Gen Xers and Millennials are the first generations to be raised with pee-wee sports, Title IX, and the President’s Physical Fitness challenge. So why are obesity levels rising? Is you city making you fat?
Maybe.
A child born today will spend about 85 percent of her life indoors and another 4% in an enclosed vehicle (Source). Not only does this disconnect us from the natural world, it makes us sedentary…and fat.
The fine folks at Healthy Development, Inc. note how cities that undertake these moderate initiatives can have incredible impacts on its citizens’ health. (Source: Sustainable Urbanism by Douglas Farr, p. 148. Buy it here.)
1. Move to - or help build - a true neighborhood.
Just because you have neighbors doesn’t mean you live in a neighborhood. A neighborhood is defined as a place where we can meet all our daily needs on foot. And yes, your “neighborhood” may be making you fat!
When cities add shops, parks, beaches or bike paths within walking distance from people’s homes, they build a real neighborhood, and benefit from the following impact…
Impact: 56% increase in walking
What you can do: Stop being one of those NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) disagreeables, and start to see how additional convenience can get you out of your car, on your feet, and contribute to a true sense of place. If you can afford it, buy or rent a home in a neighborhood, and invest in a new pair of tennies.
2. Green it up!
When was the last time you took a walk along the on-ramp to a highway?
Right. Never.
People prefer to walk along streets and in neighborhoods that have trees, plants, or most any vegetation along them. Urban residents are three times as likely to be physically active in high-greenery neighborhoods than low-greenery ‘hoods.
What you can do: On you windowsills or in your yard, add some vegetation! Plant flowers around the base of trees that dot your sidewalks, or invite your neighbors to participate in a “Green the ‘Hood” initiative to plant bulbs in roundabouts, on street corners, etc.
3. Light it up!
Darkness feels creepy. It makes us want to hibernate.
When cities turn up the lights in previously poorly-lit areas, there’s a 51% increase in walking!
What you can do: Report street lights that have gone out to your city’s public works department. Petition local store owners to invest in better lighting in and around their shops. Ask your elected representatives to consider increasing lighting in parks, along sidewalks, and in public places.
4. Grab your handlebars!
A slew of cities - from Paris, France to Paris, Texas - are seeing an increase in biking. Whether we’re shocked by high gas prices or just want to be people-powered, cities that invest in bikeability have fitter folks.
What you can do: Promote biking, convert four-lane roads to two lanes with biking and parking, narrow your streets, and/or plant trees along bike paths. Making your city more bikeable increases biking by 23% in your community.
These are just four simple ideas to get the pedals moving in your community. And yes, you will have to get up for this exercise.
