Linking Transportation Choice and Health
Built Environment Impacts Public Health and Total Well Being
During a session at the September 2008 National Center for Bicycling and Walking conference in Seattle, a King County public health professional explained that public health became a concern in the early 1900s when water and air were linked to epidemics of infectious diseases. Barbara Wright told how planning departments grew out of this concern that cities ensure clean water to citizens to prevent disease. Twentieth century regulations like the Clean Air Act have further linked environmental issues to human health. Industrial land use planning began.
By 2000, the leading cause of death in the United States has been identified as chronic disease. Planning, which grew out of public health roots, had planned out physical activity. City environments were no longer conducive to bikers and walkers. Chronic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity are costly to everyone and are responsible for a crisis in the heath care arena.
Public Health Refocuses
Public health professionals are now focusing on the built environment and making the connection between it and chronic disease. Currently, obesity is the most studied chronic disease. An individual is obese when his or her body mass index (BMI) is equal to or greater than 30. A 5’4” person who is about 30 pounds overweight would be considered obese. Research has shown that there has been a huge rise in obesity rates and that currently 30 percent of adults are obese.
Why is obesity the root of the problem? Obesity has been linked to a rise in Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and breast and colon cancer. Wright noted that the rise in obesity rates among children is the saddest statistic.
Encourages Use of Health Impact Assessment (HIA)
Today’s prevalence of chronic disease leads Wright to realize that good health is more than simple lack of infectious disease. Chronic disease must be lived with day in and day out. Chronic disease has an impact on mental health and cultural well being. Therefore, good health is the totality of physical and social elements that lead to well being.
The HIA is a new tool available to planners that aides them in judging the potential effects of their plans. HIA’s can help decision makers and government officials choose the right plan as a matter of public health. HIAs go further than environmental impact studies, which are often unpopular because their focus is regulatory and complex. HIAs are people focused and neutral. HIAs assess conditions and report findings. They make recommendations based on how planning for land use and transportation will impact the public’s health.
Bridge Replacement as Example
Wright used the Evergreen Point Bridge Replacement Project as an example of how an HIA was used to support common sense although costly and politically tough alternatives. The very long and scenic floating bridge that was built in 1960s passes through neighborhoods and provided an opportunity to make changes that would allow for more active living. Planners wanted to incorporate unfamiliar techniques and tools to improve the quality of the air and water, increase social connection, and provide greater safety to walkers and bikers.
In the end, transit service was increased, walking and biking paths were installed, more way-finding aides were added, and greenspace lids and art made the bridge more inviting to commuters and recreationists traveling on foot or by bike. The bridge replacement became so much more than an arterial for motor vehicles when it was designed to invite movement and spontaneous activity. It is a healthy and delightful for all ages. The HIA allowed planners to use the ability of space to trick bridge users into an active response.
View Toward King Co., WA, from Space Needle
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