Healthy Community Design

Make the healthy choice the easy choice in your community by creating opportunities for physical activity, healthy food access, transportation choices, social engagement, traffic injury and crime reduction, and accessibility for all incomes and abilities.

Your address can play an important role in how long you live and how healthy you are. The physical design of your community affects your health every time you step out your front door. Sometimes making healthy choices is not easy—being physically active is hard if you do not have access to sidewalks or parks, and eating right is hard if healthy foods are not available.

You can help make the healthy choice the easy choice. Attend community meetings where decisions are made about how land will be used, talk with elected officials, and work for policy change. Your actions can help:

• Reverse adult and childhood obesity
• Reduce your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes
• Lower air pollution
• Reduce traffic injuries
• Make the community stronger and more enjoyable for everyone
• Increase safety and reduce crime

Your input on land use decision in your community can help make everyone happier and healthier.

For more information on designing and building healthy places, go to www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces.