Land use can influence health outcomes positively by presenting opportunities for healthy behavior or negatively by restricting access to healthy options. Key land-use characteristics that affect health include:

• Patterns of land use within a community.
• The design and construction of spaces and buildings within a community.
• The transportation systems that connect people to places.

Some of the key challenges that local officials may face when working to improve the health of the built environment include are: assessing needs, understanding special populations, forging partnerships, identifying funding and resources and reaching and engaging the public. This section addresses each of these challenges.