The National Association of City Transportation Officials’ Urban Bikeway Design Guide, which is part of the Cities for Cycling initiative, provides information on best practice solutions for the creation of complete streets that are safe and enjoyable for bicyclists.

The Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities provides guidelines for how to accommodate bicyclists in a variety of riding environments in order to help cities and counties develop facilities that meet the needs of bicyclists and other road users.

This resource provides guidance on the implementation of best practices for pedestrian and bicyclist road use.

ChangeLab Solutions has created a model bicycle parking ordinance as a guide to increasing the availability and quality of bicycle parking and to help cities and counties become more bicycle-friendly environments.

Getting the Wheels Rolling: A Guide to Using Policy to Create Bicycle Friendly Communities can help cities and counties learn to adopt and implement bicycle-friendly laws and policies.

The Bicycle Friendly Community Program provides guidance on how cities and counties can make their communities more bicycle-friendly in order to improve public health, reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality, and improve overall quality of life.

The Alliance for Biking and Walking publishes a biennial Benchmarking Report to provide local governments with national, state, and city-level data on bicycling and walking, as well as related data on demographics, safety, funding, infrastructure, education, public health indicators, and economic impacts.

Teachers and recreation professionals can use this Bicycle Safety Curriculum, designed by the Society of Health and Physical Educators, to teach safe bicycling practices to children of all age levels in schools and at recreation centers.

This guide, developed by the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, provides information on how to form a bicycle advisory committee in order to improve bicycling conditions.

Bike Law University provides an overview of state traffic laws that can affect bicyclists in an easily accessible and reader-friendly format.

MAP-21 Find It, Fund It! helps cities and counties find federal funding sources for 24 types of projects, including a number of projects geared at helping communities become more bicyclist and pedestrian-friendly.

In order to improve quality of life in Austin, Texas, the city’s Active Transportation Division has created a Bicycle Master Plan as a part of their efforts to develop a comfortable and connected pedestrian and bicycle network that serves all ages and abilities.

Denver, Colorado is creating a Bicycle Master Plan that will enhance the citywide bicycle network so that it better suits the needs of bicyclists of all ability levels.

In 2009, Kansas City, Missouri adopted a policy requiring most new developments, including businesses, public buildings, and multifamily housing, to incorporate bicycle parking provisions in their design plans.

Saint Paul, Minnesota, in order to meet its goal of increasing bicycling citywide by creating public bicycle parking facilities, has instituted a Neighborhood Bike Rack Program, installing bike racks on public right of ways in front of local businesses and organizations upon request.

In order to become more bicycle-friendly, Seattle, Washington adopted a Bicycle Master Plan.

Washington County, Oregon has designed a Bicycle Facility Design Toolkit that allows cities to keep up with the latest innovative design practices for bicycle facilities in order to accommodate a wide range of bicyclists.

The Urban Design Checklist provides a list of strategies that cities and counties can use to create neighborhoods, streets, and outdoor spaces that encourage walking, bicycling, and active transportation and recreation.

The Center for Active Design has created the Active Design Guidelines, a manual of strategies that cities and counties can use to promote physical activity and health through the creation of healthier buildings, streets, and public spaces.

This resource provides evidence-based strategies that cities and counties can use to improve their streetscape designs in order to promote physical activity and improve quality of life.

Produced by the Urban Land Institute, this guide outlines ten principles for improving the health of cities and counties by using design strategies that support physical activity and encourage healthy living.

Created by the Environmental Protection Agency, this guide provides strategies that cities and counties can use to maximize smart growth and economic success.

Alexandria, Virginia has developed a set of design principles aimed at allowing the community to continue its trajectory of smart growth, while maintaining its existing character and qualities.

Boise, Idaho adopted citywide design standards and guidelines aimed at increasing walkable development patterns, promoting sustainable design principles, and enhancing the “sense of place” for neighborhoods, among other objectives.

Hennepin County, Minnesota created an Active Living Design Checklist to encourage policies and planning relating to land use and transportation that promote community health.

The Portland Active Living Partnership was formed to advocate for the incorporation of active living principles into redevelopment efforts, such as the redevelopment of the Lents neighborhood in Portland, Oregon.

View the case study.

Region of Peel, Ontario has identified land use as a public health issue and has responded by creating community design guidelines that are intended to promote and improve health.

The Seattle Design Guidelines were created to foster healthy and sustainable design excellence in development projects in the city.

Toronto, Ontario has adopted design guidelines that are geared at promoting physical activity among residents in an effort to make a positive impact on the health of Toronto’s current and future generations.

This resource provides information on how to systematically gather data on community conditions that affect walking and bicycling.

This report serves as a guide that cities and counties can use to improve walkable access to parks.

The Safe Routes to School Toolkit provides information and strategies that cities and counties can use to create safe, efficient, and environmentally friendly routes to schools in their communities.

The Safe Routes to School Local Policy Guide was created to help cities and counties create, enact, and implement policies that encourage healthy communities and make safe walking and bicycling possible.

This resource provides information on evidence-based strategies for calming traffic speeds and patterns in an effort to make communities safer for walking and bicycling.

Chicago, Illinois created a Pedestrian Plan to improve health and quality of life in Chicago, including improving the safety of Chicago’s streets through a series of roadway modifications that are outlined in this resource.

In order to make streets safer and more pedestrian and bicyclist friendly, Columbia, Missouri is lowering the speed limits on residential streets citywide.

Learn more about Columbia’s efforts.

To make streets safer, Knoxville, Tennessee an analysis of various methods and devices to decide what combination will be most effective at calming traffic.

New York City has implemented Neighborhood Slow Zones, a community-based program that reduces the speed limit within select areas to change driver behavior in an effort to enhance quality of life and street safety.

This resource provides tips for making healthier workplaces. Cities and counties can use this resource to design healthy meeting guidelines.

This toolkit provides a model for organizations to use in order to hold healthier meetings and have healthy, sustainable work environments.  Cities and counties can incorporate the model into healthy meeting guidelines.

New York City created a list of food standards for meetings and events held by city agencies in order to promote healthy choices among employees and visitors.

View New York City’s Healthy Meeting Standards.

Pasadena, California created a Healthy Meetings Manual in conjunction with the adoption of a Healthy Snack and Beverage Vending and Procurement Policy, which is intended to provide healthier options to residents and employees, as well as empower city staff to be role models of good nutrition.

Seattle and King County, Washington created these healthy meeting guidelines for municipal employees. Local organizations and businesses are encouraged to also follow the guidelines.

Putting Business to Work for Health provides information on incentives that cities and counties can offer to motivate local business owners to make choices that promote community health.

The Worksite Wellness Resource Kit is a tool that cities and counties can use to help local businesses implement programs that promote employee and community health.

Cities and counties can use this resource to help local businesses learn how to create, implement, and evaluate effective workplace health programs.

Austin, Texas implemented a Partner Certification Program that recognizes local organizations for having comprehensive, promising practices and evidence-based workplace policies that promote health.

Greenville, South Carolina created a tool kit that provides resources to help local businesses start wellness initiatives or strengthen current wellness programs in order to promote overall community health.

To promote health, New Orleans, Louisiana created the Fit NOLA Business Program that provides businesses with assessment tools and recognizes businesses with healthy policies with Fit NOLA certification.

San Antonio, Texas launched the Healthy Workplace Recognition Program to recognize local employers for their worksite wellness efforts in an effort to promote health in the city.

The Healthy Workplace Challenge encourages organizations to foster an environment that promotes a more active and healthy workplace.

Ohio created this guide on incentives that local governments can offer businesses to help improve community health.  This resource can help cities and county learn ways to support state-level initiatives that promote healthy businesses.

Cities and counties can use this handbook to learn how to help farmers’ markets accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, formerly known as food stamps, in order to expand access to fresh, healthy foods.

This guide provides an overview of farmers’ market policy issues, including land use policies that cities and counties can use to protect and promote farmers’ markets.

This resource provides evidence-based information that cities and counties can use to promote the benefits of local farmers’ markets.

This resource provides information on enabling Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) payment at farmers’ markets so that recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits can have greater access to the healthy foods available there.

This resource provides information on how cities and counties can establish Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs (FMNP), as part of both the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the Senior Nutrition Program, to provide fresh, local produce to participating women, children, and seniors.

This guide details Michigan’s healthy food incentive program at farmers’ markets. Cities and counties can use this resource as a model in order to provide low-income families with greater access to healthy foods.

Boston, Massachusetts created the Bounty Bucks program to expand access to healthy food. The program enables recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to use their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card to purchase Bounty Bucks, plastic bills that they can use like cash with farmers’ market vendors.

Chicago, Illinois created this set of rules and regulations for growers, food producers, and non-food vendors as part of the city’s efforts to create easy access to fresh, locally grown produce throughout Chicago.

Fresno, California created a farmers’ market policy to promote the sale of fresh, locally grown produce in the city.

To support the sale of fresh, locally grown produce in the city, San Francisco, California created a farmers’ market policy. 

San Jose, California amended a zoning ordinance to establish land use regulations that make it easier to start farmers’ markets in the city in order to expand access to fresh, local produce.

This resource provides examples of cities and counties using farmers’ markets to increase the availability of produce in food insecure areas.

ChangeLab Solutions offers tools that cities and counties can use to promote and expand urban agriculture.

Access tools from ChangeLab Solutions on urban agriculture.

This resource provides evidence-based information on the benefits of community gardens and gives implementation examples that cities and counties can use when implementing their own community garden programs.

This resource provides evidence-based information on the benefits of urban agriculture and gives implementation examples that cities and counties can use when implementing their own urban agriculture programs.

This resource provides examples of policies aimed at supporting urban gardening that cities and counties can use to create their own policies.

This guide outlines strategies and policies that cities and counties can use to improve access to healthy food.

The University of Missouri assembled a toolkit that cities and counties can use to start community garden programs

These publications provide strategies for promoting urban and community agriculture that cities and counties can use to increase access to healthy food.

This source provides information about using zoning policies to promote urban agriculture, which, in turn, can be used to address many financial, health, and environmental issues.

Learn more about how zoning changes can support urban agriculture.

As a part of the City’s General Plan, Berkeley, California created the Open Space and Recreation Element, which includes a policy (Policy OS-8) designed to encourage and support community gardens. To further expand access to healthy food, Berkeley created Urban Agriculture Incentive Zones that offer reduced property taxes to landowners who use vacant parcels exclusively for agriculture.

Boston, Massachusetts modified its Zoning Code to promote urban agriculture activities, notably farming, in order to expand access to fresh, healthy food in the city.

Kansas City, Missouri created a guide to city codes that affect urban agriculture to make the laws more accessible to residents. The guide promotes urban agriculture activities that expand access to fresh food including crop farming, home gardening, and community gardening.

Oakland, California updated its zoning regulations to reflect the city’s growing urban farming movement and to encourage and facilitate local food production.

Phoenix, Arizona launched the PHX Renews Initiative, whose mission is to turn vacant lots into community and educational spaces. As a result of the initiative, dozens of community gardens have been created throughout the city, providing opportunities for community building and increased access to fresh, local food.

Zoning laws in Raleigh, North Carolina make it easy for residents to create community gardens as part of the city’s effort to support urban agriculture. Additionally, the city has compiled online resources to help residents start their community gardens.

Read the regulations the City of Raleigh has set up to facilitate the creation of community gardens.

Seattle, Washington’s P-Patch Community Gardening Program was created to promote urban agriculture through the establishment of community-stewarded organic gardens throughout the city.

The Mayor’s Urban Agriculture Initiative was launched in Somerville, Massachusetts to promote the growing and eating of healthy, local foods.

This resource provides examples of effective community gardening strategies that cities and counties are using to promote sustainable, healthy eating.

The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding provides information cities and counties can use when creating their own breastfeeding policies.

This resource provides information on laws requiring employers to provide reasonable break time for nursing mothers that cities and counties can use to inform local organizations and write their own breastfeeding policies.

The Guide for Establishing a Federal Nursing Mother’s Program discusses legislation related to breastfeeding and provides guidelines and expectations for establishing Nursing Mother’s Programs. This resource can help cities and counties understand best practices for the design and implementation of a breastfeeding policy.

Created by the National Business Group on Health, this resource outlines the benefits for businesses in investing in workplace breastfeeding programs and policies. Cities and counties can consider these benefits when writing their breastfeeding policies.

This resource discusses the benefits of having breastfeeding promotion programs and provides implementation examples and resources that cities and counties can use when creating their breastfeeding policies.

This resource offers employer solutions for supporting nursing moms at work that cities and counties can incorporate into breastfeeding policies.

Lincoln, Nebraska developed a breastfeeding policy intended to support city employees who are new mothers choosing to breastfeed their children.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania created a Worksite Lactation Support Policy that allows for privacy and flexibility of breaks for lactating city employees in order to support the health of new mothers and their children.

To provide a supportive environment for breastfeeding employees to express milk during work hours, Portland, Maine adopted the City of Portland Lactation Policy, which requires that breastfeeding city employees be offered milk expression breaks and a clean, private place to express milk.

As a part of the city’s mission to inspire healthy lifestyles, Rancho Cucamonga, California established a Lactation Accommodation Policy and Program that supports the needs of breastfeeding city employees.

Seattle, Washington created a policy that provides paid break time and private space for breastfeeding city employees in order to support the health needs of infants and new mothers.