Designing active communities

High gas prices aren’t the only cost of driving. Between longer commutes and more traffic congestion, Americans are spending more time in their cars than ever before, making more trips and driving more total miles [1]. Between 1977 and 1995, average miles driven increased 26%, while the number of trips taken on foot dropped by 40 percent [2].

All that driving is costly, not just in fuel costs and air quality, but also in physical health. Many cases of heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, colon cancer, breast cancer and stroke are attributable to physical inactivity [3].

Current land use trends have increased dependence on driving and made walking, biking and public transit less safe and practical. In fact, 75 percent of short trips (less than one mile) are made by car. Both adults and children are now less likely to make short trips by biking or walking [4].

Many opportunities to be physically active are overlooked due to habit or convenience. Further, most communities are designed such that schools, work, shopping, and homes aren’t within walking distance of one another.

Thoughtful community design can encourage walking or biking

Studies show a correlation between trail access and physical activity. Sidewalks also make a positive difference—people who have access to sidewalks are 28% more likely to be physically active [5].

“For better or worse, our individual actions are strongly influenced by the physical environment we live in. If your community has safe, attractive places to walk and bike, more people are likely to be active,” observes Marc Manley, M.D., Blue Cross' vice president and medical director for population health.

Clearly, community design influences physical activity, but safe, attractive bicycle and walking paths don’t happen overnight. Creating communities that encourage people to engage in healthy lifestyles requires collaboration among city planners, state and local officials, developers, housing authorities, public health professionals city engineers and more.

The Center’s initiatives focus on supporting such collaboration.

Endnotes

1. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. Summary of Travel Trends, 2001 national household travel survey, December 2004. Available online at http://nhts.ornl.gov/2001/pub/STT.pdf
2. Federal Highway Administration. National Personal Transportation Survey, 1977, 1995. Available online at http://nhts.ornl.gov/2001/pub/STT.pdf
3. Minnesota Department of Health Fact Sheet, Health Care Costs of Physical Inactivity in Minnesota, May 15, 2002. Available online at www.health.state.mn.us
4. Federal Highway Administration. Op. Cit.
5. Brownson R, et al., Environmental Determinants of Physical Activity in the United States. American Journal of Public Health (2001), Vol. 91, No.12.