Plan4HealthNJ Studio: A Diagnostic Approach to Incorporating Public Health in Master Plans

Sponsored by the American Planning Association-New Jersey Chapter with a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this Plan4HealthNJ studio enabled students to collaborate with officials and practitioners, engage in research and beta test ideas for APA-NJ to work with select municipalities to update their master plans, zoning ordinances and capital improvement programs to incorporate public health outcomes. Areas of focus included access to healthy food and agriculture, environmental health and sustainability, healthcare access, mobility, housing and community design and policy and public engagement. Students engaged in research, tested toolkits created by APA-NJ, explored how these toolkits could help urban, suburban and rural towns in New Jersey incorporate public health outcomes into their plans, ordinances and investments, and provided findings and recommendations that may prove helpful when APA-NJ works with municipalities in 2026 to update their Master Plans, ordinances and CIPs to incorporate public health concerns.

A light reception will follow the event. For more information about Plan4HealthNJ, visit https://njplanning.org/plan4healthnj/

RSVP to go.rutgers.edu/plan4healthnj