Mercedes-Benz
We cleaned the exhaust pipes, but we didn’t clean the behavior: we spend as much time sitting in an electric vehicle as in a gasoline vehicle, says the urban planner who 20 years ago first established the link between neighborhood design and public health.
People who have to travel between home and work in their daily routine feel that spending time in traffic is bad for their health. 20 years ago, the urban planner Lawrence Frank, from UC San Diego, quantified this intuition.
In a 2004 study, which was among the first to establish a link between neighborhood design and public healthFrank discovered that each additional hour a person spent in a car increased the odds of obesity by 6%, while each kilometer traveled on foot reduced them by 5%.
Widely publicized by the media, the study helped to reformulate “car time” with the public as a way of unhealthy sedentary behaviorand launching a wave of research into how cities shape our well-being.
Now, two decades later, Frank has revisited that work, in a new one, recently published in American Journal of Preventive Medicine. His message is simple: technological advances such as electric vehicles improved air quality, but they don’t make us move.
“We cleaned the exhaust pipes, but we didn’t clean the behavior,” says Frank. “We can freak out so much time sitting in an electric vehicle like a gasoline one,” said Frank, professor of urban studies and planning in the School of Social Sciences at UC San Diego.
“Every hour in a car will continue to represent a 6% increase in pprobability of obesity“, adds the North American urban planner, in one from UC San Diego.
Frank’s original study, which used an innovative approach by combining GPS-based travel data with health and demographic information, showed a clear link between the design of communities, time spent in cars and obesity risk — a discovery that has since been reproduced in other studies around the world.
Lawrence Frank / Cities
Design decisions shape healthcare at multiple scales. A diagram from a related Cities article shows how regional planning, road networks and pedestrian features influence commuting and long-term health
His new article, co-written with Jacob Carsona doctoral student at UC San Diego, analyzes two decades of evidence that shows how the design of the built environment and sedentary habits incorporated into everyday life can affect not only obesity, but also heart diseasediabetes and even mental health.
As walkable communities and connected by public transport provide great health benefitssays Frank. And they provide the greatest benefits to those who need them most.
But most transportation budgets, Frank notes, continue to ignore health costs caused by car dependence — costs that, if accounted for, would make the argument in favor of investment is overwhelming in walkable and public transport-oriented communities.
“We keep driving blind“, says Frank. “We’re acting like these things don’t exist, but they’re huge.”
“Most people don’t find time to be physically active to counteract the adverse effects of sedentary time behind the wheel,” Frank said. “AND I need to reduce car dependenceand integrate active transport into everyday life.”
In a related article, published this month in the magazine CitiesFrank takes this idea at street level. The study shows that small-scale features such as sidewalks, trees, benches, shade and safe street crossings make a measurable difference, especially for older adults.
“Investing in these small features It’s relatively easy to dor, it is relatively cheap. This gives the greatest return on investment of anything you can do to improve public health through transport“, says Frank.
Low-income neighborhoods, he adds, are where these improvements can have the most impact: “focusing investment on active transportation and pedestrian characteristics in places where people are most likely to develop chronic illnesses.”
These are changes that cities can make now, without waiting for massive infrastructure bills or having big political showdowns. Shadowssafe crossings and a few benches can mean the difference between staying at home and going out.
“Now it’s time to put that knowledge to work — because every kilometer we walk instead of driving counts”, concludes the urban planner.
