Does Sprawl Make Us Fat?

Ant writes "A Science News article talks about the relationship between city design and health. New cross-disciplinary research is exploring whether urban sprawl makes us soft, or whether people who don't like to exercise move to the sprawling suburbs, or some combination of both." From the article: "So far, the dozen strong studies that have probed the relationships among the urban environment, people's activity, and obesity have all agreed, says Ewing. 'Sprawling places have heavier people... There is evidence of an association between the built environment and obesity.' ... However, University of Toronto economist Matthew Turner charges that 'a lot of people out there don't like urban sprawl, and those people are trying to hijack the obesity epidemic to further the smart-growth agenda [and] change how cities look.' ... 'We're the only ones that have tried to distinguish between causation and sorting... and we find that it's sorting,' [says Turner]. 'The available facts do not support the conclusion that sprawling neighborhoods cause weight gain.'"

Sprawl DOES makes you fatter

[Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289)]

The objections quoted in TFS are debunked quite well in the linked science article. Additionally, research earlier this year shows teenagers living in sprawling suburbs were more than twice as likely to be overweight as teens in more compact urban areas [prorev.com]

These kids have never moved, never had a choice about where they live and are still much fatter.

It's a no brainer really. Less walking opportunities = less energy expenditure = more stored energy (as well as eating crap on those long, boring car journeys to work/school to save on cooking time at home so you can sit in front of the idiot box).

Anyway, the failure of town planners is going to work out by itself in the end. As oil prices skyrocket & people in the suburbs grow fatter, the solution become obvious. Liposuction clinics combined with gas stations ;-)

Re:Sprawl DOES makes you fatter

[QuantumG (50515)]

I don't know if all the US is like this, but every spawling area that I've been to in the US is insanely pedestrian unfriendly. There are very few crosswalks on major roads, forcing people to dash across, typically to an offramp that has "no pedestrians" signs on it, even though there is no pedestrian access ways nearby. I've never seen a foot bridge over a major road, nor a tunnel. In fact, I've been to parts of the US which don't provide ANY pedestrian access to a mall. I guess they figure that if you don't drive a car then you don't have enough money to shop in their store.

Compare this to Australia and Europe, where there is as much urban sprawl as the worst parts of the US but every road has a sidewalk, every set of lights has a crosswalk, and foot bridges and tunnels are commonplace. This results in two things: getting in your car to go get milk and bread is considered lazy and, as a result, there's lots of small "corner stores" to get milk and bread almost everywhere people live. Kids walk to school, and/or catch public transport. And seeing as there are lots of people on the streets, street crime is virtually unheard of - it's a lot easier to mug someone if the only people nearby are in cars with their windows rolled up because they're afraid of street crime.

Re:Sprawl DOES makes you fatter

[MadAhab (40080)]

Very well put. And behind this study is similar reasoning to what you provide; mixed-use communities provide more opportunities to walk someplace.

On a personal note, I gained a lot of weight after moving to the burbs. Living in NYC and walking up 3 flights of stairs kept me more active. Even in an elevator building, I did a lot of walking around with groceries.

Unfortunately in America, "sprawl" is a term that has been continuously co-opted, in many parts of America, to mean "let's have large lot sizes to retain our rural character" which of course *creates* sprawl. Other parts of the country, e.g. California, which have huge amounts of building purely residential developments on empty hills, have other problems. Namely, gated-community-type shit, which dictate all houses have to look alike and no commercial development. This demands that you drive a few miles to a strip mall just to buy milk.

Americans need to rethink development in a very serious way.

Re:Sprawl DOES makes you fatter

[zippthorne (748122)]

Well the good news is that development is starting to be rethought in a very serious way. Many people are sick of/not impressed by the homogeneous golf course dormitories. Upscale communities are now being built around a "New Urban" concept which has closer together residences interspersed with shops and services. It's either a scaled down small town or a scaled up vacation resort depending on how you think about it.

The irony is that it's the same snobs who brought us sprawling gated communities that are pushing the move to more walkable residential areas.

Master planning vs mixed and public spaces

[Geof (153857)]

New urbanism is probably a step in the right direction, but it appears to be missing critical elements of successful older neighborhoods. Jane Jacobs emphasizes the need for buildings of various ages (and which can be repurposed as the community changes): the book shops in old houses, funky music stores, arty cafes and so on that make for a hip urban environment often can't afford the rent of flashy new buildings. It strikes me as strange that a society which so strongly rejected the idea (if not always the practice) of central planning during the Cold War prides itself in its "master planned" communities."

Furthermore, a vibrant community requires more than just residential and commercial uses. The plans I have seen often look attractive, but on closer examination bear a striking resemblance to malls turned inside out and mixed with housing. They may have greenspace or plazas, but like the landscaping around so many highrises these are often private or effectively gated. The real test of urban spaces is whether they are used. Once built, the pretty designs of planners are often lonely places. On the other hand, sometimes the least attractive spaces are great successes (think of skate parks).

So I don't really think it's ironic the planners of gated communities are building new urban spaces which can also be privatized and desolate; they're simply taking their old approach of centralization and control and dressing it up in new clothes.

On the other hand, it's not all their fault. Developers who do want to take a risk often run into senseless rules regulating every detail of their communities, such as requirements for streets big enough for fire trucks to turn around in to minimum parking spaces, wide streets, huge setbacks in front of buildings, low densities, and so forth. Sprawl has been institutionalized in North America, and bureaucracy has been slow to change. (And I suspect rather than releasing their grip they're probably just making up new rules.)

Re:Not so here

[arivanov (12034)]

You are comparing apples and oranges. There are places in Colorado which are way more advanced the UK as far as pedestrianisation and cycling facilities.

Boulder and surrounding areas is a prime example - you can get on foot from anywhere to anywhere (there are others as well). Most of the city center is a huge no-car zone which is something that I did not expect to find outside Europe. Once you get outside the no-car area you still have cycling lanes on every road as well as cycle paths which combine into a huge cycling network that spans at least several miles out and penetrates into the neighbouring suburbia and business parks. All buses carry cycle racks and the driver is happy to pick up your cycle and drop it off.

After suffering from the half hearted assinine approach to cycling in Cambridge which is supposed to be the "greenest" and "cycliest" UK city, I felt like I have died and went to heaven. It simply felt unreal. No deliberate obstructions on the cycle paths with bollards. Sufficient and properly positioned car parking so that people are not forced to park on top of cycle lanes. All cycle paths are maintained and have proper visibility. Compared to that in Cambridge the average visibility on most cycle paths drops to under 10m in mid-summer due to the city council not giving a flying fuck about cutting any branches and doing any maintenance.

USA is not a sprawl all over and some portions of the sprawl are built in a healthier and more cycling/pedestrian friendly manner than anything in the UK and possibly most of EU. When looking at Boulder, the only comparison I can think of are the richer neighbourhoods in Finland (like Espoo). And even Espoo does not have a sky-run/cycle network all over like Boulder. It is confined to the center and the area where it connects to the mainland.

Re:Sprawl DOES makes you fatter

[QuantumG (50515)]

Until we have so much technology that we can reshape ourselves at will!

Re:Sprawl DOES makes you fatter

[QuantumG (50515)]

When I say "at will" I mean "without effort".. which is pretty much the standard definition of "at will".

For example, my employment contract is "at will". If they don't wanna pay me anymore they tell me and stop paying me. If they had to "change their lifestyle" to stop paying me, that wouldn't be "at will".

Re:Sprawl DOES makes you fatter

[JebusIsLord (566856)]

I just moved out of the suburbs into a community that is a 30 minute walk from my workplace downtown. I also sold my car (partly so I could afford to live down there). My quality of life has improved tenfold. I have more spending money, more free time after/before work, and I've lost about 10 lbs. walking.

Life is good.

Re:Sprawl DOES makes you fatter

[Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289)]

Spawl != Less walking opportunities. That's your social conditioning talking. You think Spawl -> pedestrian unfriendliness and pedestrian unfriendliness == people afraid to walk.

Nope, I'm not thinking that at all. You're thinking I'm American, but I'm not.

Compare say the sprawled Australian city of Sydney and the non-sprawled European city of Amsterdam. Both are pedestrian friendly and people would not be afraid to walk in either.

In Sydney, the majority of people drive to work, drive to the Supermarket once a week, drive to their local shopping center for entertainment, etc. In Amsterdam however, there is much less sprawl and much better public transport. People are forced to walk to the tram/train before going to work, entertainment, etc.

Have you ever lived in a non-sprawled city? I've lived in both and believe me, it's not about pedestrian unfriendliness, but about easy accessability to work / entertainment / shops (beyond your local expensive milk-bar) / schools / etc by pedestrians.

Re:Sprawl DOES makes you fatter

[raju1kabir (251972)]

I'm not the person you're responding to, but I've lived in Sydney without a car as well, I never found it a hassle. Actually it seemed liberating when I heard the tales of some of the car owners.

When I lived in the CBD (George St, next to Hoyt's, $80pw for a three bedroom rooftop flat if that helps you date it, alas the building is gone now) it was of course very easy. Woolies across the road and great train/bus connections at Town Hall. The office was a 2 minute walk.

But also, way out in Randwick, where the only tall building in sight was the UNSW library off in the distance, it was easy. Again, ample bus service (buses to town every 10 minutes most of the time), multiple supermarkets within reasonable walking distance.

There is really nothing greater than going to work under your own power every morning. It's incredibly relaxing, it's "free" exercise (no trip to the gym or special efforts), and it's often faster than driving (particularly if you're cycling). You also save heaps of money.

Re:Sprawl DOES makes you fatter

[Mitaphane (96828)]

It's not just that sprawl makes pedestrian unfriendly environments. Sprawl, by its nature, consumes more land per person and creates wider distances between people and the places they need to be. Often, these distances are way too great to make walking even an option. Example: When I lived in the 'burbs, in order for me to go to the post office, I had to drive (unless I like walking for hours). Now that I live in downtown, the post office is a couple blocks in walking distance. That is an option I frequently take advantage of.

Yes and no and yes and no

[UbuntuDupe (970646)]

Let me try to sort this out:

YES, not having to walk around very much will make it more likely you won't get the exercise necessary not to be fat.

NO, it does not "cause" it (in the sense they want you to take it); you can still make the choice to exercise on your own, irrespective of how much you need to walk in a day for other purposes.

YES, there's probably a correlation between "how much people in this city have to walk" and "how fat they generally are" that persists after the appropriate controls.

NO, that's a bad, ad-hoc reason to fix urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is bad because it leads to time-wasting congestion and forces people to have to use cars, which sucks for anyone who can't or doesn't like to drive, and exposes people to the risk of energy price fluctuations unnecessarily. It also contributes to pollution. There, I just made a strong case why sprawl is bad, without resorting to being a health Nazi.

I'd like to plug my latest joural entry, which describes a way cities could transition gradually to less sprawl, without tedious regulation, government-run services, and invasive control over people's lives. In short: put up tolls heavy enough to clear congestion. This creates the financial incentives necessary for market-driven mass transit, which in turn makes denser development more economical and desirable to live in.

Re:Yes and no and yes and no

[Whiney Mac Fanboy (963289)]

There, I just made a strong case why sprawl is bad, without resorting to being a health Nazi.

Obesity in suburbanites is just an additional reason why sprawl is bad, not the reason.

In short: put up tolls heavy enough to clear congestion. This creates the financial incentives necessary for market-driven mass transit

Market driven mass transit has been successful nowhere. Transport infrastucture is (or should be) a government problem.

Sprawl? No.

[Metzli (184903)]

Sprawl didn't make me fat. Eating more calories than I burn made me fat.

I wouldn't walk either

[Y-Crate (540566)]

In many sprawling communities, walking past the driveway/subdivision is asking to die.

That's not hyperbole, but a basic consequence of planning that is downright hostile to anyone who isn't behind the wheel of a car. I don't believe cars should be eliminated, but car-dependance is a truly awful thing that I'm glad that I've been able to break free of...but I don't know for how long. The attitude of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority isn't friendly to mass transit. In the words of their last General Manager "the automobile won" and light rail is obsolete. Buses are the future, apparently. In the last few decades, automobile registrations in Boston have tripled as rail lines have been shut down or cut back dramatically in favor of surprise bustitution that suddenly becomes permanent.

It's depressing enough to see a new cookie-cutter car-dependant community rise up where a forest used to be, but it's even worse when a city with an excellent transit system that encourages people to ride the train then walk decides that it wants to be just like PinePointeAutumnPreserveRegistryReserveGrove Habitation Area #49485776893-B and compel people to pick up the bad habits of the suburbs.

Four words to weight loss:

[B4RSK (626870)]

Losing weight is incredibly simple. The entire topic can be covered in 4 words: Eat less, exercise more.

Not surprisingly people become ugly fat porkers because they don't follow that simple four word formula.

(This isn't self-righteous spew -- I need to lose about 20kg to be at my optimal weight. At least I know the only person I have to blame is myself.)

Re:Four words to weight loss:

[porcupine8 (816071)]

Well, of course it is. But it's a lot easier to do that if you live in a place where you can walk to work or the grocery store in 15 min, as opposed to living in a place where you have to drive an hour to work and an hour back every day - not only do you lose that half hour of walking you would have gotten in the city, that's also two hours less you have available for cooking a healthy meal and exercising. It's a lot easier to get enough exercise if you can do it *on the way* to other things you have to do, rather than having to put time aside for it.

So, yes, eating less and exercising more is how you lose weight. It's just that that's often a lot easier in the city than the suburbs.

Oh for crying out loud!

[erroneus (253617)]

We all generally EAT TOO MUCH! Our guts are too big and so our hunger satisfaction signal is delayed. Working out and being active is good and all, but that's not the biggest part of what's wrong. It's WHAT we eat and how much of it we eat. That's why these stomach stapling operations are so remarkably effective. It's clearly not that these people have been working out too little, but that they have been eating too much. The solution is most simple and direct.

EAT LESS.

I'm kind of over-weight myself... I'm working on it... sorta. I never claimed the answer would be easy... I'm just identifying the problem for what it really is. Working out and being more active to "compensate" for the enormous amount of food we take in doesn't leave much time with family, friends or work. It's nearly impossible to work out enough to compensate for the diets most of us indulge in... just eat less.

No wonder people don't walk!

[Bjarke Roune (107212)]

I come from Denmark but am staying in Minneapolis for a year. In Denmark you can walk to a nearby mall or at least a well-stocked convenience store pretty much no-matter where you live if you do not live too far from the central city. Where I live in Denmark I can *walk* to *everything* I need to do on a regular basis, and everything else is within convinient biking or bus distance. I don't have a car and I would have a use for a driver's license maybe once a year (when living in Denmark, that is).

Now, in Minneapolis, practically nothing is within walking distance no matter where you live and the bus system is an absolute pain to figure out even using their online planner. Not having a car around here is a serious social handicap, and it makes shopping a taxing experience, because everything is spread out within a huge area. I can't help but conclude that people around here actually *enjoy* spending alot of time in their cars, so that distance is an advantage to them.

Other than that, this is a very nice place, but for people who live here permanently, not having a car is simply not a workable option.

Does sprawl make us fat? It depends...

[Kohath (38547)]

Does sprawl make us fat?

I guess it depends on how much sprawl you eat.

A better question: If part of my body sprawls, am I fat?

the future is now

[macadamia_harold (947445)]

Fat, yes. Not to mention stupid. I know some very intelligent, down-to-earth city folk, but I swear most of them live just outside the realm of reality.

Yeah, well, not all of us were able to get into Costco law school like you and your elite friends.

Re:Being fat versus getting jacked at gunpoint...

[Profound (50789)]

Strangely enough, it is only in America that inner-cities are more dangerous than suburbs. In Australia and Europe, inner cities are seen as desirable places to live compared to the suburbs.

Maybe the original idea was to escape factories, but now the US has far less manufacturing capacity, so that isn't it anymore... what is it? Low gas prices (compared to the rest of the world) keep suburbs cheap, and black people tend to live in cities so it's undesirable to whites?

Re:Obvious

[hab136 (30884)]

chicken fried steak and gravy on a bed of iceberg lettuce covered with Kraft Singles and ranch dressing.

I am intrigued by your recipe and would like to subscribe to your cookbook.

Re:Obvious

[Jeffrey Baker (6191)]

The disorders you linked to have an overall incidence on the order of 1 in 100000 people. The rate of being fat (in the USA) is 2 in 5. You do the math.