Active design, public space, and transportation
Physical activity and healthy eating rank among the leading ways to get and stay healthy.
Active design is an applied, evidence-informed approach to improve physical, mental and social health outcomes through the design of the built environment. Active design leverages the expertise of architects, planners, developers, community members, designers, and other stakeholders.
Designing to increase access to high quality parks, pedestrian plazas, sidewalks, quiet spaces, trees and other greenery, secure bicycle storage, gathering spaces, and stairways can have a measurable effect on people’s ability to safely maintain their physical, mental, and social health.
Beach Water Quality
One month before New York City’s beaches open to the public, the Health Departments starts sampling and monitoring beaches. Sampling provides data about current water …
Why trash is a public health issue Why trash service is crucial for public health New York City’s modern history of public health starts in the 1600s with the …
A walk through history A neighborhood is not only shaped by its residents, but also by governmental practices and policies. Some of these have …
Efforts to reduce air pollution should focus on neighborhoods with the worst health impacts. Every year in NYC between 2015 and 2017 (the most recent years for which this analysis is available), fine particulate matter …
ZAPPA: A tool to understand air quality policies How do we know what air quality policies will have the biggest effect? New York City’s air quality is generally good and has …
An update on air quality during COVID-19 Big improvements in outdoor air quality during COVID-19 reveal impacts of traffic and commercial cooking On March 20, 2020, …
The Public Health Impacts of PM2.5 from Traffic Air Pollution What is PM2.5 and why is it a health risk? PM2.5—or fine particulate matter—are tiny particles that pollute the air and …
Environments matter: the road to street safety in NYC The COVID-19 public health emergency has changed New York City in many ways—including how we get around the city. As the city …
Air quality during COVID-19 What happens when NYC stays home? The COVID-19 pandemic upended the lives of all New Yorkers. The outbreak has affected many …
Air quality snapshots: special findings from 10 years of NYCCAS Skip Nav A traffic health threat: air toxics Noise levels that harm health The benefits of cleaner fuel Special monitoring …
Air quality in car-free areas Does the air improve in car-free zones? People often ask us this, and it’s a great question. To answer, we turn to the …
What our air quality monitors tell us about NYC's neighborhoods In Part 1, we looked at data from the New York City Community Air Survey (NYCCAS) - a network of about 100 air quality …