Health in All Policies in the United States: A Case Study Using a Military Base Redevelopment to Understand Opportunities and Implementation

Thirty-three domestic military bases in the United States will either close or realign operations by September, 2011 in compliance with the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Act.  Subsequently, large tracts of land will become available from military bases that close and will be transferred back to the public domain.  This provides unique opportunity for a Health in All Policies (HIAP) approach to be applied to land use redevelopment.  HIAP is a conceptual approach that aims to strengthen the link between health and policies from other sectors such as housing, transportation, education, labor, and land use to create an environment that enables people to lead healthy lives.  A case study of the Fort McPherson Army Base closure in Atlanta, GA provided a platform to examine HIAP at the local and federal levels.  Several HIAP opportunities were identified during the process including master planning, land use zoning, developer’s agreement, community benefits agreement, and the city’s comprehensive development plan.  In addition, key informant interviews were conducted with national experts on HIAP and stakeholders representing federal level agencies such as Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Health and Human Services, Interior, Justice, Labor, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development.  Findings identified levers and barriers to HIAP implementation in the United States.  Implications from the project suggest that HIAP may be most readily applied at the local level; however, examples of HIAP efforts, albeit limited, are underway at the federal level.