PH 470 - Health and The Built Environment

Units: 3
Exploration of the built physical environment where humans live in the context of health. It will explore infrastructure, regional/city planning, and open spaces and how this influences individual and community health outcomes.

Prerequisites: All of: PH 100, 110, and 300
Possible Instructional Methods: On-ground or Hybrid.
Grading: A-F grading only.
Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Recognize the basic elements of healthy community design (HCD);
Understand with examples, the meaning of Health Impact Assessment (HIA) and how it relates to HCD;
Summarize the principles of HIA (screening, scoping, risk/benefit assessment, reporting, etc.) and its impact on HCD;
Recognize the specific focus topical areas of HCD (e.g. transportation, healthy food choices, gentrification, etc.) and how they relate to individual health outcomes;
Critically evaluate an existing HIA completed for a project in California (e.g. new mall area, new non-motorized city transport initiative, etc.);
Work in teams to develop a HIA in an assigned project, policy or plan (e.g. new freeway, new policy like taxing tobacco products to benefit health causes, creation of a new open space or hiking trail, etc.)