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science in ACTION
| INNOVATIVE RESEARCH FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
www.epa.gov/research
EPA's Sustainable and Healthy Communities
National Research Program
EPA's Sustainable and Healthy Communities (SHC) research program is the largest and most diverse national research
program within EPA's Office of Research and Development. SHC researchers consider the full range of interactions
between people and our environment to incorporate the three pillars of sustainability—economics, society, and the
environment—into a seamless research portfolio that not only helps the Agency and its partners meet today's most
pressing environmental challenges, but do so while laying the groundwork for healthy, prosperous, and just communities
well into the future.
Collectively, the program works to illuminate the myriad connections b
and their connections to human well-being and environmental quality.
A particular emphasis is also placed on providing the science needed to
protect the most vulnerable groups and lifestages and advancing
environmental justice by reducing disparities of environmental
burdens. The program is divided across four major topic areas for
research: (1) Decision Support and Innovation; (2) Community Well-
being: Public Health and Ecosystem Goods and Service; (3)
Sustainable Approaches for Contaminated Sites and Materials
Management; and (4) Integrated Solutions for Sustainable
Communities.
The program's research strategy is designed with input from partners
cultivated from across EPA program and regional offices, state
environmental management agencies, community decision-makers,
and the scientific community. Ongoing feedback and collaboration
with them as well as with local communities helps ensure the knowledge, data, and tools SHC scientists and engineers
deliver are immediately available to inform decisions and actions. SHC's goal is to expand community stakeholders'
resources to enable decisions that advance sustainability despite the complexity of the environmental/social/economic
system.
To advance the work, SHC researchers are developing an integrated suite of tools and information—indicators and
indices, maps of land cover and demographics, health data, and information on causal relationships—as well as user-
friendly decision support tools and models. Decision makers can use these research products to set goals, guide strategic
plans, inform decisions, and measure progress toward their community objectives. SHC's holistic, integrated approach
aims to inform decisions that will minimize unintended negative outcomes and maximize positive and multiple benefit
outcomes: solutions that will better foster community sustainability in all its aspects.
SHC also produces research and provides technical support to address pressing near-term problems facing communities
and the nation. These include remediation technologies for cleaning up contaminated sites and returning land to public
use, cleaning up oil and fuel spills, and assessing the risks and benefits of using of waste materials for applications like
improving soil quality, providing building materials, and capturing toxicants that contaminate land and water.
etween the built, natural, and social environments
Environmental Integrity
Human Health and Well Being
Robust and Resilient
Economy
Figure 1. Sustainability is a nested relationship
linking economy, well-being, and the environment.
1
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development

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Examples of Recent Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Products
•	The EnviroAtlas, a web-based mapping system,
allows interactive analysis of spatial data on
environmental conditions, human health
statistics, and socio-economic factors for
communities across the country, as well as basic
information about ecosystem goods and services.
Detailed data for urban areas can be used to
identify local issues and evaluate potential
solutions. For more information:
https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas
•	The interactive Eco-Health Relationship
Browser illustrates scientific evidence for
linkages between human health and ecosystem
services. It provides information about several of
the nation's major ecosystems, the services they
provide, and how those services, or their
degradation and loss, might affect people. More
information:
https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas/enviroatlas-eco-
health-relationship-browser	EnviroAtlas: Percent tree cover overlaid with percent population
below 13 years of age in Durham NC, used to target tree planting for
•	EPA's Report on the Environment is an	ecosystem services and benefits.
informative source of scientific indicators describing trends in the nation's environmental and human
health condition. The indicators help to answer important questions about the current status and historical
trends in various media. They provide information to help EPA and others make decisions about
environmental policy, education, and monitoring priorities. More infonnation: https://cfpub.epa.gov/roe/
•	C-FERST (Community-Focused Environmental Risk Screening Tool) is being developed as a community
mapping, information access, and assessment tool to help assess risk and assist in decision making with
communities. More infonnation: https://www.epa.gov/healthresearch/tribal-focused-environmental-risk-
and-sustainabilitv-tool-t-ferst
•	A Framework for Sustainability Indicators at EPA is a document providing background and guidance
on sustainability indicators. Written to provide EPA staff with a reference for measuring the progress of
some aspects of sustainability, it is however publically available to external organizations interested in
such measurement. Link to the document at:
https://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si public record report.cfm?dirEntrvId=254270
•	Stay Informed!
Please sign up to receive regular updates about our research:
https://public.govdelivew.com/accounts/USEPAORD/subscriber/new7topic id=USEPAORD 15
Contact
Aaron Ferster, Communication Lead
Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program
Phone: (202) 564-032T
ferster. aaron@epa. gov
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development
Updated April, 2017
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