Master-planned communities in the United States as novel contexts for individual and population-level research

It has long been known that social and physical environments can shape individual and population health, for better or worse. Master-planned communities (MPCs) in the US are custom-designed residential neighborhoods with defined boundaries planned and developed under a single, private owner or entity from their inception. Across the US, these vary greatly in scale ranging from 100 to over 50,000 homes, but broadly all provide residents with housing, infrastructure, landscaping, and purpose-built facilities to support socialization. Current research in the urban planning literature suggests that MPCs can influence the health of their residents. However, few studies have examined the use of MPCs as settings to conduct individual or population health research. In this paper, we examine the potential of MPCs as context for observational or intervention studies aimed at understanding individual and population-level health and well-being. We first summarize links between built and social environment and individual and population health research. Next, we describe the history of planned communities in the US. Then, we review specific features of MPCs related to governance, development, design, and social structure. We end by exploring how those specific features may lead to potential opportunities and challenges when using MPCs in health research. Through this discussion, we highlight MPCs as overlooked settings that may offer potential for collaborative, innovative, and socially engaged health research.