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The health impacts of sprawl is a topic that is just recently gaining attention. Just as architects have come to recognize that the design and construction of buildings can affect our health, researchers are starting to examine how a sprawl pattern of development can affect our well-being. At the same time, research findings have begun to document the correlation between a dispersed pattern of development and increased injuries to pedestrians.
Urban Sprawl: What's Health Got To Do With It was the subject of a January 18, 2002 "webcast" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health. The one hour webcast -- which can be viewed in its entirety -- focused on the health impacts that sprawl can have, and the need to involve public health professionals in land use discussions.
Charles Schmidt prepared a good summary of the possible impacts that sprawl can have on public health. His article appeared in the June 1998 issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, the journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The full article is posted here, by permission of the author and Environmental Health Perspectives.
Creating a Healthy Environment: The Impact of the Built Environment on Public Health (pdf format), is an excellent 18 page overview of how land use patterns can affect health. Written by Dr. Richard Jackson (Director of the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health) and Chris Kochtitzsky (Associate Director for Policy & Planning at the CDC) for the Sprawl Watch Clearinghouse, this monograph concisely reviews the literature on: land use and air quality impacts; the built environment and physical activity; urban design and pedestrian safety; sprawl and water quality; and several other topics.
Mean Streets: Pedestrian Safety and Reform of the Nation's Transportation Law, a study prepared by the Environmental Working Group closely examines pedestrian safety. One of the study's conclusions: "The most dangerous metropolitan areas for walkers tend to be newer, sprawling, southern and western communities, where transportation systems are most biased toward the car at the expense of other transportation options."
Walk San Diego has put together a helpful fact sheet that includes information (with citations) on the health benefits of developing more walkable communities.
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