPA double-blind peer review. Final, revised papers will be due by March 15, 2022. The special issue editorial team, Nisha Botchwey (Ga Tech), Christopher Coutts (Florida State), Catherine Ross (Ga Tech), Bruce Stiftel (Ga Tech) and Matthew Trowbridge (U Virginia) will attend ACSP and APHA in October and November and will be available for those interested in discussing potential manuscript topics or serving as reviewers and collaborators for this special issue.