Climate & Inclusion Resources (Transportation & Health Equity Focus)

Several people sit inside a public bus.

Our School’s weekly email update for faculty and staff includes a section from the Climate and Inclusion Committee, where suggested tools are shared to help faculty and staff with understanding the impact of inequality. Each month, the resources focus on a different topic. For September 2021, the topic was transportation and health equity.

How people get around their communities can affect health and well-being. Further, in order to improve health equity, addressing the underlying conditions of health inequities via transportation may lead to improving and promoting health for all populations.

Below is a complete list of the resources shared with the faculty and staff at our School of Public Health during the month of September 2021. We encourage faculty and staff to review these resources for a second time. Note: This is not an exhaustive list and focuses on works that addresses public transportation, health, and health equity.

 

Suggested Book:

  • Sanchez, T.  (2018).  The Right to Transportation: Moving to Equity. Taylor & Francis. ISBN: 9781351177887  Does transportation affect the lives of minority, low-income, elderly, and physically disabled citizens? The answer is yes, and those effects can be profound, according to The Right to Transportation. The authors argue that transportation policies can limit access to education, jobs, and services for some individuals while undermining the economy and social cohesion of entire communities. Policies that have nurtured the U.S. highway system and let public transportation wither have also led to ghettos and social isolation. 

 

Suggested Articles:

  • Heaps, W., Abramsohn, E., & Skillen, E. (July 29, 2021). Public Transportation In The US: A Driver Of Health And Equity.  Health Affairs Health Policy Brief.   . DOI: 10.1377/hpb20210630.810356 
  • Iroz-Elardo, N., Schoner, J., Fox, E. H., Brookes, A., & Frank, L. D. (2020). Active travel and social justice: Addressing disparities and promoting health equity through a novel approach to Regional Transportation Planning. Social science & medicine (1982), 261, 113211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113211 
  • Public health impacts of transportation policies and infrastructure investment are becoming better understood, particularly for those associated with physical activity. Yet health impacts are not routinely evaluated within the context of the development of a Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and subsequent programming and investment processes. This is particularly concerning because the spatial distribution of planned transportation infrastructure potentially has significant health equity implications for vulnerable populations at greater risk of chronic disease.  
  • Pineda, V.S., Corburn, J.  (2020). Disability, Urban Health Equity, and the Coronavirus Pandemic: Promoting Cities for All. Journal of Urban Health.  97, 336–341.  doi: 10.1007/s11524-020-00437-7 
  • Sanchez, T. W. (2008). Poverty, policy, and public transportation. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 42(5), 833-841.  https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2008.01.011  

 

Suggested Reports:

  • Litman, T. (2021). Pandemic-Resilient Community Planning. Victoria Transport Policy Institute. Website: https://www.vtpi.org/ 
  • Malekafzali, S.  Healthy, Equitable Transportation Policy Recommendations and Research.  Policy Link.   Website: https://www.policylink.org/ 
  • Smart Growth America (2019). The State of Transportation and Health Equity 

 

Suggested Websites: