Centering Health Equity:

An (in-progress) open-source, beta framework for built environment projects

 
 

Welcome.

Centering Health Equity aims to set a course towards stronger communities and thriving businesses by centering health equity in the built environment. It is the product of a collaborative effort with more than sixty professional peers that began in April 2020, spurred by the compounding impacts of COVID-19, economic, social justice and climate crises.

 

Looking for a high-level introduction to Centering Health Equity? Check out our Getting Started guide here.

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Conceptual Framework: Inclusion Drives Health

  • As recognized by the social determinants of health, the places that we spend our time have a tremendous influence on our collective health, well-being, and ability to thrive.

  • Layered cultural norms, institutions, systems, and policies influence the delivery of individual projects and programs which mediate access to live-giving resources.

  • While many of these systems and policies were built on a history of exclusion, individual projects and practitioners have the power to incrementally increase equitable access to life-giving resources and promote health equity.

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What is the Action Framework?

  • Built environment projects are driven by a delivery cycle that involves a variety of decision-makers at distinct and sometimes overlapping developmental stages. 

  • Centering Health Equity requires disrupting the standard project delivery cycle to orient project team decision-making around health equity goals.

The beta Action Framework consists of five strategies and supporting tools and resources that together aim to create a common language and structure for project teams to multiply health equity opportunities in projects:

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Embedding Health Equity: Real Project Stories From the Field

  • The initial phase of research included conversations with a variety of practitioners to explore insights and stories behind real project implementation.

  • The CHE beta frameworks report includes a set of project breakdowns as a sampling of these insights. They include key decisions and actors, pivotal moments to plant Opportunity Flags within the whole project life cycle and practices that were adopted to promote health and social equity.