Assessment

Community Development Analysis
Boise, Idaho
City of Boise, Planning and Development Services

Rhiannon Avery
[email protected]
(208) 570-6832

Vitruvian Planning has launched into a completely new project with the City of Boise. This project uses the Healthy Conditions Assessment (HCA) approach to help determine what the conditions are among the various neighborhoods within the city. It begins with an exhaustive data collection effort centered around the social determinants of health. This phase gives the city a “hot spot” like map that is useful in determining where the most challenges reside among residents as well as to better understand what those challenges are. Following the data collection, our team will begin an on the ground confirmation phase and a robust interview phase to shed further light on what is truly occurring throughout the city of Boise. The final project will be a never before done assessment on the health conditions through the specific lens of housing.

Boise State University Campus Way Finding Master Plan Study
Boise, Idaho
Boise State University

Drew Alexander
[email protected]
(208) 426-1268

The campus at Boise State University continues to grow in geography and in enrollment. The university seeks the help of Vitruvian Planning to determine the content and placement of wayfinding signage throughout the university campus. This plan of action will take into consideration the students and staff who walk, bike and drive, as well as the countless visitors who come to Boise State University to access services, entertainment venues, and more.

University of Idaho Sexual Assault Prevention in the Built Environment Assessment
Moscow, Idaho
Idaho State Department of Health & Welfare

Katie Lamansky BS, CHES
[email protected]
(208) 334-4951

The campus wide assessment of the University of Idaho evaluated the campus along with students and faculty to better understand how to make changes to help deter sexual assault from occurring. This ground breaking assessment includes various night time audits, review of student surveys about how they feel on and off the campus, interviews with key individuals, and an evaluation of the conditions on and off the University. The project is quite successful in bringing to light many prevailing issues of sentiment, perceptions, and existing conditions needing to be addressed. In 2019-2020, Vitruvian Planning will launch its second campus evaluation, this time with North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Health Impact Assessment
Logan, Utah
Bear River Health Department

Karlie Mitchell
[email protected]
(435) 792-6532

The citywide bicycle and pedestrian master plan HIA was commissioned through a grant with the State of Utah Department of Health and Welfare and carried out with the Bear River Health Department. The subject plan was recently conducted with the City of Logan who was eager to learn more about how their plan addressed health, how it could be improved using the lens of health, and how to bolster the presence of the plan through new relationships with representatives from the many public health realms. The results of the effort included a reprioritizing of recommended trail segments, retiming of intersection pedestrian countdown signals, and accelerated investment in areas of Logan with clear indications of challenging socioeconomic status conditions. Stakeholders brought into the process included the City, the County, Bear River Health Department, police department, association of governments, downtown alliance, Intermountain Hospital, the school district, MPO and, a senior housing representative.

Healthy Conditions Assessment
Nampa, Idaho
Blue Cross Foundation of Idaho

Kendra Witt-Doyle, PhD
[email protected]
(208) 286-3461

Vitruvian Planning recently completed the first of its kind, Health Conditions Assessment. The project is a hybrid of a Health Impact Assessment and a Comprehensive Plan which was funded by the Blue Cross Foundation of Idaho. The project is a revolutionary effort that uses Census tract data to determine problematic tracts or “hot spots”, followed by meticulous on the ground field work and extensive local stakeholder interviews.[read more=”Read More” less=”Read Less”]The HCA approach uses social determinants of health data points to refine geographies that may be having challenges for further investigation. Once neighborhood subareas are known, our team investigates the built environment, and conducts community stakeholder interviews to determine a more accurate picture of the social and environmental conditions.

Major themes unearthed during the project include inequity in the Hispanic communities especially around transportation issues such as accidental deaths mostly from vehicle crashes, poor food access due to a lack of transportation infrastructure, challenges with affordable housing and lack of transportation options, specifically around transit, bicycle facilities and minimal marked crosswalks.

Additional findings during the project specific to the transportation realm included:

A nearly 10 year old bicycle and pedestrian plan that has seen less than 30% of recommended projects implemented.

Results specific to transportation have included re-timing of all signals and crosswalks, a newly revised transit system with routes that better access neighborhoods of need, the creation of a food shuttle route, and possible funding for crossing guards for elementary schools. In addition, discussions have begun to craft statewide messaging campaigns towards Hispanic or Latino populations. [/read]

MountainWise Regional Health Impact Assessment
MountainWise

Sarah Tennyson
Region 1 Coordinator
[email protected]
(828) 349-2456

The first assessment of its kind in the United States, the MountainWise HIA evaluated eight county Comprehensive Plans and county Health Department initiatives to determine their collective impacts on citizens’ health. MountainWise is all of the Western North Carolina region and is facilitated by Macon County Public Health and is supported by each of the Health Departments within the region. The project included many deliverables including but not limited to:

Walk Audit Assessment

Healthy Conditions Assessments

Miscellaneous Assessments

Health Impact Assessments

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