Planning for Healthy Communities

This book investigates multi-disciplinary approaches to addressing the health of disadvantaged communities through equitable community development systems (CDSs).

The core concepts underlying the book are three dimensions of support infrastructure (people: human-centering; place: place-cultivating; and ecosystem: sustainable capitalization), leveraging several theories (community capital, social justice) from community development. This book is based on the results of a recent grassroots, citywide engagement-driven initiative in Detroit, and on best-practice case studies in Chicago, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Boston, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Richmond, and Portland. The initiative's significant outcomes include a consensus-bolstered by those case studies-on seven components deemed essential to an equitable system for community development. This book proposes that the CDS can enhance community health if at least the following requirements are met: (1) adoption of a community-vitality framework as a citywide shared narrative; (2) coordination across financial institutions to allocate funds equitably to underserved communities; and (3) implementation of system governance with stronger attention to resident voices.

This book demonstrates that bottom-up CDSs can and should be leveraged to enhance the health of underserved communities and investigates how best to address the three requirements to make the equitable system-based approach work effectively in practice. The audience of community development and community health actors will learn from Detroit and the case studies-offering lessons for other cities facing similar issues-how to leverage equitable CDSs to promote healthy communities.