Researchers at an American university have released a new study demonstrating positive health outcomes that come from living among people-centered infrastructure.
As reported in Medical Xpress, the research done at the University of Maryland aggregated over 1 million street-view images from Google Maps with the Utah Population Database to illuminate the health impact of the built environment.
In order to mitigate personal biological and genetic factors, the research team focused on twins and siblings living in different environments. Quynh and Thu Nguyen, the associate professors in charge of the project, are twins themselves, Maryland Today reported.
By studying over 2 million people, of which 1 million were siblings and over 14,000 were identical or fraternal twins, the researchers were able to find tangible health outcomes correlated to the walkability and aesthetic of the built environment.
According to the report in Medical Xpress, "positive built environment characteristics were associated with 15%-20% reductions in obesity and diabetes rates." These characteristics included anything from crosswalks and protected bike lanes to the number of green spaces available to neighborhood residents.
The study's authors hope that it will open the door to more work in this area that can elucidate the importance of design and perhaps raise bigger structural questions.
"An even larger picture would be, how do people get sorted into different neighborhoods?" Thu Nguyen told Maryland Today. "What are the different historical policies, current policies, discrimination biases that constrain people's movements to different neighborhoods?"
There is no lack of outrage about the walkability of the cities in the United States, and it shouldn't come as a surprise that car-based infrastructure leads to worse health outcomes. Biking and walking have famously positive physical and mental health outcomes, summed up here by the People Powered Movement, and citizens are frustrated that infrastructure prevents them from engaging.
Cities in the United States can be so hostile to pedestrians and cyclists that it can sometimes feel illegal to walk. Citizens, the climate, and therefore the country as a whole suffer as a result.
All forms of transportation accounted for a whopping 21% of climate warming carbon emissions globally for 2016, according to Our World in Data and the World Resources Institute. Hostile and insufficient infrastructure prevents consumers from making more beneficial environmental choices and reduces their agency in addressing their contribution to the problem.
Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the coolest innovations improving our lives and saving our planet.
Cool Picks
