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- Info
How land use and transportation systems impact public health: A literature review of the relationship between physical activity and built form
| Author: |
Frank, L. D.; Engelke, P. |
| Date: |
2000 |
| Periodical: |
Atlanta, GA: Georgia Institute of Technology, City and Regional Planning Program College of Architecture. 147 p. |
| Link: |
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/pdf/aces-workingpaper1.pdf
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| Abstract: |
<br>This review discusses how urban form affects public health, specifically through the ways in which the built environment encourages or discourages physical activity levels. The questions raised illuminate fundamental quality of life considerations including residential preferences, time use, space requirements, security, and convenience, which collectively shape the built environment. The relative costs and benefits of the location and travel choices that are currently available have resulted in a built environment designed to accommodate the car -- at the measurable expense of the ability to move about under human power. <br><br>
This report is organized around an urban form - public health model, as conveyed in Figure X-1. Land development and transportation investments are interactive processes that collectively have a tremendous influence in shaping the built environment. The location of transportation investments impact where growth occurs, and the mode in which the investment is made (e.g., highway, transit, sidewalks, and bikeways) impacts the form of the growth that follows. Conversely, the location of new development impacts the location of transportation investments, while the character of that development (transit- and pedestrian-friendly versus auto-oriented) determines the viability of alternative transportation scenarios. These two urban form processes, land development and transportation investments, are hypothesized to influence public health by affecting the relative convenience and viability of pedestrian travel and biking for both recreational and utilitarian (trip) purposes, and thus they influence the levels of physical activity. Figure X-1, therefore, shows that the built environment influences activity patterns, which impact health. However, one�s culture, age, income, genetics, and even health influence activity patterns. Consequently, activity patterns serve as a bridge that interfaces the built environment with public health. Our review employs a classification of studies that emphasizes the interfaces between (1) physical activity and health, (2) transportation systems and physical activity, and (3) land development patterns and physical activity. |
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