In distressed urban neighborhoods where residential segregationconcentrates poverty, liquor stores outnumber supermarkets, toxic sites are next toplaygrounds, and more money is spent on prisons than schools, residents also sufferdisproportionately from disease and premature death. Recognizing that cityenvironments and the planning processes that shape them are powerful determinants ofpopulation health, urban planners today are beginning to take on the added challengeof revitalizing neglected urban neighborhoods in ways that improve health andpromote greater equity. In Toward the Healthy City, Jason Corburn argues that cityplanning must return to its roots in public health and social justice. The firstbook to provide a detailed account of how city planning and public health practicescan reconnect to address health disparities, Toward the Healthy City offers a newdecision-making framework called "healthy city planning" that reframestraditional planning and development issues and offers a new scientific evidencebase for participatory action, coalition building, and ongoing monitoring. To showhealthy city planning in action, Corburn examines collaborations between governmentagencies and community coalitions in the San Francisco Bay area, including effortsto link environmental justice, residents' chronic illnesses, housing and real estatedevelopment projects, and planning processes with public health. Initiatives likethese, Corburn points out, go well beyond recent attempts by urban planners topromote public health by changing the design of cities to encourage physicalactivity. Corburn argues for a broader conception of healthy urban governance thataddresses the root causes of health inequities.