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.'"

Comments

Re:Sprawl DOES makes you fatter

[slughead]

Sprawl doesn't make you fat. Lack of discipline makes you fat.

The kids who move a lot are faced with more adversity so they actually have something to DO.

I have no idea why people blame things from french fries to urban sprawl for obesity. We just plain have no discipline anymore, that's all!

I always hear "I can't work out, I don't have time!" I work out 10 hours a week, am a full time straight-A pre-med student, and work part time at 2 jobs. How do I do it? I tried it with an open mind, and it was possible. I'm not even that stressed out or tired.

As a matter of fact, you CAN do it. PS: I don't own a TV.

Average wages are the highest in the past decade than they've been in any other point in history, but we have record debt. How is that possible?

We don't NEED to be out of debt, we don't NEED to be skinny, so therefore we're fat debtors, and there's nothing wrong with that, provided we can get away with it. When the day comes that we can't do it anymore, you'll see us snap back to our industrious puritan heritage we were founded upon... or we'll all have simultaneous heart attacks and sue McDonalds.

Re:Obvious

[LordLucless]

Grandparent says genetics has no influence on obesity. The links above are definitive proof that is not true. Just because I only linked one incidence doesn't mean there aren't others - I only needed to demonstrate one to disprove the point.

Re:Master planning vs mixed and public spaces

[pimpimpim]

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.

I kid you not: some years ago I was walking through one of the pedestrian areas with shops in the center of Amsterdam and heard a Stupid American Tourist say: "This is like a mall without a roof!". For people with such a frame of reference, probably any new kind of city planning is an improvement.

In any case, Europe is a bit behind and now happily making the same mistakes as you already see in the US. Many housing-only areas are built without providing small centers to hang out or do shopping, and often forgetting to provide public transport or small parks. Even several gated-like communities have been built in the Netherlands (link in dutch).