Sprawl makes you sick

People who live in sprawling cities are more likely to report hypertension, arthritis, headaches and breathing difficulties, and other chronic health conditions, according to the Rand Corporation. A few weeks ago,  Smart Growth America reported that sprawl makes you fat.

Sedentary, car-dominated lifestyles and air pollution appeared to be contributing factors, says co-author Roland Sturm, a Rand economist. The findings suggest that an adult who lives in a more sprawling urban area will have a health profile similar to someone four years older who lives in a more compact city [LA Times, registration required].

Sprawl is defined as poorly connected streets (such as cul-de-sacs), lower population density and widely separated areas for housing, schools, shopping and employment.

If you must live in sprawl, Sturm says activities such as walking a child to school or bicycling to a corner market can have cumulative positive health effects. This assumes that you live within walking distance of your child’s school.

In the coming months, I want to start putting this information in a Coastside context. I want to look at existing examples of sprawl on the coastside and explore what we can do to avoid it in the future.