Healthy Places Research: Emerging Opportunities
Empirical research provides a solid foundation for designing and building healthy places. Such research has not always been used in the design professions. Research performed to date can guide many health-promoting design choices now, although further res
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Introduction Scene: Weekly meeting of the city council in a Southern city. Councilwoman Walker [who bikes daily for transportation]: We have had previous discussions about our city’s increasing obesity rate. I want to do something to encourage physical activity in our children and adults. Based on advice from our health officer, today I am introducing a bill to adopt a complete streets policy for our city. This policy means that every road being built or renovated in our city will be designed to accommodate the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists as well as the potential expansion of public transit. I A.L. Dannenberg et al. (eds.), Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-being, and Sustainability, DOI 10.5822/978-1-61091-036-1_22, © Island Press 2011
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LOOKING OUTWARD, LOOKING AHEAD
heard they passed a law like this in a city in California five years ago and now many more residents there are walking and cycling. Councilman SUVdriver [whose family owns a car dealership]: That sounds like a terrible idea. Obesity may be a problem but people simply should not eat so much. I want our transportation money used to reduce traffic congestion. I got delayed in a bad traffic jam today while driving to this meeting. I want all the potholes and bottlenecks fixed on our roads before wasting money on sidewalks and bike trails for the few people who walk and bike here now. Also, you said this idea worked in California—what makes you think it would work here? Councilwoman Walker [as an aside to her assistant]: If we are to have any chance of getting this bill passed, we need to provide good evidence on the costs and health benefits of a complete streets policy, and we also need to know the weaknesses in our arguments due to research gaps. Can you help me find this information?
In recent years, numerous research studies have focused on the impacts of the built environment on health. Many fruitful areas remain for further epidemiological, social, interventional, and policy research. For example, in light of a rigorous review of the literature conducted in 2006 to promote physical activity the Guide to Community Preventive Services (2010) “recommends” community- and street-scale urban design land-use policies and practices, but also says there is “insufficient evidence” to recommend transportation and travel policies and practices. In the example that began this chapter, the councilwoman needs to find reliable evidence that a complete streets policy will help reduce obesity and also needs to determine the co-benefits and unintended consequences of implementing such a policy. Many political decisions are made on less than conclusive information about consequences, but with stronger evidence there is a greater chance that health promoting decisions will be made. Although gaps in knowledge should not impede people from taking action now to improve the built environment, continued research is essential to ensure that decisions affecting community design incorporate evidence-based and costeffective strategies. This
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