It is indeed heartening to read a blog post from the U.S. Secretary of Transportation that states the following:
The way we design our communities has a huge impact on our citizens' social, physical, and economic wellbeing...Therefore, one of my highest priorities is to work closely with Congress, other Federal departments, the nation's governors, and local officials to help promote more livable communities through sustainable surface transportation programs. By focusing on livability, we can help transform the way transportation serves the American people-and create safer, healthier communities that provide access to economic opportunities.
Finally, a federal official who understands the social and physical consequcnes of sprawl. For far too long the sprawl debate had tended to focus on the environmental and economic impacts of strip mall and McMansion suburbia. I am not trying to downplay these types of impacts. They are important to discuss and need to be addressed, but they have dominated the political discourse on sprawl to the detriment of another important issue: the social impact of sprawl. Often overlooked until just a few years ago, the social impact of sprawl is just starting to be examined and the results are not pretty.
Studies have concluded that sprawl has a detrimental impact on our health and socially isolates specific segments of our society, specifically the elderly, children, and the poor. A two year study by Reid Ewing involving over 200,000 respondents and reported in the American Journal of Health Promotion in 2003, as well as a 2004 RAND Corporation study, concluded that overall, people living in the car centric suburbs are more likely to become physically inactive and overweight, which contributes to increased risk of many chronic diseases such as heart disease and hypertension as well as mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. Due to sprawl, basic shopping, social and recreational needs are not within walking distance and public transit is lacking. According to a Brookings Institute report in July 2003, many seniors must rely on others for transportation or have items delivered to their homes, and may have to decide either to remain immobile and trapped at home or to drive when it may no longer be a safe choice, thus contributing to social isolation and declining mental and physical health.
The impact of sprawl of senior citizens has become such a major issue that AARP has decided join the Transportation for America Campaign as a way to seek transportation reform to help their constituency live well independently.
Schools and other child advocacy groups should also be talking about the social isolation and health issues experienced by children in a car dependent society. The fact that many children no longer walk to school and need a ride to parks or ball fields adds to a child's inactivity, which can lead to health problems such as obesity. According to a 2002 CDC report, "22 percent of American children are now obese, twice the level of ten years ago." Furthermore, according to Andres Duany in Suburban Nation, sociologists point to "teen isolation and boredom" as a contributing factor to the high national rate of teen suicide. Nearly nonexistent before 1950 and the advent of the suburbs, by 2000 suicide accounted for more than 12% of youth mortalities and the rate is much higher in the suburbs than in cities. Discussions of junk food and violence on television and video games miss the big picture: our land use decisions isolate us from our neighbors and the community as a whole instead of bringing us together. In short, it tears at the social fabric that contributes to a healthy community.
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