CDC’s Built Environment Package

Author:  Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The field of public health, over the past decade, has been developing and refining a perspective and technical approach to bring a health orientation to what is called the “built-environment.”  This approach encompasses all man-made environments and how we use them and specifically, public health research has expanded the definition of “built environment” to include healthy food access, community gardens, mental health, “walkability”, and “bikeability”. In public health, built environment refers to physical environments that are designed with health and wellness as integral parts of the communities. Research has indicated that the way neighborhoods are created can affect both the physical activity and mental health of the communities’ residents. Studies have shown that built environments that were expressly designed to improve physical activity are linked to higher rates of physical activity, which in turn, positively affects health and supports worksite wellness efforts.

In this edition of our blog, we focus on the just-released package created by CDC to help employers and communities create environments that help support personal wellness behaviors.

Click here to download this document

NOTE: You will need to have an active WellCert Membership in order to download this document.

I hope this tool helps you reach your wellness programming goals!  Drop me a note and let me know your thoughts and if you found it to be helpful: [email protected].

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