- Together with Yan Song (UNC- Chapel Hill) & Larry Frank (UBC – Canada), I am currently investigating the extent to which
different cities create access for all, regardless of race and class, to ‘communities of opportunity’;
we focus on the opportunities created by ‘good’ urban form – a street network through which people travel with ease,
appropriate mix of land uses that generates opportunities for walking and social interaction, high accessibility of
development which supports healthy vehicle and pedestrian activities, and on the opportunities created by social diversity –
the chance to live in a place with neighbors from a mix of income groups and take advantage of the collective social and political
resources produced in income-diverse communities.
- I have recently completed an action research activity entitled “Empowering residents to increase their
level of physical activity for transportation and health”, funded in part by the US Housing and Urban Development
Department (HUD). We carried out an assessment of physical activity levels and community environments, and worked
with volunteer walkers to produce neighborhood walking maps(
Providence map, Apalachee Ridge map).These were
distributed by the neighborhood associations as part of an effort to increase social interaction and walking in
and near the neighborhood. A paper based on the community survey finds activity levels are not different between
the two study neighborhoods despite a better social environment in one of them (pre-print available online, Health
& Place).
- Using a unique dataset collected by the European Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) referred to as
the Large Analysis and Review of European Housing and Health Status (LARES)
(http://www.euro.who.int/Housing/Activities/20020711_1), I am working on or have completed several studies of the
health consequences of substandard housing and poor quality local neighborhood environments, and the implications
for policy and planning. Published products include one on the neighborhood effects on smoking (Miles, 2006),
one investigating the respiratory health consequences of exposure to tobacco smoke in the home (Miles, 2005),
and one, with one of my doctoral students, looking at poor housing conditions and pest infestations
(Milstead & Miles, 2006). Another paper will be appearing in the near future in the special issue of the Journal of
the American Planning Association devoted to Housing. In it, with co-author Dave Jacobs of the National Center for
Healthy Housing I present emerging examples of housing intervention systems such as health/green building criteria
and housing labeling systems that address the web of associations between housing and health, and discuss the
planning processes in the United States where such innovations might be required or incentivized.
- Together with Peter Easton (FSU Department of Adult Education)
and Karen Monkman (Depaul University, Department of
Education Policy and Research), I have completed the
evaluation of an exciting community-based empowerment
process in Mali and Sudan (Easton, Monkman & Miles,
2003). Among the initiatives that resulted from
this nonformal adult education project were committees
actively working towards a village-wide abandonment of
the practice of female genital cutting.
Teaching:
• I teach graduate classes in Planning for Developing Areas, Gender and Development, Population and Economic
Forecasting, Population Health and Development, and an advanced doctoral seminar on the Design of
Policy-Oriented Research.
Planning
and Public Health Practice:
• Together with Ross Brownson of St. Louis University, Ken Powell from the Georgia Department of Health,
Greg Heath, Judy Kruger and Leigh Ramsey of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
I was part of the working group carrying out the review of existing evidence on which to base recommendations
in the area of Environmental and Policy Approaches to Physical Activity for the Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide).
The Community Guide “provides public health
decision makers with recommendations regarding population based interventions to promote health and to prevent
disease, injury, disability, and premature death, appropriate for use by communities and health care systems”.
Our findings are published in Heath et al. (2006).
Selected publications:
Miles, Rebecca & Song, Yan. in press. “‘Good’ Neighborhoods in Portland, Oregon: Focus on both social and physical environments”. Journal of Urban Affairs
Miles, Rebecca. 2008. “Neighborhood Disorder, Perceived Safety and Readiness to Encourage Use of Local Playgrounds”. American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM), Special Issue on Active Living Environmental and Policy Research, 34(4), pp.275-281.
Miles, Rebecca & Jacobs, David E. 2008. “Future Directions in Housing and Public Health: Findings From Europe With Broader Implications for Planners”. Journal of the American Planning Association (JAPA) Special Issue on Housing, 74(1), pp.77-89.
Miles, Rebecca, Panton, Lynn, Jang, Myungjun, and Haymes, Emily. 2008. “Residential context, walking and obesity: two African-American neighborhoods compared”. Health & Place 14(2), pp.272-286.
Miles, Rebecca. 2006. “Neighborhood Disorder and Smoking: Findings of a European Survey”. Social Science and Medicine 63(9), pp. 2464-2475
Miles, Rebecca. 2005. “Preventing asthma through housing interventions: How supportive is the US policy environment?” Housing Studies 20(4), pp.589-603
Miles, Rebecca. 2002. “Employment and Unemployment in Jordan: The Importance of the Gender System”. World Development 30(3), pp.413-42
External
grants and contracts
2003
Co-Investigator – Housing and Urban Development
Department “Empowering
residents to increase their level of
physical activity for transportation and health”,
under the Community
Outreach Partnership Centers Program (COPC) grant
(2003-2006) awarded to co-PI’s Charles Connerly and
Harrison Higgins, $109,591
of total $399,969
2001
Principal
Investigator - Physical Activity and Health Branch, Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, Intergovernmental
Personnel Act of 1970 Agreement $38,626
1996
Fulbright
Research Award Recipient - Council for the International
Exchange of Scholars -
"Changing regional economies: implications for men and
women in households in
Jordan
and
Syria
" $ 21,000
1992
Principal
Investigator - Harry
Frank Guggenheim Foundation
"How
different is the ecological context of violence in families
from violence in the streets?" $ 69,578
1992
Research
Award Recipient – Gerontological Society of America
Technical Assistance Program and Florida HRS/Dept. of
Aging and Adult Services, “Assessing the effect of
pre-admission screening on transitions into nursing homes in
Florida
”
1992
Co-Principal
Investigator -
Florida
Emergency Medical Services (EMS/HRS) “Social Context of
Injuries” $
20,000 (approx)
1991
Co-Principal Investigator -
Florida
EMS/HRS “Rural Injuries Study” $21,880
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