The physical design of a community has a big impact on how healthy it is.

This article looks at how walkability and urban sprawl affect the health of a community and offers suggestions for how we can design our communities to be healthier.

Health Effects of Walkable Communities
In a walkable community, it’s possible to walk safely and easily to places you need to get to, such as the grocery store. You do not always have to rely on your vehicle to get around.

Instead of driving a car to get around, you can use active transportation, which means using your own energy to get where you need to go. Active transportation includes walking, biking, using a wheelchair, in-line skating, skateboarding, cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.

People living in walkable, compact communities where there’s a mix of housing and shops are more likely to use active transportation. And they are also more likely to maintain a healthy weight and enjoy the varied health benefits that come from walking and other moderate physical activities like biking.

In addition to greater potential for physical health, walkable communities also offer greater potential for social health.

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In walkable communities, people are on the streets more, greeting each other and getting to know their neighbours and what’s going on in their community. There is a greater feeling of safety and a sense of belonging. Sprawling communities do not promote connectedness as well as more compact and walkable communities.

Health Effects of Urban Sprawl
Urban sprawl is a term used to describe areas with low-density development. Sprawl is now known to be connected to health problems.

Because people living in sprawling areas must drive to get to the places they need to be, they are less likely to walk or ride a bike. Not surprisingly, researchers have found that people who live in sprawl-style developments tend to weigh more, are more likely to be obese and are more likely to suffer from high blood pressure.

Also, when new outlying neighbourhoods are developed, schools are often not included at the outset. This means that children living in these areas need to be transported by bus or driven to schools outside their neighbourhood. It is thought that this lost opportunity to walk to school is related to increased childhood obesity rates.

Sprawl also leads to more road accidents. Because people need to drive more, there are more cars on the road and therefore increased chances of accidents and injuries.

Smart Growth
Older neighbourhoods and towns tend to be more walkable because when they were built, not everyone had a car. In newer communities, walkability needs to be planned. Planning involves designing buildings, public spaces and streets so that they are suited to active transportation as well as vehicle traffic.

Smart growth is a movement that calls for communities to make use of walkability and other design features that make communities healthier. Smart growth is catching on around the world, and it often leads to a better mix of housing, commercial and retail uses.

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Principles of Smart Growth
The Smart Growth Network website identifies the following principles of smart growth:

• Create a range of affordable, quality housing choices.
• Create walkable neighbourhoods.
• Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration.
• Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place.
• Make development decisions predictable, fair and cost-effective.
• Have mixed land uses.
• Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty and critical environment areas.
• Provide a variety of transportation choices.
• Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities.
• Take advantage of compact building design.

How We Can Design Healthier Communities
Governments can develop guidelines and development standards based on smart growth principles. A good example of this is the Washington State Growth Management Act that requires communities to plan for bicycle and pedestrian transportation as well as other physical activity.

Municipal planners need to incorporate smart growth principles into their development plans. As a citizen, you can lobby your local government/councilor to ensure that all new developments are conducive to healthy communities.

As a citizen, you can lobby your local government to ensure that all new developments are conducive to healthy communities.

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Communities must also get away from the not-in-my-backyard attitude and learn to accept new design models that may result in changes to existing neighbourhoods.

Many communities in Alberta, large and small, urban and rural, are creating healthy, walkable neighbourhoods through smart growth and good community design. These healthy communities will help Albertans make the healthy choice the easy choice.

Learn More
Overcoming Barriers to Sustainable Urban Development: Toward Smart Growth in Calgary
This discussion paper examines how the principles of smart growth could be applied to Calgary.

Active Living by Design
This website provides ideas for increasing physical activity through community design.

Smart Growth Online
This website from the Sustainable Communities Network (SCN) offers a variety of resources and information about smart growth.

State of Washington Growth Management Act
This legislation requires communities to consider urban planning approaches that promote physical activity. The act also requires municipalities to include a bicycle and pedestrian component in transportation planning.