PLAN4Health Colorado is a collaborative initiative connecting planning professionals, public health practitioners, and community organizations across Colorado to advance health-in-all-policies approaches to land use planning and community development.
The initiative recognizes that health outcomes are shaped by decisions made across many sectors — transportation, housing, land use, economic development, parks and recreation, and more — and that effective health planning requires coordination across these traditionally siloed domains.
Health in All Policies
Health in All Policies (HiAP) is an approach to public policy that systematically takes into account the health implications of decisions across sectors. In the context of planning, this means evaluating how transportation plans, zoning codes, comprehensive plans, capital improvement programs, and other planning documents affect the health of community members — not just on paper, but in the lived experience of residents.
PLAN4Health Colorado connects Colorado's planning community with the tools, frameworks, and networks needed to implement HiAP in local and regional planning practice. This includes connections to the Health Assessment Lens, the GuideBox to Healthy Places, and the broader resources of the Health+Design Initiative at CU Denver.
Key Focus Areas
Equitable Planning
Ensuring that health benefits of planning decisions reach all communities, particularly those historically underserved by planning and public investment.
Active Transportation
Supporting walking, cycling, and transit use through land use and street design decisions that make active transportation safe, convenient, and attractive.
Food Access
Using planning tools to support access to healthy, affordable food in all neighborhoods, including zoning for urban agriculture and food retail.
Green Infrastructure
Integrating parks, urban forests, and green infrastructure into planning decisions to support mental health, physical activity, and environmental resilience.