Impact of the Built Environment on Population Health Outcomes

The built environment significantly influences population health outcomes by shaping daily behaviors, environmental exposures, and access to critical health-promoting resources. Safe and accessible sidewalks, safe parks, a clean environment, and nearby grocery stores promote exercise, healthy eating, and social interaction, eliminating frequent diseases and improving mental health (Geller et al., 2023). On the other hand, an environment characterized by pollution, poor housing, and poor diet increases the risks of asthma, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, as well as mental illnesses: Impact of the Built Environment on Population Health Outcomes.

Regarding the topic discussed in the video “How The Built Environment Influences Child Obesity,” residents living close to highways experience increased incidences of obesity among children secondary to increased physical inactivity and dangerous air pollutants, resulting in respiratory diseases, especially among children and the elderly. Besides, the quality of houses, such as overcrowding and poor ventilation, leads to increased rates of contracting diseases and increased psychological stress. As a consequence, the built environment has lasting effects on community health.

Relating the built environment to health equity can be shown using vivid examples. In Detroit, for instance, due to inaccessible food deserts, the citizens are forced to source their foods in the neighboring stores, thus developing unhealthy habits that lead to high cases of obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases, among others (Santarossa et al., 2021). On the contrary, the case of New York City’s High Line project detailed in the video “Public Health, Walking and the Built Environment” shows that renovating inactive urban sites into parks can encourage physical exercise, increase stress relief, and improve the mental health of the citizens.

These examples underline the significance of environmental factors in reducing the incidence of chronic illnesses and encouraging healthy living. In conclusion, more effective and purposeful decisions regarding the layout of urban areas targeting health-conscious planning are vital for reducing health inequalities in society. 

References

Geller, A. B., Polsky, D. E., & Burke, S. P. (2023, July 27). Neighborhood and built environment. Www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov; National Academies Press (US). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK596398/

Santarossa, S., Hill, A. B., Sitarik, A. R., Mackenzie, T., Hawkins, S., Scher, K., Sohaski, A., Baseer, M., Dombrowski, R., Plum, A., & Joseph, C. L. M. (2021). Food insecurity in Detroit: Exploring the relationship between patient-reported food insecurity and proximity to healthful grocery stores. Public Health Nutrition, 25(4), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1368980021003128

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Discussion 7