Nationwide study confirms sprawl/obesity link
Researchers funded by Smart Growth America and the Surface Transportation Policy Project released a study in September which strengthened the case that conventional suburban development leads to sedentary lifestyles and societal health problems. Authored by Barbara A. McCann and Reid Ewing, the report looked at more than 200,000 people in 448 counties nationwide. Accounting for the differences of age, education, and other personal attributes, residents of the most compact places walk an average of 79 minutes more per month and weigh six pounds less than residents of the most sprawling suburbs.
This broad-scale study lends credence to more fine-grained analyses, reported by New Urban News in the July/August 2003 issue. Researchers with the SMARTTRAQ program in Atlanta, for example, have shown that walkable neighborhoods correlate with lower body mass indexes in almost all demographic groups, regardless of race, sex, income, or age.
Debate over significance
Some questioned the strength of the findings. The researchers found no connection between cardiovascular disease and sprawl. The study’s findings were statistically significant but “small in magnitude,” says Samuel Staley, president of the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions and a frequent defender of conventional suburban development. “I don’t think sprawl is close to being the boogeyman,” Staley says in the Washington Post. “We’re not finding that we can look at land use as a principal tool or lever for dealing with public health issues.”
The findings are important, counters David Goldberg, spokesman for Smart Growth America, although he acknowledges “limitations on data at the national level necessitate some aggregation that dampens the overall effect. But even with that, and even given the fact that one can’t control for genetic predisposition and a host of other factors, the relationships between sprawl, weight, and blood pressure are still there and still significant. When you look at more detailed, localized data such as the results coming out of SMARTTRAQ in Atlanta, you see even more dramatic correlations.”
The findings do not support the notion that health should be the determining factor in community design, Goldberg says. “We regard this as yet another ‘pull’ toward a more holistic approach to urban design, not just as a knock on sprawl. This is information that consumers can take into the marketplace as they make decisions about where and how they live, and it’s yet another, very good reason for local officials to re-evaluate the rules that mandate designs that suppress walking.” The complete report, called “Measuring the Health Effects of Sprawl,” can be found at www.smartgrowth america.com.
