Re-plugging health into planning is key to robust communities for the future, and to combating obesity and heart disease already threatening Mississippi, a noted author and researcher told a Hernando seminar drawing mayors, planners and aldermen from across the region.
“It’s time to revisit policies and time to make changes,” said Dr. Samina Raja, associate professor at the School of Architecture and Planning, State University of New York at Buffalo. She addressed about 90 people at Thursday’s “Your Town — Your Health: Planning and Building Healthy Communities” event at the Gale Center.
Raja cited a disconnect in which planning diverged from health issues in the last century. The “garden city” movement of the early 20th century kindled interest in slum clearance, “but people forgot to connect health back to the zoning codes.”
Only recently, amid threats tied to poor nutrition and lack of physical activity, has interest surged in planning for healthy cities. But barriers remain due to outdated zoning that, for example, dissuades farmers markets and sale of local produce in urban areas “because there’s a worm in the apple,” she said.
Raja lauded Hernando as “a pretty green city” with an outstanding farmers market. She said DeSoto’s policy of zoning within a comprehensive plan “is a terrific tool.”
But there’s more to be done here and elsewhere, she said, on capital improvements, code revisions and incentives for healthy choices — be it better lighting for sidewalks and parks or rules boosting more variety of food outlets.
Bemoaning a chronic lack of contact between public health officials and planners, Raja praised efforts such as the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi’s health councils in each of the eight counties it serves. Cissy Cox, a program specialist with the state Department of Health in Tupelo, said she works with the Marshall County council “to deliver more bang for the buck.”
“My advice is, the sooner you bring the different parties to the table, the better the planning will be,” Raja said.
The seminar represented another partnership: The Bouchillon Institute for Community Planning mounted the event with funding through the Community Foundation.
— Henry Bailey: (901) 333-2012
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HEALTHY DIALOGE
A targeted tri-county region — DeSoto, Tate and Marshall — and more were represented at Thursday’s all-day planning seminar.
Health issues “are a concern for everyone,” said Katherine Ennis, director of planning for Northport, Ala., who spoke on zoning. She said it was urgent for cities to plan for the needs of a swelling elderly population.
“I know for a fact we need this type of health planning,” said Calvin James, an alderman in Holly Springs in Marshall County who promotes running trails and health assessments of citizens. “In every store you go into, there’s fried food everywhere, but not the healthy food people need.”
Bouchillon Institutute of Community Planning 