Community Health Design: A Collaborative Framework for Improving Public Health Outcomes

Abstract

The COVID-19 global pandemic has brought to light how public health outcomes are partially determined by governance and access to resources. In historically redlined communities, however, the availability and quality of neighborhood parks and grocery stores has been eroded by generations of disinvestment, leaving residents isolated as they work to build a healthier community. This paper shares the experiences of two community-led initiatives in Wyandotte County, Kansas, that have used community health design in collaborative settings to promote tangible improvements to green spaces and food systems during the pandemic.Both community health design case studies give context for how designers can reframe their methods of participation and collaboration and put them in service to community members who are closest to the issues being designed for. Building upon historical methods of participatory design, socially conscious designers can adopt principles of community engagement from public health practitioners and apply innovative research methods throughout the design process. The theories, processes, and outcomes of community health design illustrate a framework of participatory decision- making where designers can find common ground with the communities they serve.Though the pandemic did not introduce these conditions – park and food apartheids are symptomatic of a multi-generational epidemic of racism – this moment has highlighted the need for new ways of collaboration to address environ- mental health disparities. A framework of community health design is possible through the translation of community voices into a shared vision, designing governance structures to build community power, and turning design tools over to communities to define and achieve their desired publichealth outcomes.