Researchers] looked at the three fundamental measures of street networks–density, connectivity, and configuration–in 24 California cities, and compared them with various maladies. In the current Journal of Transport and Health, Garrick and Marshall report that cities with more compact street networks—specifically, increased intersection density—have lower levels of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. The more intersections, the healthier the humans. [snip] “If youre looking to buy a new house, I think very few people are cognizant that there might be long-term health differences between one neighborhood and the other. You might hear about it in terms of things like fracking or living near a highway. The obesity epidemic is becoming a national crisis, but almost nobody connects that with neighborhood design. The connections were making there are all about food and exercise. But if we build neighborhoods where exercise is part of peoples daily routine, you would think that could go a long way. As youll see, theres some correlation-is-not-causation talk in the article; still this make for interesting pondering.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 21:43:42 +0000
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