Study Looks at Relationship Between Urban Design and Physical Activity
May 30th, 2006,I’ve been talking to people in my hometown about making infrastructure changes that will encourage walking and biking, but will those changes actually lead to more physical activity? A University of Minnesota study suggests that they may not.
According to a Star Tribune article, the Twin Cities Walking Study (unfortunately, the article does not mention the study by name) shows that urban and suburban residents get the same amount of physical activity. Urbanites tend to get more activity by running daily errands or working, while suburbanites tend to get their activity by leisure activities. Neither group walked much - only a half mile a day.
The article contains this sobering paragraph:
The study punctures the idea that you can redesign neighborhoods to increase physical activity, said lead researcher Ann Forsyth, director of the Design Center for American Urban Landscape at the university. Similar studies around the country are coming to the same conclusion, she said.
This kind of environmental change “is not the silver bullet for reducing obesity,” according to Forsyth. “People are basically kind of lazy, including myself.”
But apparently Forsyth believes we should still design communities in ways that will accommodate walkers and bikers. “More compact development lends itself to different housing types and allows people to walk rather than having to drive all the time,” Forsyth said.
Another researcher involved in the study, Kathryn Schmitz, says that we need to pay more attention to the “micro-environment,” including designs for homes and workplaces that will require more physical activity, such as using the stairs or standing rather than sitting at a desk.
The walking study looked at 715 residents in Ramsey County, where St. Paul is located. The results described in the Star Tribune article don’t seem to be posted yet on the study’s web page. I did, however, find this interesting summary there:
There is a growing consensus that there are four main built environment variables that affect walking for transportation: density, street pattern or connectivity, land use mix, and infrastructure. There is still much debate about how much the variables affect walking for transportation, recreation, and other purposes; why they affect walking; and how best to measure them.
I wonder what the results would be for a similar study of residents in Manhattan. Would the greater density and transit opportunities there lead to more walking?
I remain convinced of the importance of designing compact communities that are easy to navigate by walking and biking. Even if that isn’t the magic bullet that will end obesity, it will lead to lifestyles that are less dependent on motor vehicles and therefore more energy-efficient and less polluting.