Community Research in Environmental Health

Doug Brugge is Associate Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at Tufts University School of Medicine, USA. H. Patricia Hynes is Professor of Environmental Health at Boston University School of Public Health, USA.

’This book comprises a fascinating and useful series of reports on community-based research in environmental health. I highly recommend it [to] those health workers, students and others with an interest in the community’s involvement in research and in policy development concerning environmental health and social justice.’ Dr Barry S. Levy, Tufts University, USA ’Doug Brugge and Pat Hynes have put together a valuable compendium of case studies that show how scientists and communities can work together effectively to address the environmental health concerns of low-income, people of color communities. The book contains many of the leading examples of community-based participatory research in the environmental field. The book shows how science is better when done with, rather than apart from, the people who are impacted by the problems. As such, it is a real contribution to the literature of environmental justice.’ Charles Lee, Associate Director for Policy and Interagency Liaison, Office of Environmental Justice, US Environmental Protection Agency, USA ’This beautifully written book represents a new milestone in both environmental justice and community based participatory research. Each case study illustrates the powerful combination of strong science, community participation and a commitment to social change and brings alive the struggles and breakthroughs that have made such work a model for the rest of us.’ Dr Meredith Minkler, University of California, Berkeley, USA

• Contents: Introduction: science with the people, Doug Brugge and H. Patricia Hynes. Housing: Public health and the physical environment in Boston public housing: a community based survey and action agenda, H. Patricia Hynes, Doug Brugge, Julie Watts and Jody Lally; A case study of community-based participatory research ethics: the Healthy Public Housing Initiative, Doug Brugge, and Alison Kole; The Seattle-King County Healthy Homes Project: implementation of a comprehensive approach to improving indoor environmental quality for low-income children with asthma, James Krieger, Tim K. Takaro, Carol Allen, Lin Song, Marcia Weaver, Sanders Chai and Philip Dickey. Open Space: Environmental justice across the Mystic: bridging agendas in a watershed, Julian Agyeman and Dale Bryan; A program to improve urban neighborhood health through lead-safe yard interventions, Jill S. Litt, H. Patricia Hynes, Paul Carroll, Robert Maxfield, Pat McLaine, and Carol Kawecki;. 'We don't only grow vegetables, we grow values': neighborhood benefits of community gardens in Flint, Michigan, Katherine Alaimo, Thomas M. Reischl, Pete Hutchison, and Ashley E. Atkinson. Urban Development and Transportation; An environmental health survey of residents of Boston Chinatown, Doug Brugge, Andrew Leong, Abigail Averbach, and Fu Mei Cheung; Traffic injury data, policy, and public health: lessons from Boston Chinatown, Doug Brugge, Zenobia Lai, Christina Hill, William Rand; Airborne concentrations of PM (2.5) and diesel exhaust particles on Harlem sidewalks: a community-based pilot study, Patrick L. Kinney, Maneesha Aggarwal, Mary E. Northridge, Nicole A.H. Janssen, and Peggy Shepard. Environmental Exposure: Environmental justice and regional inequality in Southern California: implications for future research, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Manuel Pastor Jr., Carlos Porras, and James Sadd; Participatory research strategies in nuclear risk management for native communities, Dianne Quigley, Virginia Sanchez, Dan Handy, Robert Goble, and Patricia George; Social responsibility and research ethics in community driven studies of industrialized hog production, Steve Wing. Lessons and Conclusion; Afterword, H. Patricia Hynes and Doug Brugge; Index.