Is suburban expansion linked to American obesity?

By Julien Devereux
June 2001



Offsite:
Read the Centers for Disease Control's extensive working document on the correlation between sprawl and health.
We've heard the cliché that suburbia is harmful to mental health, but should we be worried about its influence on our physical well-being? That's what a new study organized by research groups including the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) suggests. According to CDC research scientist Tom Schmid, though the amount of leisure-time activity enjoyed by the average American has not changed much in 15 years, the incidence of obesity and diabetes has skyrocketed. Why? "We're taking in more than we're burning because we've engineered activity out of our transportation and leisure time," Schmid says.

"If a community has sidewalks and street patterns that are conducive to walking, more people will choose to walk," he explains. But do those who walk more move to ped-friendly places, or do neighborhoods encourage activity? The study will attempt to find out by surveying 8,000 residents of greater Atlanta about their transit habits. Georgia Tech will equip 500 Atlantans with satellite tracking devices to follow their daily perambulations.

Schmid expects results from the study by January 2002 and hopes that they will encourage planners, zoning boards, and local governments to consider the impact of zoning decisions on the health of residents. "There used to be a closer connection between public health and urban planning," he says. "We're trying to bring the disciplines back together after too long a separation."


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