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Category Archives: Public Health
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: Three Choices, None Simple
There can be no question about the transformative power of today’s metropolitan economy. Major cities around the country hope to ride the wave of the growing financial, research-based, and digital business sectors. City leaders are doing what they can to make the place attractive to exploding numbers of higher-income young professionals these firms employ as […] Continue reading
ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION IS PRIMARY PREVENTION: The Evolution of Public Health From Quarantines to Mass In Motion
Public Health has its origins in catastrophe, the realization that if an out-of-the-ordinary pestilence is suddenly sickening large numbers of people there must be a general cause rather than individual failures. In contrast to Medicine, which traditionally is about treating an individual’s existing disease, Public Health seeks to keep large groups from getting sick. In […] Continue reading
Posted in Commentary & Analysis, Obesity, Public Health, Road Design, TRANSPORTATION HEALTH and SAFETY, Walking
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THE DANGERS OF SAFETY: Why Focusing on Car Accidents May Hurt Our Health
Everyone officially puts “safety first.” Everyone wants to prevent accidents. Car crashes are treated as lead stories on TV news – the images are horrific and we all fear our vulnerability. But, in fact, our roads are safer than ever. In 1956, when Interstate construction began, the national fatality rate was 6.05 per 100 million […] Continue reading
Posted in Commentary & Analysis, Obesity, Public Health, Safety, TRANSPORTATION HEALTH and SAFETY
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FREE AND EASY: Open Ended Bicycling
Every year I am part of a group that does a one-day ride from Boston to Provincetown, about 146 miles. We’ve done it in blazing heat and nor’easter rainstorms – that was the year we later realized that each of us was secretly hoping our bike would fail so we’d have an excuse to drop […] Continue reading
Posted in bike culture, Commentary & Analysis, Public Health
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DANGER FROM BELOW: Our Leaky Gas Pipe Infrastructure
It’s bad enough that rain-water run-off from our streets takes oil-derived toxins, metal and synthetic dust into our soil then into our groundwater and rivers. But it also turns out that human-injected poisons seep up from below our roads, destroying plant life, killing soil, and creating explosive danger on the surface as well. The volatile […] Continue reading
Posted in Advocacy, Climate/Energy/Environment, Commentary & Analysis, Public Health, TRANSPORTATION HEALTH and SAFETY
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LIVABILITY, PUBLIC HEALTH, AND MOVING AROUND: A Healthy Society Requires Healthy People
Boston Public Health Commissioner, Barbara Ferrer, says that while Boston has many Public Health needs, the three biggest challenges facing the city are reducing violence, making a positive health impact an explicit goal of every policy in every department, and using the new provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to get hospitals […] Continue reading
Posted in Climate/Energy/Environment, Commentary & Analysis, Public Health, TRANSPORTATION HEALTH and SAFETY
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MassDOT’S HEALTHY TRANSPORTATION POLICY DIRECTIVE: Framing Economic Needs as Public Health Measures Strengthens Both
MassDOT’s recently issued Healthy Transportation Policy Directive could actualize the most profound transformation in the state’s transportation system since the anti-highway movement convinced Governor Frank Sargent to cancel the massive Inner Belt project (the first time any state had done this) and his Transportation Secretary, Alan Altshuler, got the state’s Congressional delegation to pass legislation […] Continue reading
Posted in Commentary & Analysis, CREATING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE, MassDOT Transformation, MassHighway/DOT, Public Health, Safety
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OPENING STREETS, CHANGING POLICIES: Creating Space for Neighborhood Revival and Transportation Reform
Movement building requires organizing activities and programs that have inherent value and meet people’s immediate needs while also raising their awareness of the importance of larger reforms and putting pressure on relevant officials and power brokers to implement those changes. It’s a tricky combination to achieve. Providing free breakfast to low-income kids, for example, makes […] Continue reading
Posted in Advocacy, Commentary & Analysis, Public Health, STREET LIFE & LAND USE, Walking
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THE ART OF TRANSPORTATION (AND URBAN) PLANNING: Going Beyond the Technical Specs
It is through our built environment that we shape ourselves and the world. Living, working, and moving around in dysfunctional, cramped, unsafe, polluted, or just ugly places not only affects our mood and health but also our relations with those around us and the natural environment. The need to maximize the positive impact of our […] Continue reading
Posted in Commentary & Analysis, Government Reform, Project Management, Public Health, Road Design, ROAD DESIGN AND MODE CHANGE
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