PSE

While I am broadly familiar with the discipline of public health, I haven't kept up with the literature. At the Pro Bike/Pro Walk conference, the public health related presentations all used the term "PSE" for policy, systems, and the environment, in terms of discussing how to bring about positive changes in health behavior.

This presentation from the Minnesota Department of Health explains the concept:

- Understanding Policy, Systems, and Environmental Change to Improve Health

It turns out that the American Public Health Association is having their 2011 conference in DC next year, and I met the person who chairs the built environment section. I have a bunch of ideas for him in terms of putting on programs. One is to have a Capital Bikeshare based bike tour of neighborhoods and the transit system.

Despite the various efforts of the CDC, the Active Living Research Network, and other entities, he claims that the public health field still hasn't fully bought into the link between the built environment and public health. So the Washington region, with its purposive examples of built environment and transit and walkability (Arlington, Columbia Pike) versus what we might call the fortunate legacy of the spatial design of DC from the Walking and Transit City eras, could provide some important lessons for interested public health practitioners.