Title: Urban Areas
Headings: Urban Areas
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Land Use
Urban Areas
What does urban mean?
How can urban areas encourage physical activity?
What is different about health in urban communities?
What are social determinants of health?
What health disparities are more common in urban areas?
What about urban housing?
What is urban revitalization?
Why is multimodal transportation important?
What is different about environmental conditions?
Where are Tennessee’s urban communities?
Who does planning in my area?
What about economic development?
How to add green space to urban areas?
Why are zoning policies important to health?
What is different about urban data?
Government partners
Additional resources
Helpful documents

Content: Evidence has emerged that there are number of social factors surrounding socioeconomic status that are important predictors of health. Some of these social determinants of health are: education,
health care,
housing,
neighborhood,
occupation, and
income. What health disparities are more common in urban areas? According to the CDC, health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations. Health disparities can arise from environmental factors such as limited access to health care and other services, poor water or air quality, substandard housing and unsafe neighborhoods. Health disparities may be related to poverty arising from lack of education or employment opportunities. Certain disparities exist for different genders, ages, races and cultural backgrounds, and also for behavioral factors such as tobacco use, substance abuse and unprotected sex. Several disparities have been identified among people who live in urban areas include racial segregation and concentrated poverty. Poverty can lead to higher medical costs and reduce the potential to work and earn.