Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Role of Health in Shaping Zoning Policy Decisions

这项研究考察了通过分区政策解决健康问题时的政治、法律和务实考虑。调查人员的目标是1)分区的语言、地图和过程是否、如何以及在什么背景下可以解决当代的健康问题；2)健康考虑在分区政策制定者的决策中发挥的作用；3)在全面的分区重写中纳入涉及健康的条款的努力的后果。这些目标将通过改造巴尔的摩的人种学案例研究来解决，这是该市自1971年以来首次全面重写分区。将与开发商、当地决策者和土地使用政策和法律、环境正义和健康城市设计方面的专家进行访谈。该项目还将对新西兰类似的分区问题进行研究，作为一个比较点。虽然研究表明，建筑环境会影响健康结果，但很少有讨论涉及那些参与制定土地使用政策的人如何理解土地使用与健康之间的联系。鉴于分区的最初目的是促进“健康、安全、道德或一般福利”，关于“促进健康”是否以及为什么作为指导原则的数据很少。这项研究旨在了解重新分区过程的内部运作，分区是否被视为解决社会问题的一种手段，利益攸关方如何回应拟议的健康促进措施，以及是否可以开发工具或程序来确保分区决定明智和公平地解决健康问题。促进讨论治理、创新和权力在改变城市环境时的相对影响，特别是那些面临人口水平下降和巨大健康差距的城市环境，是这项工作的中心目标。最后，这项研究旨在对合理使用分区作为警察权力可能带来的影响进行考虑，并解决采用分区这样的监管程序来打击造成健康差距的复杂因素的局限性。

This study examines the political, legal, and pragmatic considerations in addressing health issues via zoning policy. The investigators aim to address 1) whether, how, and in what contexts the language, mapping, and process of zoning can address contemporary health concerns; 2) the role health considerations play in zoning policy makers' decisions; and 3) the consequences of efforts to include provisions that address health in a comprehensive zoning rewrite . These aims will be addressed through an ethnographic case study of TransForm Baltimore, the City's first comprehensive zoning rewrite since 1971. Interviews will be conducted with developers, local decision makers, and experts on land use policy and law, environmental justice, and healthy city design. The project will also include an examination of comparable zoning issues in New Zealand to serve as a point of comparison.While research has shown that the built environment influences health outcomes, little discussion addresses how those involved in shaping land use policy understand the connection between land use and health. Given that the original purpose of zoning was to promote "health, security, morals or general welfare," scant data exist on whether and why "promoting health" functions as a guiding principle. This research aims to understand the inner workings of the rezoning process, whether zoning is viewed as a means to address social problems, how stakeholders respond to proposed health-promoting measures, and if tools or processes can be developed to ensure that zoning decisions address health concerns wisely and fairly. Contributing to discussions of the relative influence of governance, innovation and power when changing urban settings, particularly those that face shrinking population levels and sizable health disparities is a central goal of this work. Finally, this study intends to produce considerations for what an equitable use of zoning as a police power might entail and address the limitations of employing a regulatory process like zoning to combat the complex factors that create health disparities.