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The Impact of the Built
Environment on Public Health.
This monograph focuses on the relation of
land-use decisions to air quality and
respiratory health; the built environment in
terms of whether it promotes or discourages
physical activity; the choices communities
make about the built environment that improve
mobility and the quality of life for their
elderly and disabled residents; and the ways
that various land-use decisions affect
community water quality, sanitation, and the
incidence of disease outbreaks.
Walkable
Communities, Inc. This organization
was founded to help whole communities, whether
they are large cities or small towns, or parts
of communities (i.e. neighborhoods, business
districts, parks, school districts,
subdivisions, specific roadway corridors,
etc.) become more walkable and pedestrian
friendly.
Sprawl
Open Space:
Conservation Meets Growth Management.
There's been a surge of interest in open space
protection in the last decade ... and there's no
question that open space protection helps shape
urban and metropolitan growth in the United
States. A new report by Solimar and the
Brookings Institution Center on Urban and
Metropolitan Policy surveys this national
landscape in a comprehensive way. The report
also contains a comprehensive state-by-state
review of open space programs and how much
acreage is protected.
Economics
Economic Benefits of Parks and Open Space:
How Land Conservation Helps Communities Grow
Smart and Protect the Bottom Line -- a 1999
report from the Trust for Public Land (TPL).
Communities around the country are learning that
open space conservation is not an expense but an
investment that produces important economic
benefits. TPL's entire report on the economic
benefits of open space is available in portable
document format (pdf) or in text format by
chapter. Because of the focus on parks and
open space, this list may not include sources of
information on other, more "non-traditional"
green infrastructure elements. Also
available is an
annotated bibliography contains more than
one hundred citations on the economic benefits
of protecting open space. View the complete
bibliography—citations only, organized by
author—or select sections of the bibliography
organized by subject. The subject listings
include annotations and quotations from the
author's findings.
Real Estate Impacts of Urban Parks.
This paper highlights findings with respect to
the real estate impacts of urban parks. These
findings are based in part on reports (such as
Urban Open Space -- An Investment that Pays, Tom
Fox, March 1990) and conversations with local
brokers and park representatives. The featured
case studies examine the background and
development of six urban parks (Post Office
Square in Boston, Union Square Park and Bryant
Park in New York City, Downtown Park in
Bellevue, Washington, Shreveport Riverfront Park
in Louisiana and Centennial Olympic Park in
Atlanta), as well as the implications of
development of the park on surrounding
properties.
The
Economics of Parks and Open Space: How Parks Pay
for Themselves is a short technical piece
produced by the Urban Open Space Foundation
describing how open spaces can contribute to the
local tax base. A second piece,
The Economics of Parks and Open Space:
Harnessing the Proximity Effect for Smart Growth
describes how the size and shape of open spaces
can further determine the economic affect of
open spaces on property values and the local tax
base.
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