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Healthy Los Angeles

Los Angeles is a city with many health inequities, and where a person lives often determines their health destiny. Residents in low-income communities such as Boyle Heights and South Los Angeles are more likely to be obese, suffer from respiratory health issues, and live in communities with high pollution, and have less access to resources such as safe park spaces or grocery stores. Geographic location is such an important indicator of health that a person who lives in Watts can expect to live 12 years less than a person who lives in Brentwood.

Health is often attributed to individual choices: eating fresh fruits and vegetables, avoiding unhealthy choices such as smoking, and doing regular exercise, and getting the proper medical care. For many people, particularly those with limited financial resources, a healthy lifestyle is not a matter of choice, but rather an issue of access and opportunity. There is an increased awareness that where people live, and the opportunities they can access, influences their health.

The Plan for a Healthy Los Angeles is an effort of the Department of City Planning to elevate health as a priority in the city's future growth and development. The draft is now available for public review until May 13.

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Achieving a Healthier Los Angeles by Stabilizing our Neighborhoods
A growing body of research is reinforcing what public health and housing advocates in Los Angeles have long known: losing your home can be hazardous to your health.
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The Road to Better Health with L.A.'s Mobility Plan 2035
With active modes of transportation on the rise in L.A. and across the United States, the public health lens must be taken into account when planning the future of transportation in this city.
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Residents Work Towards a Healthy Northeast San Fernando Valley
For many years communities like Pacoima have been planned and built for us, instead of with us. The effects of the lack of community input are evident: polluting industry next to homes, lack of economic development opportunities, lack of green space, a...
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Street Vendors Can Bring Healthy Food to Los Angeles
Street vendors can turn food deserts into food havens by bringing fresh fruits and vegetables into communities that lack access to healthy and affordable food.
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Fighting to Keep L.A.'s Cool: Climate Change and the Plan for a Healthy City
Los Angeles now has an opportunity to be re-invent what "cool" means for cities across the globe.
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Healthy Changes on the Block: Top 5 Reasons to Celebrate a New Healthy Neighborhood Market in South L.A.
A South L.A. corner market re-opened as a healthy food hub that now offers healthy and affordable fruits and vegetables to a community that has limited options to buy fresh produce.
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Guiding Los Angeles Toward a Healthy Future
Los Angeles is a city with many health inequities, and where a person lives often determines their health destiny.
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