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Healthy Development Measurement Tool – San Francisco Department of Public Health
Rajiv Bhatia, Director, Environmental and Occupational Health, San Francisco Department of Public Health

The Healthy Development Measurement Tool helps residents, community organizations, and public agencies assess how well urban projects, plans, and policies promote community health.

The tool is organized around seven elements for a healthy city, including: environmental stewardship; sustainable and safe transportation; public safety; public infrastructure; adequate and healthy housing; health economy; and community participation.

This is a voluntary assessment tool, ideally applied with public agencies and community stakeholders working together. For any given project or plan, the HDMT likely will reveal trade-offs between positive and negative effects.

The Web site provides step-by-step instructions on how to conduct an evaluation using tool indicators and supplies several examples. Currently, www.TheHDMT.org only provides San Francisco data. Localities interested in using these indicators would need to gather relevant data themselves.

In a future iteration, we hope to provide on-line trainings and Web site interactivity. SFDPH is committed to maintaining www.TheHDMT.org and conducting a number of applications annually.