It's not because I think I'm perfect, (okay, maybe a little), and its not because it would hurt my sense of self (my ego has a pretty hard shell at this point). It's mostly because I have such a subjective view of myself. Depending on the lighting or how tight my pants fit, I could think I look fat or skinny or young or old (and I don't mean I think I look great in tight pants). Okay, now I'm becoming a little self conscious...what was I saying? Oh, yeh, its just hard to be objective about something personal.
Tools help. I do have a scale, so I can weigh myself to get hard evidence of weight gain. A heart monitor like a FitBit is good, I can weigh my heart rate and activity, which again gives me hard evidence to prove I'm not lazy (there I go getting judgmental again). But tools really do help.
So imagine how hard it is for a city or community to evaluate itself, particularly for health? It turns out that some are better at it than others, and once again tools like GIS really help keep things objective. That's one of the great things about data driven assessment. The data, if you look at it carefully using geography as a guide can really help you plan to get back into those pants (I mean, fit into those pants...how could I be so stupid, jeesh?!)
The American Planning Association's Planning and Community Health Center knocks it out of the park! In depth look and great findings. Worth reading and sharing.
"APA selected a group of 22 comprehensive and sustainability plans for a detailed evaluation of their goals, objectives, and policies. The evaluation assessed the extent to which these plans addressed public health through six broad health-related planning topics:
- Active Living
- Emergency Preparedness
- Environmental Exposures
- Food and Nutrition
- Health and Human Services
- Social Cohesion and Mental Health
The report shows which public health topics have been included the most and which topics receive the least attention. It also highlights plan strengths and weaknesses in addressing public health and identifies examples of robust policies from across the group of plans that promote health in their communities."
Very interesting report that gave me lots of ideas on how GIS could be used by planners to conduct their own self-evaluations to better plan their future. Health and Human Services
