Streets Built for People [Walkability Saving Lives & Money]
Cars aren’t the only way we move through the places where we live, work, and play. Today, more and more cities and neighborhood associations are focusing on walkability, or more generally, how people move around an area without the use of a personal vehicle.
Below we will focus on defining walkability and take a deeper look at the benefits of the concept in action.
What actually is walkability?
It may seem obvious that the term “walkability” refers to the ways in which an area serves pedestrians. After all, the word is quite literally walk + ability.
In reality, walkability involves a lot more than actual walking.
Harvard architect Ann Forsyth explains that “in professional, research, and public debates the term [walkability] is used to refer to several quite different kinds of phenomena.” What exactly are these phenomena?
Forsyth goes on to explain that some discussions of walkability:
“Focus on environmental features or means of making walkable environments… Others deal with outcomes potentially fostered by such environments … Finally some use the term walkability as a proxy for better design whether composed of multiple, measurable dimensions or providing a holistic solution to urban problems.”
As you can see from the above definition, walkability means the ability for movement within a given area, usually a city or a neighborhood. And several stakeholders — including city planners and zoning commissions, residents and business owners — must come together to ensure an area’s walkability.
Personal and Public Health Increases with Walkability
Not surprisingly, as people move about more, the more their health improves. This leads us to know that walkability is a legitimate public health concern.
In “A Data-Driven Case for Walkability,” Bloomberg’s CityLab collected some important data on walking and public health. A lot of the direct health benefits they found from walking and walkability surprised us:
Daily brisk walkers between the ages of 50 and 71 (both men and women) had a 27 percent reduced death rate compared to their non-brisk walking peers.
A Nurses’ Health study of more than 72,000 women found that if a woman walked three or more hours per week, her risk of a major coronary event was reduced by 35 percent.
Research shows that men of retirement age who walk less than a mile a day have nearly double the mortality rate of those who walk more than two miles per day.
In a study of more than 3,200 adults who were overweight, researchers found that adding a walking regimen of 2.5 hours per week to a good diet reduced the risk of diabetes by 58 percent for those ages 59 and younger and by 71 percent for those aged 60 or older.
Risks of death from breast and uterine cancer were reduced 19 percent in those who walked one to three hours per week and by a whopping 54 percent for those who walked three to five hours per week.
As you can see, walkability delivers measurable and significant health benefits for all members of the community. Though many of us would love to walk all the time, that’s not always a possibility. So what’s another way to increase community health? Driving a more environmentally-friendly vehicle.
What do experts have to say about walkability?
Joyce Shulman is a Pack Leader at 99 Walks,
She wrote “Walk Your Way to Better” and led a TED Talk on “The Magic of Walking.
“Exercise in general, and walking in particular, has incredible benefits for our mind, our mood, and our bodies,” said Joyce Shulman, 99 Walks Pack Leader.
“Research shows that a regular walking practice can reduce our risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and several types of cancer.”
In fact, walking is so good for you that one study by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) finds that walking has been shown to boost our mood, lower our stress, and fuel our creativity. As reported by the Harvard Medical School, ‘[e]ven a simple 20-minute stroll can clear the mind and reduce stress’ by reducing the body’s stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, and stimulating the body’s production of endorphins.
If there was one thing you could do to help you lose weight, think better, be happier and live longer, would you do it? The simple act of lacing up your sneakers and walking out the door can do all of that and more.
One of the reasons why walking is so powerful is that it can be combined with other activities that further enhance well-being. For instance, a walk outside gives you the opportunity to reap both the benefits of exercise and the benefits of spending time in nature which, as reported in Science Daily, has been shown to reduce your ‘risk of type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, premature death, preterm birth, stress, and high blood pressure.’
Similarly, the evidence is compelling that social connections, friendships, and relationships are key to health, happiness, and longevity. Walking with a friend gives you the chance to share an experience, enjoy a conversation free of distractions while simultaneously obtaining the physical benefits conferred by exercise.
In short, walking with a friend is the ultimate way to multi-task: exercise, nature bathing, and human connection, all at one time. And, finally, walking is something just about everyone, no matter their current level of fitness, can do. It is the gateway to improved health, happiness, and well-being.”
Contributed by Buyautoinsurance.com. Read the full article here.