Sprawling suburbs considered harmful . . .

The Kansas City Star had an excellent article today on the relationship between urban design and obesity. Researchers find that residents of sprawling suburbs walk and bike less, and weigh significantly more, than do residents living in compact mixed developments who can walk and bike to the store, library, school, and work.

A few interesting excerpts:

"I used to live in an urban area in Independence, and I walked all the time, and I didn't have this extra 10 pounds," Atkins said. "My son, after we moved [to the suburbs], he put on 50 pounds." . . .

"I'm 99 percent sure there's a relationship between how communities are designed and people's weight," said Georgia Tech professor Lawrence Frank . . . "People who live in lower-density, suburban environments, all else being equal, have a tendency to be slightly heavier." . . .

Several studies have concluded that suburbanites do not walk or bike as much as residents of more traditional neighborhoods. . . .

Because our metropolitan area can grow in all directions, it is consistently ranked as one of the nation's most sprawling regions. And our region consistently ranks as one of the nation's flabbiest in nonscientific analyses. . . .

Studies in San Francisco, Seattle and Austin, Texas, in the 1990s showed that residents who lived close to stores and other conveniences walked and biked more than suburbanites whose neighborhoods contained only homes. . . .

"We always used to go to the grocery store walking. We always walked to school," said Shadrach Smith . . . . "Now we just don't see people doing that." . . .

Read the rest of the story on the KCStar website.