Public Health Implications in City and Regional Planning

Abstract

Y city and regional planning we seek to control the design and arrangement of the city for convenience, safety, and maximum possible satisfactory living conditions. Three levels of planning are involved: the city or region, the neighborhood, and the relationships of individual structures. There are public health implications in planning at each of these levels. There is need for open spaces to break up excessive continuity of building masses. There is need for open spaces for recreation, both active and passive. There is need for orderly arrangement to reduce fatigue caused by undue loss of time in travel between home and work, to reduce congestion and confusion in transportation, and to reduce accident hazards. There is need for good neighborhood environment with freedom from the noises, odors, and traffic of commerce and industry, and with opportunity for recreation for different age groups and for normal community life. There is need for sufficient open space between buildings to permit adequate lightand air to encourage rest and normal family life. These are city and regional planning matters because they cannot be secured and permanently preserved by the individual at any cost. They are inadequately provided for in cities today because of haphazard growth prior to the advent of city and regional plan-