NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL DATABASE (NED) Presentation for the Physical Activity Policy Research Network Plus (PAPRN+)

Dr. Lawrence Frank, PhD, AICP, ASLA President, UD4H Eric H. Fox, MScP

GIS Manager, UD4H March 31, 2016

CIVL 583: Transportation Planning & Analysis

• Standardized set of metrics that characterize the built, social and natural environment

• Nationally consistent at the block group scale • Support analyses on a variety of environmental

indicators as part of RWJF’s Culture of Health initiative

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PROJECT PURPOSE

• Project Overview • Variable development

– Types of Variables – Variable Criteria

• Composite Variables – Examples from the Healthy Communities Atlas

• Applying the Data – Synergy with EPA National Model

• Predicting Health Impacts and Related Costs

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OUTLINE

Dr. Tracy Orleans, PhD - Senior Program Officer, RWJF Dr. Larry Frank, PhD, AICP, ASLA - President, UD4H Mr. Eric Fox, MScP – GIS Manager, UD4H

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PROJECT LEADERSHIP

• Dr. David Berrigan, PhD – National Cancer Institute • Dr. Jamie Chriqui, PhD – Univ. of Illinois Chicago • Dr. Kristen Day, PhD – New York University • Ms. Melissa Jordan, MS – Florida Dept. of Health • Dr. Jim Sallis, PhD – Univ. of California San Diego/ALR • Dr. John Thomas, PhD – Environmental Protection Agency • Dr. Sandra Whitehead, PhD - National Environmental Health

Association

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ADVISORY COMMITTEE

• Feedback on strengths and weaknesses of initial selection of data sources – Potential areas of cautions

• Review methods utilized to operationalize key variables

• Recommend potential end users and ways to further strengthen connections with other efforts underway to disseminate national data

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ROLE OF ADVISORY COMMITTEE

• Types of Variables – Existing nationwide variables (e.g. SLD 1,

EnviroAtlas 2) – Composite measures – Variable weighting – Region-specific new variables at smaller spatial scale

• Frequent updates of variables at regular intervals where available

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DATABASE DEVELOPMENT

1 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Smart Location Database (SLD), 2013. 2 EPA EnviroAtlas, 2015.

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CRITERIA FOR SUITABLE VARIABLES

1) National Coverage 2) Scalable - Block Group, Sub-Area, Jurisdiction, Region 3) Publicly Available

Built Natural Social Urban Form Topography Socio-demographics

Public Transit Tree Canopy Crime

Traffic Crashes Parks Communities of Concern

Bicycle Facilities Air Pollution Exposure

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VARIABLE EXAMPLES Category Type Variable Description

Built Bicycle Facilities Access to Non-Motorized Trails

% of households within walking distance (2km) of a non-motorized trail

Bike Lanes % of road network with bicycle lanes

Natural Green Infrastructure Tree Canopy Coverage

Presence of street trees

Quality of tree canopy cover

Social Communities of Concern1

Low Income 1/3 of households with annual income < $30,000/year

Low Mobility >25% no car households, >25% disabled persons, >20% over 65 years of age

Minority Population >65% minority population

Low Community Engagement

>20% disabled persons, >20% non-English speaking households, >20% without high school diploma

1 Source: San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), 2012.

• 1km crow fly buffer of block group population center

• UD4H testing to compare effects of buffered vs. unbuffered 10

BUFFERING

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MSAS

100 Largest MSAs Multi-modal intersection density (≥ 4 legs) per sq. mi. 1 1 Source: EPA SLD, 2013.

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ENVIROATLAS & NHTSA TRAFFIC CRASH DATA

10 Largest MSAs % Impervious Surface Cover1 % Forest1 % Natural

Area1

Mean Fatal Crash Rate Per

1,0002

Mean Pedestrian

Involved Fatal Crash Rate Per

1,0002

New York-Newark-Jersey City 11.0% 30.2% 51.0% 0.43 0.21 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim 16.2% 5.6% 54.2% 1.27 0.40 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin 13.8% 7.5% 14.1% 0.27 0.07 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 7.6% 12.7% 52.9% 0.85 0.12 Houston-The Woodlands 7.4% 12.7% 44.3% 0.58 0.15 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington 9.3% 26.4% 42.8% 2.17 0.56 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria 5.9% 40.9% 49.6% 0.63 0.25 Miami-Fort Lauderdale 7.2% 0.0% 59.4% 1.60 0.51 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell 6.0% 51.6% 62.3% 0.46 0.12 Boston-Cambridge-Newton 11.5% 37.3% 51.4% 0.43 0.11 100 Most Populous MSAs 4.4% 23.7% 62.6% 0.85 0.22 United States 1.1% 21.2% 57.5% 0.83 0.17

1 EPA EnviroAtlas, 2015. 2 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2014.

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TRAFFIC CRASHES

Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) Dot Density by Block Group 1 1 Source: NHTSA FARS, 2014.

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PROTOTYPE

Healthy Communities Atlas Metropolitan San Diego Prepared for the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)

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BASE

Variable Examples: San Diego Health Communities Atlas

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COMPOSITE

Variable Examples: San Diego Health Communities Atlas

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COMPOSITE

Variable Examples: San Diego Health Communities Atlas

• UD4H is developing a public health and activity plug-in module for scenario planning tools

• Plug-in will connect open scenario planning tools via an API to expand the range of platforms for use

• The NED provides a nationally available set of data inputs using the EPA health & activity model

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EPA HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT SYNERGY

• Data Sources • Variable Development

– Spatial Scale – Buffering – Composite – Dynamic

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DISCUSSION & QUESTIONS

• Twenty Year History in Creating and Linking Evidence and Decision Making on Health, Environmental, and Mobility Impacts of Land Use and Transportation Policies and Investment

• Lead or Co-Lead Several Original Studies Documenting Relationships Between Physical Activity, Obesity, and Chronic Disease Relationships with Travel Patterns, Built, and Natural Environment Features

• Developed the Most Widely Used Methods to Measure “Walkability” • In Top 1% Globally (Thompson and Reuters 2015) for Scholarly Citations in the Social

Sciences • Co-authored “Urban Sprawl and Public Health”, “Health and Community Design” ,“Hidden

Health Costs of Transportation” • Leader in the Creation and Application of Evidence Based Tools to Predict Health and Fiscal

Related Impacts of the Built, Natural, and Social Environment

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ABOUT URBAN DESIGN 4 HEALTH (UD4H) WWW.UD4H.COM

Dr. Larry D. Frank: ldfrank@ud4h.com Eric H. Fox: efox@ud4h.com Visit our website: www.ud4h.com Find us on social media: @UD4H_INC

CIVL 583: Transportation Planning & Analysis

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