Building Healthy Neighborhoods Project Information
The University of Arizona College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (CALA) has received a three-year, $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to establish and operate a Community Outreach Partnership project, "Building Healthy Neighborhoods." The goal of this project is to use the resources of the University and HUD to provide outreach, technical assistance services, and information exchange activities for neighborhood revitalization, housing, and health care, to neighborhoods of the Tucson Empowerment Zone, including the Colonia-designated City of South Tucson, and five additional neighborhoods that surround the campus of the University of Arizona.To do this, the Drachman Institute of the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture has partnered with other Colleges of the University including the College of Public Health, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS), College of Management, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the College of Medicine. Specifically, the project will include faculty of the College of Public Health specializing in chronic diseases, the Center for Applied Sociology in College of SBS, the Department of Public Administration and Policy in the College of Management, and the Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition (CPAN), a collaboration between the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Medicine.
This project also includes continued and expanded partnerships between the Drachman Institute and the target area neighborhoods, non-profit organizations, area businesses, and the governments of the City of South Tucson, City of Tucson, and Pima County.
Possible Project Activities
- Working with area neighborhoods to develop or up-date neighborhood plans
- Researching and developing policies and strategies to improve, support, and maintain the quality, design, affordability, and health-enhancing attributes of regionally-appropriate housing and neighborhood development
- Working with area neighborhoods to develop or up-date neighborhood plans
- Researching and developing policies and strategies to improve, support, and maintain the quality, design, affordability, and health-enhancing attributes of regionally-appropriate housing and neighborhood development
- Promoting programs to address the problems of design, affordability, and health impacts associated with substandard housing
- Working with neighborhoods to identify screening mechanisms for chronic diseases associated with obesity, poor nutrition, and unhealthy lifestyle choices
- Designing infrastructure (greenways, pedestrian and bicycle paths, parks, etc.) in neighborhoods and connecting neighborhoods to promote exercise and healthy lifestyles among children and adults
- Promoting other programs to address the problems of chronic diseases associated with obesity, poor nutrition, and unhealthy lifestyle choices
- Disseminating this information through symposia, workshops, conferences, exhibits, and publications
- Facilitating implementation of these concepts into housing, health, and neighborhood development in the target area and the region in general, and
- Modifying the instructional curricula and the outreach agenda of the various Colleges to incorporate the issues identified through this grant.
Project Target Area
