Sharing the Rankings and Roadmaps Message at the 2013 Making Cities Livable Conference

Recently, Angela Russell, a member of the County Health Rankings & Roadmaps team, presented at the 50^th annual International Making Cities Livable conference entitled “Reshaping Suburbia into Complete Healthy Communities.” Presenting on the topic, “Health Begins Where You Live, Learn, Work, and Play,” Angela spoke to a diverse audience, representing a variety of sectors to discuss how to use the County Health Rankings to engage residents and rally stakeholders to take action to improve local community health.

In addition to presenting at the conference, Angela also participated in many of the sessions.  Overall, she was most struck by the skills community planners must have to cultivate and foster community engagement and support. Angela believes these skills could be beneficial to the public health community as well.

The interdisciplinary nature of the conference led to the sharing of inventive ideas, including play streets here in the U.S., an urban parks initiative in Mexico, and a focus on quality housing in Australia.  Also, as important, the conference underscored the importance of reaching across industries and disciplines to create effective working partnerships.

Check out other great stories of innovation in action:

• Watch Ellen Dunham-Jones’ Ted Talk on Retrofitting suburbia
• Learn more about Carmel, Indiana’s work to create a vibrant community
• Read about Sonoma County, CA’s focus on the social determinants of health