Health and Community Design: The Impact of the Built Environment on Physical Activity

Rating:
Summary: excellent but probably will be outdated in a few years
Review: This book is one of the first to address the relationship between suburban sprawl and Americans' sedentary habits. The authors point out:
1) that Americans drive more and walk less than residents of other affluent nations
2) that Americans have become more sedentary and fatter in recent decades
3) that Americans exercise more when they live in more pedestrian-friendly environments, and
4) that Americans are unable to walk as much as they would like because most American cities and suburbs are built by highway engineers and government planners to discourage pedestrian traffic; streets are too wide to safely walk, zoning codes mandated densities so low that shops are often not within walking distance of residences, and federal housing regulation has encouraged streets to be disconnected to each other that nearly all journeys require a stop at a high-speed, congested arterial.
Because this book was built in 2003, the authors devote relatively little space to the connection between sprawl, lack of exercise and obesity. In recent years, some studies have begun to document this connection, and I hope that the authors come out with a second edition addressing these issues.