mypetrobot
September 28th, 2004, 05:12 PM
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-sprawl27.html
Suburban sprawl, it appears, is bad for your health.
A new study by the RAND Corp. think tank found that people in high-sprawl regions have more health problems such as diabetes, breathing difficulties, migraine headaches and high blood pressure.
The study found that living in a high-sprawl area has the equivalent effect on your health as aging four years. Researchers don't know why this is so, but they cited an earlier study that found people who live in high-sprawl areas walk less, weigh more and have a higher rate of high blood pressure.
Researchers also suggested that increased traffic in high-sprawl areas harms residents' health by causing more air pollution and traffic accidents.
"To improve our health, the study suggests that we should build cities where people feel comfortable walking and are not so dependent on cars," said study co-author Deborah Cohen.
In the study, published in the journal Public Health, researchers controlled for demographic factors such as age, race and income.
Not so bad here
The good news is the Chicago region has less sprawl and fewer health problems than most other metropolitan areas.
Researchers used a previous study that calculated a "sprawl index" for 38 metropolitan areas. Sprawl was defined as having spread-out homes, a weak downtown, neighborhoods far from shopping, offices and schools, and a road system with lots of cul-de-sacs and busy main routes that make it difficult to walk, bike or take public transit.
The sprawl index ranged from 14.2 to 177.8, with lower scores indicating higher sprawl. The average score was 100, and Chicago's score was 121.2. Lead researcher Roland Sturm explained that while Chicago's outer suburbs have lots of sprawl, the city's compact neighborhoods and lack of cul-de-sacs have the effect of reducing the overall amount of sprawl in the region.
"Chicago is famous for its street grid," Sturm said.
The region with the most sprawl is Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif. Other high-sprawl areas are Atlanta; West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, Fla.; Knoxville, Tenn., and Detroit.
The region with the least sprawl was New York City, followed in order by San Francisco; Boston; Portland-Salem, Ore.; Miami, Denver and Chicago.
Physical, not mental
Researchers analyzed responses to a phone survey that asked respondents whether they suffered any of 16 health problems, such as asthma, arthritis, cancer, heart disease and stroke.
On average, each respondent had 1.26 health problems. Chicago had the lowest average, 0.93.
Other researchers have speculated that sprawl can cause mental health problems by increasing social isolation of the elderly and the poor, who lack cars. But the RAND researchers found no differences between high-sprawl and low-sprawl areas in the rates of depression, anxiety and psychological well-being.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
yes... now its scientific that living in the city is good for you.
Suburban sprawl, it appears, is bad for your health.
A new study by the RAND Corp. think tank found that people in high-sprawl regions have more health problems such as diabetes, breathing difficulties, migraine headaches and high blood pressure.
The study found that living in a high-sprawl area has the equivalent effect on your health as aging four years. Researchers don't know why this is so, but they cited an earlier study that found people who live in high-sprawl areas walk less, weigh more and have a higher rate of high blood pressure.
Researchers also suggested that increased traffic in high-sprawl areas harms residents' health by causing more air pollution and traffic accidents.
"To improve our health, the study suggests that we should build cities where people feel comfortable walking and are not so dependent on cars," said study co-author Deborah Cohen.
In the study, published in the journal Public Health, researchers controlled for demographic factors such as age, race and income.
Not so bad here
The good news is the Chicago region has less sprawl and fewer health problems than most other metropolitan areas.
Researchers used a previous study that calculated a "sprawl index" for 38 metropolitan areas. Sprawl was defined as having spread-out homes, a weak downtown, neighborhoods far from shopping, offices and schools, and a road system with lots of cul-de-sacs and busy main routes that make it difficult to walk, bike or take public transit.
The sprawl index ranged from 14.2 to 177.8, with lower scores indicating higher sprawl. The average score was 100, and Chicago's score was 121.2. Lead researcher Roland Sturm explained that while Chicago's outer suburbs have lots of sprawl, the city's compact neighborhoods and lack of cul-de-sacs have the effect of reducing the overall amount of sprawl in the region.
"Chicago is famous for its street grid," Sturm said.
The region with the most sprawl is Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif. Other high-sprawl areas are Atlanta; West Palm Beach-Boca Raton, Fla.; Knoxville, Tenn., and Detroit.
The region with the least sprawl was New York City, followed in order by San Francisco; Boston; Portland-Salem, Ore.; Miami, Denver and Chicago.
Physical, not mental
Researchers analyzed responses to a phone survey that asked respondents whether they suffered any of 16 health problems, such as asthma, arthritis, cancer, heart disease and stroke.
On average, each respondent had 1.26 health problems. Chicago had the lowest average, 0.93.
Other researchers have speculated that sprawl can cause mental health problems by increasing social isolation of the elderly and the poor, who lack cars. But the RAND researchers found no differences between high-sprawl and low-sprawl areas in the rates of depression, anxiety and psychological well-being.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
yes... now its scientific that living in the city is good for you.