| A few weeks ago I wrote about the physical and social of impact of sprawl on our communities. Since that time, I has the pleasure of attending a community dialogue, sponsored by the Canton Community of Concern, about the health needs of today's children, and specifically, the role of the community in promoting children's health. One of the major topics was child obesity. Many people spoke about the need for a healthy lunch menu at school and the need to educate our children about good nutrition. However, completely overlooked, at least until I spoke up, was how our town's land use decisions have created a car centric suburbia that has discouraged walking and biking no just for children but for all age groups.
Since that discussion, I have come across several studies that show a direct correlation between the build environment and public health. A new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia finds that people who take public transit are three times more likely than those who don't to meet the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada's suggested daily minimum of physical activity. There is also an excellent April 2007 report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on the relationship between the built environment and physical activity. Some of the key questions addressed in the report are What is the association between the built environment and physical activity? Does the association between the built environment and activity vary across subgroups? What is the impact of the built environment on health?
Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute cites a number of recent studies that show that high quality public transit service can improve public health by:
* Reducing per capita traffic fatalities (residents of cities with high quality public transit have about a quarter of the per-capita traffic fatality rates as residents of more automobile-dependent communities)
* Increasing physical activity (people who use public transit on a particular are about 3 times more likely to achieve the basic amount of walking required for public health as people who drive and do not use public transit)
* Increased affordability and therefore less stress and more money left in the household budget for healthy food and other necessities (residents of cities with high quality public transportation spend about 20% small portion of household budgets on transportation, and this effect is probably larger for lower-income households)
* Improved accessibility for non-drivers, and therefore less difficulty reaching medical services and healthy food.
Of course, as he also points out, these factors cannot overcome other demographic and economic factors that reduce poor people's health, but it does suggest that everybody, particularly poor people, are much better off in a transit oriented community than in an automobile-dependent community.
Here are some of the studies he cites:
Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity, Obesity, and Morbidity
Building healthier communities through transportation and land use policies and practices
A Morning Stroll: Levels of Physical Activity in Car and Mass Transit Commuting
So, how can we create a better built environment that encourages walking, biking and mass transit use? Well, as a new on-line tool from the Natural Resources Defense Council illustrates, sprawling, unwalkable places around the US could become more livable and sustainable with just a little bit of work. As NRDC's Kaid Benfield explains, "Open the map, zoom in on a location, without leaving our web site, you will be shown a Google Maps satellite view of the existing site, given some context about the metro area, and treated to a brief slide show demonstrating how each can be converted, step-by-step, from sprawl, vacant property or disinvestment into a lively, beautiful neighborhood." You can explore 70 different locations from coast to coast.
Efforts to create healthy communities is also gaining traction here in CT. A team of national experts assembled by the U.S. EPA will engage residents, decision-makers and developers from Hartford and the surrounding region to develop strategies to create compact, mixed-use, mixed-income housing that provides residents with better access to jobs and services.
The two-part workshop, supported by EPA's Smart Growth Program and to be convened by the Capitol Region Council of Governments beginning May 14, will focus on how to implement sustainable approaches to housing and mixed-use development.
The first part of the workshop on "Visualizing Density" will take place from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 14 at the Lyceum, 227 Lawrence Street in Hartford. The second part of the workshop on envisioning development alternatives at three or four potential sites in the Capitol Region will take place from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 16 at the Lyceum in Hartford. All are welcome to attend both events. Click here for more information and how to register.
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