The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) contains a provision that requires all nonprofit hospitals to conduct a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and an Implementation Plan every three years. The first chapter of this book provides a comprehensive analysis of the CHNA process, the priorities identified in the CHNA, and the implementation strategies produced by 31 small nonprofit rural hospitals in Nebraska. Chapter two discusses current capacity building mechanisms with community-based obesity programmes in the United Kingdom, revealing the importance of partnerships between multi-agencies involved in the process.

Chapter three offers reflections on a Community-based participatory research (CBPR) project in partnership with the Latino migrant worker community in South Florida. Chapter four examines “KEQ” (Kapazitätsentwicklung im Quartier [Capacity Building in Residential Are-as/Neighborhoods]), which is the name of a newly developed questionnaire for measuring community capacities considered relevant to health. Chapter five discusses research on disaster recovery in several countries and the lessons learned regarding how personal, family, community and societal factors interact to facilitate adaptation to the consequences of disaster.

The final chapter provides an overview of regional development planning, which is a conscious development strategy designed to bring about change and equity, and to improve the living standards of people by integrating economic, social and environmental policies and programmes in a spatial context.