Built Environment: Public Policy, Actors, Barriers, and Levers - Knowledge Exchange Colloquium

The Coalitions Linking Action and Science for Prevention (CLASP) project is an initiative of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC). Through this project, seven coalitions have been funded to integrate and build upon their practices to prevent cancer and other chronic diseases with similar determinants. The National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy (NCCHPP) is a partner in one of these funded coalitions, Healthy Canada by Design. The principal goal of this coalition is to inspire change in the ways in which the built environment is currently developed, by influencing the policies that inform it. Gathering numerous partners from six health authorities, all members of the Urban Public Health Network (UPHN), the focus of this coalition is specifically the built environment of Canada’s large urban centres.

Funding for the Healthy Canada by Design coalition has made numerous knowledge exchange opportunities possible. One of these was the day-long colloquium held in Vancouver on November 24, 2010. This day was chosen because it preceded a bi-annual meeting of the UPHN and as such enabled all of the health authority members of the network to participate in the meeting. Many did, either in-person or via teleconferencing. To open the day’s proceedings, Karen Lee, Director of Built Environment, Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene of the City of New York, presented her team’s work in influencing public policies informing the built environment in her city. Then the members of the coalition’s regional health authorities presented, in turn, their respective efforts to influence public policies informing the built environment. A discussion period followed each of the presentations.