Toolkit to Integrate Health and Equity Into Comprehensive Plans
By Sagar Shah, PhD, AICP, Brittany Wong

This toolkit will help planners integrate health and equity in their comprehensive plan and plan-making processes. The toolkit builds on APA’s Comprehensive Plan Standards for Sustaining Places initiative, which established a framework for addressing sustainability through comprehensive plans. Among the 10 components of this framework, the toolkit focuses on Interwoven Equity, Healthy Communities, and Authentic Participation components.
The toolkit contains model language about goals, policies, and action items from the 15 existing comprehensive plans that have focused on health and equity.
Details
About the Authors
Sagar Shah, PhD, AICP
Sagar Shah, PhD, AICP is the Planning and Community Health Manager at the American Planning Association. In this role, he currently leads applied research projects connecting urban planning and public health at the APA. In his 10+ years of academic and professional career, he has worked on multiple applied research, community-based research, and basic research projects. This experience enables him to understand the implications of planning on environmental health and provides expertise in moderating the session. He also managed the APA work of this project and thus is quite familiar with the project and panel members.
Brittany Wong
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Executive Summary
Introduction
The Toolkit
How to Use This Toolkit
Model Language to Align with Comprehensive Plan Standards
Interwoven Equity
Healthy Community
Authentic Participation
Conclusion
Findings
Recommendations
References
Appendix A
Methodology
Plan Selection
Plan Analysis
Data Analysis
Appendix B
Links to Plan Documents and Updates and Health Impact Assessments (HIAs)