MEASURING THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF SPRAWL: A NATIONAL ANALYSIS OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, OBESITY AND CHRONIC DISEASE

This paper describes the results of a study undertaken to ascertain the effects of urban sprawl on obesity, and on chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The study found that people who lived in sprawl areas weighed more, and had higher blood pressure than people living in urban areas. It also found that even those individuals in sprawl areas who walked for exercise did not fare as well as those in urban areas. It is surmised that urban dwellers walked more routinely when doing errands and undertaking shopping expeditions; and that this walking probably surpassed the amount of those sprawl dwellers who walked for exercise. No significant effect was found on diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and it is hypothesized that those conditions depend more heavily on heredity.