This project seeks to develop a multi-faceted study of a wide range of US communities and their experiences in adopting and implementing land use policies and implementation tools that support active living.   The essential aim is to develop an understanding of how to promote reformation of standard US land development policies to transform communities into environments that support active living.  
At its conclusion, this study will address the questions discussed below.

What are the essential implementation tools that support active living goals? 
To what extent do these policies explicitly speak to and/or were motivated by active living goals? 
What are the essential factors in the dynamics of local adoption of active living-oriented development policies? Essential factors will be both exogenous (e.g. the regional economy) and endogenous (e.g. knowledge of local planners, funding availability, etc.) to the implementing entity.
To what extent and under what circumstances does innovation acceptance lead to additional innovation?
What barriers affect the use of active living-oriented development policies under existing regulatory, economic and lending standards? In addition, under what circumstances are developers creative in implementing active living-supportive projects without explicit ordinances or regulations? What motivates them to undertake active living-oriented development?
What is the public reaction to AL-oriented development policies? How does this reaction influence the likelihood of policy adoption and success? 
How effective are these policies in achieving goals of active living?
These findings will serve as the basis for recommendations to policy makers, planners, public health officials and activists on how active living policies can be promoted andadopted in various types of communities.
The study design is framed as applied research and includes five elements:

Literature Review
Survey of Best Practices Communities
Random Survey of Communities
Developer Interviews
Case Studies