EP 95: Designing Environmental Health | Jennifer D. Roberts

How can we microdose nature into the built environment? What are the benefits of green spaces and who has access to them? What’s the story behind Billie Holiday’s song Strange Fruit?  Jennifer D. Roberts is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology, School of Public Health at the University of Maryland College Park (UMD). Dr. Roberts is also the Founder and Director of the Public Health Outcomes and Effects of the Built Environment (PHOEBE) Laboratory as well as the Co-Founder and Co-Director of NatureRx@UMD, an initiative that emphasizes the natural environmental benefits interspersed throughout and around the UMD campus. Her scholarship focuses on the impact of built, social, and natural environments, including the institutional and structural inequities of these environments, on the public health outcomes of marginalized communities. More specifically, much of her research has explored the dynamic relationship between environmental, social, and cultural determinants of physical activity and using empirical evidence of this relationship to infer complex health outcome patterns and disparities as well as instigate a powerful shift that recognizes, breaks, and transforms these conditions and determinants of health. Episode Links and Mentions: https://jenniferdeniseroberts.com/ Article: Mental health initiative connects UMD students with the outdoors Article: Advancing Health and Sustainability in Baltimore Video: Designing on the Front Lines: Safer Spaces Book Rec: All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solution for the Climate Crisis Restaurant Rec: Seoul Food Follow Jennifer: Twitter | LinkedIn Episode Website/Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/designlabpod/jenniferroberts More episode sources & links Sign-up for Design Lab Podcast’s Newsletter Previous Episode Newsletters and Shownotes Follow @DesignLabPod on Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Facebook Follow @BonKu on Twitter & Instagram Check out the Health Design Lab Production by Robert Pugliese Edit by Fernando Queiroz Cover Design by Eden Lew Theme song by Emmanuel Houston Indexed in the Library of Congress: ISSN 2833-2032