Our built environment significantly influences our health outcomes. Where we live, what we live in, and what we live near are heavily determined by land use policies that have chosen winners and losers when it comes to health and safety. We have an imperative to reshape our zoning policies to create a healthier, more equitable future for every community across our state.

Our current zoning practices are unhealthy. Zoning-enforced sprawl, which favors low-density, single- use, car-centric development patterns, and building “out” instead of “in”, has been the dominant land use theory for decades. This framework prevents dense development in existing neighborhoods near transit and services, exacerbating health inequities and straining our capacity to achieve optimal health outcomes for all residents.

Connecticut deserves better. If you are invested in better public health outcomes, you must be invested in dismantling zoning-enforced sprawl. This system perpetuates the larger housing and climate crises that drive negative health outcomes across demographics and will continue unless we make a significant break now. A better future is possible.

This brief has three main parts: Part II provides an overview of sprawl’s role in urban, suburban, and rural development in Connecticut. Part III explores five distinct public health issues arising from this current zoning regime. Part IV illustrates how pro-homes zoning reform can mitigate these threats and makes policy recommendations.