Resources re: Public Health and Active Transportation

Active & Sustainable Transportation, Healthy Communities/Sustainable Communities, Kim Perrotta, Public Health & Land Use Planning Comments Off on Resources re: Public Health and Active Transportation

Several new reports have been released over the last few months related to public health and active transportation, so we are taking the opportunity to highlight a few of them, along with a few older reports, that can inform land use and transportation planning processes to support active transportation. 

1.   Road to Health: Improving Walking and Cycling in Toronto was released in April 2012 by Toronto Public Health.  This 104-page report summarizes the health benefits and risks associated with walking and cycling with a particular focus on Toronto.  It provides an economic assessment of those health benefits and risks in general and for the  City of Toronto.  It also discusses specific strategies and programs that are being used by various jurisdictions to increase active transportation and to make it safer to walk and cycle in our communities.  It can be downloaded at:  http://www.toronto.ca/health/hphe/pdf/roadtohealth.pdf

2.  Complete Streets by Design was released by the Toronto Centre for Active Transportation (TCAT) and Clean Air Partnership (CAP) in March 2012.  This 25-page report has been developed to build public and professional support for Complete Streets.  Using photography, illustration and graphic design, it provides colour pictures of a variety of Toronto streets as they are today and how they could look with the implementation of Complete Streets principles.  It is a great way to help people visualize the transformation of our streets.  This report can be downloaded at: http://www.tcat.ca/sites/all/files/TCAT_CSxD_WebLetter.pdf (>4MB).

3. Complete Streets Gap Analysis: Opportunities and Barriers in Ontario was released by the TCAT and CAP in April 2012.  This 50-page report highlights the opportunities and barriers for the adoption of Complete Streets policies. More specifically, the transportation section of the Official Plan (OP) for 17 of Ontario’s largest municipalities was analysed using the ten elements of a comprehensive Complete Streets policy developed by the National Complete Streets Coalition.  This report can be downloaded at: http://www.torontocat.ca/sites/all/files/Complete_Streets_Gap_Analysis.pdf

4.  Urban Traffic Calming and Health: A Literature Review was released by the National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) in November 2011. This 130-page report is directed at the impact of various traffic calming strategies on air quality, the number and severity of vehicle-related collisions, environmental noise and active transportation.  This report can be downloaded at:  http://www.ncchpp.ca/docs/ReviewLiteratureTrafficCalming_En.pdf (>5 MB)

5.  Creating Walkable and Transit-Supportive Communities in Halton was released by the Halton Region Health Department in February 2009.  This 71-page report was produced for the Regional Official Plan review process.  It examines the health, planning and transportation literature and identifies a number of criteria that could be captured in official plans, secondary plans and implementation guidelines to support the creation of neighbourhoods that support active transportation and public transit. It was peer-reviewed by a Planner with many years of experience, reviewed by Planners at the Region and in the local municipalities, and subjected to public consultation.  It can be downloaded at: http://chasecanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/halton-walkability.pdf

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