Peterson J. The impact of sanitary reform upon American urban planning, 1840-1990. Journal of Social History 1979;13: 83-103.
Summary: This article details three concepts from the 19th century sanitary reform movement: water-carriage sewerage, sanitary survey planning, and townsite consciousness, and explains where and how public health advocates and sanitarians worked together to address infectious disease.
General Concensus: The majority of students thought this was a fascinating article. Although the title restricts the discussion to American urban planning between 1840-1990 one student wanted more examples of urbanization from older cities/civilizations.
Additional Comments:
"The idea that the first planning process to join physicians, engineers, and chemists in NYC (1864) was led by private citizens and merchants reminds me that many public health initiatives begin from grassroots movements not top down benevolence (e.g. workers rights, voting rights, child labor laws)." (HSERV)
"The reading mentioned two things that, for me, are worth keeping in mind for my future work: (1) Change takes time and (2) There could be unintentional benefits of a public health intervention." (EPI)