Pros And Cons Of Suburban Living

Urban Living vs Suburban Living
The perception of the areas we live in, are of major importance to the well being of humans because the areas we choose to live in may very well affect our lifestyle. There are pros and cons to living anywhere in the United States and the most prominent factors are suburban and urban areas. Suburban areas contain more open land, and forests which are crucial factors in our environment, whereas urban areas contain more job opportunities and opportunities for investments, which result in higher payments. The factors associated with urbanization are buildings, factories, and huge amounts of pollution, whereas suburban areas contain more farms, plantations, and crops. Researchers are still debating whether urban

Pollutants are contaminants that enter and affect the natural environment which can cause negative changes. There are two main types of pollution, air and water, which occur from different sources and have different effects. Air pollution is the main cause of “dirty air” in the United States. Suburban areas suffer from outdoor air pollutants as well as indoor air pollutants. Indoor air pollutants are caused by the burning of coal and wood, which are used for heating. Outdoor air pollutants are caused by chimneys, in which smoke is released into the air, and crop fertilizers, which are generally used in rural areas. The impact air pollution has on humans are large cases of health defects in rural areas: such as cancer, tuberculosis, heart diseases, and low birth weights. J.P Majra, author of “Air Quality In Rural Areas” states that, “This leads various health problems, mainly affecting the respiratory and cardiovascular system...” (Majra, 2). This shows that if the United States alone uses this much fertilizer, in which affects our health, imagine how much the world will be affected. Kirk Smith, professor of environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health states that ”nearly 10% of all lost-life years worldwide” has been due to air pollution (COEH

An article published by the Journal of Rural Health established that 40% of adults living in rural areas are obese compared to the 33% of adults living in urban areas due to the design and formation of urban and suburban areas. Many features of suburban development, such as the lack of street connectivity and the lack of sidewalks are associated with decreased physical activity. An assistant professor of preventive medicine and public health of the University of Kansas Medical Center, Christie Befort, states that "Access is often about travel time in a rural area, but it can also be that there's no place to go -- literal physical isolation.” The lack of community parks results in a drastic difference of physical activity between suburban and urban residents. All community recreational centers are resources for physical activity while also being publicly provided. Urban areas contain more parks than suburban areas, though most are unused. In 2005, a total of 6,545 park visitors were observed and results show that rural parks had more frequent visits, though they were less active. The differences suggest that findings from park and physical activity studies in urban areas should not be considered representative of their rural