University of Virginia
UVA School of Architecture, Urban and Environmental Planning
University Faculty with Public Health Specializations
Course Description
Healthy Communities Seminar (Spring 2010)
PLAN 5450, the Healthy Communities Seminar is an elective planning and public health course that explores the interconnections between these fields and equips students with skills and experiences to plan healthy communities. The planning and public health disciplines emerged together with the common goal of preventing outbreaks of infectious disease. Since that time, the two disciplines diverged in their foci; public health following a clinical model and planning focusing on urban design and physical form. However, as the intimate connections between the built environment and disease continue to be revealed, the planning and public health fields have begun to converge once again. This course is organized along four units: unit 1, planning and public health foundations; unit 2, natural and built environments; unit 3, vulnerable populations and health disparities; and unit 4, health policy and global impacts. The final assignment, a healthy communities portfolio, is intended to provide students with the opportunity to integrate current evidence regarding the impacts of the built environment on health as covered over the semester with information and perspectives from other courses and/or personal experiences.
