Announcing Our Revised Manuscript on Trauma-Informed Neighborhoods: A Clearer Vision & Call to Action
We’re excited to share that our manuscript, The Trauma-Informed Neighborhood: A Planning Framework for Healing and Spatial Justice, has gone through peer review and been revised to more clearly articulate the novel contribution of the trauma-informed neighborhood concept and to sharpen our call to action for research and planning policy change.
In this revision, we’ve responded carefully to the thoughtful feedback from peer reviewers and strengthened the manuscript in several key ways:
1. Clarifying the Novelty
Our concept of the trauma-informed neighborhood reframes neighborhood planning and design through the lens of trauma-informed principles derived from public health, neuroscience, environmental psychology, and spatial justice.
While trauma-informed care has become established in fields like behavioral health and social services, it has not yet been widely applied to the built environment, particularly at the neighborhood scale. Our work positions planning practice itself as a mechanism for healing and restoration, not just technical land use or infrastructure decisions.
We now more clearly demonstrate how trauma-informed neighborhoods represent a distinct and necessary extension of existing frameworks by:
outlining how physical neighborhood features can trigger re-traumatization or promote healing,
proposing specific urban design and policy strategies that prioritize nervous system regulation, social cohesion, and equitable access to supportive environments,
and connecting these ideas directly to planning systems and regulations.
2. Strengthening the Call to Action
The revision also elevates our call for further research and policy innovation, highlighting three arenas where this work is especially urgent:
Empirical research: We urge scholars to undertake rigorous, mixed-methods studies to measure how trauma-informed design elements impact community health outcomes.
Cross-sector collaboration: Planners, public health professionals, and community designers must work together to translate trauma-informed principles into planning practice and evaluation metrics.
Policy integration: We advocate for trauma-informed criteria to be embedded in planning policies, zoning codes, and comprehensive plans, opening pathways for systemic change.
3. Why This Matters
Trauma affects a majority of individuals across the life course, with disproportionate impact on historically marginalized communities. Yet traditional planning frameworks rarely acknowledge these lived realities, much less leverage the built environment to support healing and resilience. By centering trauma-informed principles in neighborhood planning, we aim to shift how planners conceive of equity, health, safety, and justice in the places people live.
We welcome feedback, collaborations, and discussions as this framework continues to evolve. If you’re working on related research, practice innovations, or policy applications, please get in touch. Let’s advance trauma-informed planning together!
The updated version is now publicly available on OSF Preprints: