Building American Public Health: Urban Planning, Architecture, and the Quest for Public Health in the United States

This is the first book to examine the history of health and the built environment and it traces the influence of health on urban design and architecture from the early nineteenth century to today. As you know, a large and growing movement of planners, architects, and public health advocates believe that it is possible to build healthier cities and neighborhoods, but without a historical perspective, many lack an understanding of how the form of housing, neighborhoods, and cities came to be. Building American Public Health will not only provide the built environment movement with the information that it needs, but will also help enable the broader community of people concerned with improving to participate in this movement. By understanding the health ideas that have shaped past urban development, it will be easier to meet the health and environmental challenges of our time. If there is to be a new and sustained effort to change how we construct cities and neighborhoods, it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of past efforts.

The book is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and from the publisher, Palgrave Macmillan.