Improved health isn’t the only reason to invest in activity-friendly communities—doing so can also improve safety, social connectedness, air quality, and local economies.1 NCCOR has created a growing collection of resources and research to help public health practitioners, decision makers, and community members make the business case for improving the built environment.
Places connected by routes such as sidewalks and trails to everyday destinations such as grocery stores and parks
You can decide which economic indicators to prioritize based on your community’s most pressing local issues and needs, and your community’s vision for the future.
Sign up for our mailing list to be notified of updated content.
There are many great ways to start the conversation around activity-friendly communities. These talking points and questions will help you be ready for issues that may arise when discussing priorities with local decision makers and community members. Click here to download a PDF of the discussion points.
Start the conversation by asking…
Activity-friendly communities create economic opportunities.
Economic opportunities help attract employees, customers, and patrons who want to live and work near jobs, businesses, and services that are convenient and easy to access.
People in thriving communities live longer and report better health, contributing to lower health care costs and increased productivity for employers.
When communities make it easy and convenient to walk, bike, and roll to ample job opportunities, businesses, and services, they create shared economic prosperity, which helps people feel connected and promotes the community’s overall health and economy
Start the conversation by asking…
Improving the built environment is not a one size fits all approach. What is important for your community may not be the same for another.
Activity-friendly development solves problems and addresses needs in almost every sector: transportation, land use and planning, zoning, housing and real estate development, and business.
Activity-friendly communities can address community transportation and housing priorities by reducing congestion, adapting to changing travel needs, or increasing housing without increasing traffic congestion or sprawl.
Policies and investments that support a range of housing options, including smaller and multifamily homes, can help increase affordability and walkability.
For communities focused on economic issues, activity-friendly places can boost business and tourism to bring in needed tax revenue.
Start the conversation by asking…
The increased productivity, opportunity, and stability resulting from activity-friendly investments can lead to greater revenue from taxes, sales, and business to support community needs, infrastructure, and initiatives.
This incremental, sustainable development can increase property values while retaining existing residents and businesses. These opportunities for economic recovery can benefit the whole community.
Need more funding? There are more resources available than ever for projects to support activity-friendly communities, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Start the conversation by asking…
Routine maintenance such as repaving roads and repairing bridges can provide a lower-cost opportunity to ease the flow of vehicles so walking, biking, and rolling are safer and more pleasant.
Sidewalks, bike lanes, and trails cost less to build and maintain in comparison to roads for vehicles. For example, bike lanes can go in existing road shoulders, parking lanes, or narrowed traffic lanes.
Communities often tap into non-traditional options to fund infrastructure projects: local option sales taxes, fuel taxes, utility fees, and motor vehicle fees; state infrastructure banks; and public-private partnerships.
Healthy communities are desirable communities
Healthy development means different things for different people: In some places, a trail network or a bus route connecting to nearby towns may be enough to help local businesses thrive. In other places, a different balance may be needed, like preserving open spaces and natural resources. Local governments have many tools to include resident voices in community development decisions and provide incentives for smart growth.
Include community residents in development solutions and decision-making: Community-based planning and engagement can help ensure that changes address community goals and avoid unintended consequences. For example, policies that help existing businesses keep jobs in the community and help retail prices remain affordable can ensure that current residents and businesses aren’t priced out and communities remain stable.
Find the right approach for your community: It’s critical to weigh the pros and cons of different policy tools and strategies in your context to support current residents and businesses through healthy development.
Activity-friendly improvement projects can generate concerns about residential, commercial, or cultural displacement. In a recent national study, nearly 1 in 5 respondents expressed concerns that community design changes might increase cost of living. However, over half of the respondents still supported design changes even if they did increase costs.2 Economic indicators can be used to measure the benefits of community design changes, which can offset the increased costs of living. Consider how concerns about displacement might prevent residents from supporting community improvements. Many strategies exist to mitigate or prevent displacing people when designing communities for physical activity. Resources identified by recent research can help you identify municipalities that have used strategies to protect people, jobs, and ways of life, and ensure that projects benefited the entire community.3
Let us know! We’d love to share your story and the benefits you were able to achieve.
Need a quick factsheet to share at a community town hall or meeting with a decision maker? This two-pager includes:
Have more time to make your case on improving the built environment? Use this customizable PowerPoint template.
In 2020, NCCOR convened a panel of experts who identified 73 potential measurable economic benefits that can be used to make the business case for activity-friendly communities. Resources on this website highlight the top 10. For a complete list of indicators and description of how they were identified see Priorities and Indicators for Economic Evaluation of Built Environment Interventions to Promote Physical Activity, published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 2021.
In 2022, NCCOR published a Systematic Review on Quantifying Pedestrian Injury When Evaluating Changes to the Built Environment in Preventive Medicine Reports.
Active People, Healthy Nation is a national initiative led by CDC to help 27 million Americans become more physically active by 2027.
Smart Growth covers a range of development and conservation strategies that help protect our health and natural environment and make our communities attractive, economically stronger, and more socially diverse.
Need help finding publicly available data sources? NCCOR’s Catalogue of Surveillance Systems provides one-stop access to over 100 publicly available datasets relevant to childhood obesity research. The Catalogue includes physical activity- and environment-related databases you can use.
Working on your own research study? NCCOR’s Measures Registry Resource Suite can help you select measures related to the physical activity environment.
References
