Health in the sustainable city

It is not groundbreaking news that there is a connection between movement by own force and health, yet it seems that this interconnection is often forgotten when planning cities and its infrastructure. A pressing problem in our times is lack of physical activity as well as growing obesity. The increasing movement by car is not improving the situation.

New research conducted at the San Diego State University’s national program ‘Active Living Research’ shows that no matter which country you are in, people living in an urban neighbourhood are twice as likely to be physically active as people living in the suburbs.

According to this study, the biggest single factor influencing physical activity around the world is accessibility to sidewalks. Researchers looked at data from 11,541 survey participants in 11 countries, which included the United States, Lithuania, Brazil, Sweden and Japan. Those individuals who reported living in an urban neighbourhood with easy access to sidewalks were 15-50 % more likely to be moderate to vigorously active at least five days a week for minimum 30 minutes each day.

SDSU professor and lead author Jim Sallis states this is likely because sidewalks can be used for recreation like jogging and in-line skating as well as for transportation instead of using a car or other means of transportation. “Designing neighbourhoods to support physical activity for recreation and transportation purposes should be a public health priority around the world,” he says.

Sallis and his fellow researchers recently completed a long-term study focusing on communities in the United States which also found that people living in high-walkable communities get substantially more exercise and are less likely to be overweight than those living in low-walkable areas.

In Denmark, increasing obesity and lack of physical movement is also a pressing problem. This is to a high degree due to the increase in car driving both in relation to work and leisure. So it seems to be a win-win situation to create sustainable cities with sidewalks, lowering the impact from transport and simultaneously getting back to remembering the joy and freedom of healthy movement by own force.