Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
Streetsblog USA

Talking Headways: Richard Jackson on City Environments and Public Health

podcast icon logo
Meal delivery is one service of Project Roomkey. Photo: LAHSA

How do the places we inhabit lead to systemic public health problems?

On the podcast this week, I discuss this question with Dr. Richard Jackson of UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health. Jackson is the author of three books on the subject of the built environment and public health, and hosted the PBS series Designing Healthy Communities. He has also served as director of the CDC's National Center on Environmental Health and California’s State Health Officer.

Jackson shares his thoughts about the federal silos of housing, transportation, food policy, and health, as well as the under-appreciated issue of indoor air quality. At the CDC, he says, his message that the built environment is responsible for poor health outcomes was so threatening that some members of Congress wanted him fired.

Join us for a wide-ranging discussion that touches on how the internet is affecting kids, migration in Syria, the future of the LA River, the health benefits of trees, and the frustrations of doctors at the “end of the disease pipeline” treating young kids and adults with type 2 diabetes.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

This Week In Livable Streets

Metro NoHo-Pasadena BRT meetings continue, Westside safety project meetings, D Line construction, and more

March 9, 2026

Bike Updates: Griffith Park, Chandler, Terra Bella, and Westside Plans

Griffith Park bike upgrades partially installed. Plus: Terra Bella Street, Chandler groundbreaking, and Westside bike project meetings

March 9, 2026

Monday’s Headlines

Major transit stops, gas prices, Santa Monica, LAX, Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, Redondo Beach, Long Beach, Burbank, car-nage, and more

March 9, 2026

City Attorney Takes Her Own Swing at Man Sucker Punched by LAPD in 2024

Eleven months after Officer Joshua Sportiello punched Alexander Mitchell in the face, the City Attorney's office filed misdemeanor resisting charges against him. Was it in retaliation for Mitchell's civil suit?

March 6, 2026

Friday’s Headlines

ICE, Measure HLA, Chinatown, Mid-City, SB79, Glendale, and more

March 6, 2026

Dedication: Crenshaw and Slauson to Forever be Known as “Nipsey Hussle Square”

“Age fourteen on up, my whole life took place on these four corners...This really was my foundation," Hussle told Current TV back in 2010. Now renamed in his honor, those corners pay tribute to how he transformed them.

March 5, 2026
See all posts