DESCRIPTION
This system includes elements that connect our communities and move people and goods into, out of, and around the region. The circulatory system is inextricably linked to land use planning (zoning and development controls), as well as impacting human health through air quality and fitness.

CIRCULATORY FUNCTIONS
pedestrian mobility, bicycle mobility, transport of goods

PERFORMANCE METRICS
connectivity; percentage of people getting around without a car; public health benefits due to increased non-motorized mobility, reduction of carbon footprint; health care cost reductions; pollutant removal;

Recently, researchers at the St. Louis University School of Public Health's Prevention Resource Center, funded by a Robert Wood Johnson Active Living grant, created a community check list to evaluate whether your community is healthy or not. You can view it here:http://prc.slu.edu/iafc.htm.


Health Impact Assessments (HIA) are an emerging tool for planners and public health officials to measure the potential effects a policy or project will have on human health. An HIA is similar to an Environmental Impact Assessment, however there is no regulatory requirement, it focuses exclusively on health, and reports can vary in length. To date there have been 26 HIA's conducted in the United States that meet the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) assessment criteria and methodology. In an ideal world the CDC would like to see more HIA's published in public health literature for researchers to learn from others methodologies. However, these assessments can often be resource intensive.

So what does this mean for planners and designers who want design healthy communities and do not have the time to conduct labor intensive assessments? The CDC recognizes that the HIA is a scientific tool, but it can also be adapted to a desktop tool such as the NACCHO checklist and LEED ND points that focus on human health for designers to reference during the design process.

Health Impact Assessments (HIA) Websiteby the Centers for Disease Control

CASE STUDIES: PLANNING AND POLICY

CASE STUDIES: HIGH PERFORMANCE LANDSCAPES

CIRCULATORY SYSTEM RESOURCES

• Moving Communities Forward, a project by theAmerican Institute of Architectsand theCenter for Transportation Studies
• USGBC, CNU and NRDC's compelling report onPublic Health and the Built Environment (PDF). This is a great report that summarizes some of the correlations between the built environment and human health.
• Health Impact AssessmentBlog
• WalkScore: a very cool mash-up that measures the walkability of your neighborhood
• Neighbourhood Environments and Resources for Healthy Living—A Focus on Diabetes in Toronto
• Green Highways Partnershiphttp://www.greenhighways.org/
• Street Films: Lessons from Bogota (ped streets, rapid bus, cyclovias, etc.)
• FHWA Eco-Logical Grant Program
• Integrating HIA into EIA processes by Rajiv Bhatia and Aaron Wernham
• Institute of Transportation Engineers
• San Francisco'sBetter StreetsProgram
• Rails to Trails Conservancy'sActive Transportation for Americareport
• New York City'sWorld Class Streets(by Gehl Architects) andSustainable StreetsPlans
• Greening Mass Transit and Metro Regions
• NYC Sustainable Streets Plan -websiteandPDF
• Active Transportation Alliance - http://www.activetrans.org/
• Car-Free Census Database
• SF Turning Street into Plaza
• Active Transportation for America's documentThe Case for Increased Federal Investment in Bicycling and Walking
  
• Virginia Outlaws the cul-de-sac(Washington Post, 22 March 2009)
• Rethinking Congestionby Brian D. Taylor
  
• Planning Complete Streets for Aging America
• Cyclocentric manifesto: the bicycle as a trojan horse for sustainability, Dreams on Wheels, 2009
• NYC2: Cycling, Price Tags 108, 2009
• The Economic Benefits of Walking by the Victoria Transportation Policy Institute