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The article examines the role of zoning codes in improving public health and health equity. It says that zoning plans, which uses the built environment to determine where land use in a district may occur, was used to promote health and welfare and can be used to address health disparities. It relates the case of "Transform Baltimore" Project in Maryland, wherein the government, upon rewriting its 40-year-old zoning codes, had been able to develop initiatives that would apply to each community.

Describes the use of the systems-based approach to evaluate water supply systems in the U.S. Accounts on the waterborne outbreak of a Norwalk-like virus; Identification of the sources of etiologic agents; Evidence of the presence of pathogen in the water system.

The article focuses on the city planning to help fight public health threats, particularly the abuse of tobacco, alcohol, and poor diet, as discusses by Lisa M. Feldstein, Mary M. Lee, and Marice Ashe. Feldstein stated that zoning creates two possibilities on the diet of public health, which are to support or limit access to fast foods. Lee introduces the Community Coalition in South Los Angeles, which issues conditional use permits to avoid problem liquor stores.

Knowledge of the law and its impact on health outcomes is increasingly important in public health practice. The CDC's Public Health Law Academy helps satisfy this need by providing online trainings, facilitator toolkits, and legal epidemiology tools to aid practitioners in learning about the law's role in promoting public health.

Health care providers and their legal counsel play pivotal roles in preparing for and responding to public health emergencies. Lawyers representing hospitals, health systems, and other health care provider components are being called upon to answer complex legal questions regarding public health preparedness issues that most providers have not previously faced. Many of these issues are legal issues with which public health officials should be familiar, and that can serve as a starting point for cross-sector legal preparedness planning involving both the public health and health care communities. This article examines legal issues that health care providers face in preparing for public health emergencies, and steps that providers, their legal counsel, and others can take to address those issues and to strengthen community preparedness.

Applied public health law research is an essential element for improving the legal foundation of public health practice. This article focuses on the proper scope and the methodology related to conducting public health law research. In addition to considering the issue of translating research into practice, the article provides overviews of three current public health law research projects and the lessons they provide for researchers.