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The problem of lack of exercise
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The level of the population’s level of physical activity is becoming a major public health concern in the United States (Wahlgren, 2011). As a result of urban sprawl, Americans rely heavily on personal vehicles to travel to work or other destinations. This is leading to a sedentary life style for the public as they take to their cars to travel to their destination. The public’s perception of the environments in which they live in are likely influencing their behaviors resulting in their dependance on personal vehicles. (Wahlgren, 2011). The physical environment and peoples’ levels of physical activity are directly connected. Low density zoning and auto-dependent development is resulting in the promotion of sedentary life styles. Most activities, like commuting to work or shopping, requires the use of a personal vehicle because of the area’s isolation in residential zones and commercial zones (Ewing, 2010). Alternative modes like walking or bicycling are rather impractical, as the areas often have little to no sidewalks or other pedestrian friendly amenities (Marshall, 2009). The Low density design is developed because residential homes have fewer units per acre and commercial buildings tend to only be a couple of stories and spaced further apart. The sizes of lots tend to be bigger to accommodate large parking lots that are often oversized and unsafe for pedestrians.
An effort to combat the continual development of urban sprawl, smart growth development looks to solve this dilemma. The idea of smart growth concentrates its development around compact walkable centers within urban areas. The purpose of this is to avoid the growing sprawl through the implementation of walkable, bicycle-friendly and alternative transportation like b...
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...uate personal motivation, however it is an issue that involves social and physical obstacles that must be overcome as well (Steinman, 2010). Environments that enhance walkability are typically associated with greater pedestrian traffic and lower body mass index (BMI). Neighborhood safety and traffic volumes and road speeds have been identified in the ACRES and other studies as determinants to a walk able neighborhood (Steinman, 2010, Wahlgren, 2011). Urban planners can address these issue in several different ways. Placing sidewalks and lighting to clearly guide pedestrians and creating visibility with canopy trees can create safe inviting spaces. Addressing volume and speed on roadways can be addressed by introducing sidewalk bulbs, roundabout and buffers between sidewalks and streets through the use of landscaping (Wahlgren, 2011, Dumbaugh, 2011, Frumkin, 2002).
This essay is an excerpt by Rebecca Solnit 's book, Wanderlust: A History of Walking,. The purpose of this essay is to create awareness about walking which is seen inferior in our society as compared to driving and using public transportation. This essay is not targeted towards a specific group of people. However, it might be of more interest to social activists and people who consider walking a good exercise. Solnit talks about the value of walking and how it is being lost with the changes in our society and environment. She also talks about the increase of suburban spaces in our society due to rapid industrialization which discourage walking. Solnit suggests that if we continue to devalue walking in our society, we would be alienated
growth, in reaction to the many undesirable features of urban sprawl (Ye 301). Smart growth
It needs to improve its areas of “walkability” and encourage health and environmental factors by adding bike lanes to the heavily biked Church Street. Its roads are not overburdened and its public transit systems are frequent, and highly accessible. One factor to be drawn from this conclusion is that Church and Wellesley’s overall transportation success is not indicative of the GTA as a whole. In fact, its success is the result of government policies that have abetted a focus on highly trafficked, highly populated, highly profitable areas such as the Downtown Core (Keil, Roger, Young, 2008). In the article, Urban Form and Travel Behavior as Tools to Assess Sustainable Transportation in the Greater Toronto Area, the authors conclude that the GTA is headed in a negative direction, and that the goal of sustainable transportation will not be met or improved in the future under the current policies and trends. Overall, the symptoms of Church and Wellesley, although beneficial to the BIA locals, could be seen as a symptom of an greater problem with the city’s transit system that needs to be addressed through political, bureaucratic, and organizational reform ((Zaidan, Esmat, Abdelgadir, Abulibdeh,
Ruhe, M, Thamm, H, Fornauf, L, & Lorbacher, MR 2013, ‘GIS based urban design for sustainable transport and sustainable growth for two-wheeler related mega cities like Hanoi’, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 7973, no. 1, pp. 452-465.
However, in general, most Americans are overweight. In fact, the United States has the highest obesity rate in the world with over 30% of Americans are considered obese. Add to that that less than 15% of Americans exercise on a regular basis. Studies have shown that sedentary people have twice the risk of coronary artery disease than active people. The life-style of the American public has become more sedentary and has been identified as a major contributor to the 10 leading causes of death (Harris…). The health habits associated with this sedentary life-style have been shown to be related to diseases su...
As an easy scope of defining it, urban smart city is a wicked problem since it represents the inability of city planners to incorporate information technology in the daily processes of every urban area to increase their effectiveness and efficiency due to lack of adequate knowledge concerning the outcome of such initiatives. It is a fact that information technology’s limitless uses are likely to create urban centers that make living easier and better, but there is uncertainty with reference to their interconnectivity impacts (Chen par.2). The easiness of identifying the causes of the wicked problem of urban smart city prompts the consideration of various factors. These factors include the issues of privacy and security that surround technological devices, lack of clarity on eventual impact to urban livelihoods, lack of proper operation and maintenance funds, and non-commonness of policies that promote smart city agendas. Fortunately, a solution is available that can alienate all the afore-listed causes of the wicked problem of urban smart city. It involves the adoption of a leadership plan that centers on harmonizing all elements that typify urban smart city. Harmonized leadership is poised to describe systematically the vital features and functions of a typical urban smart city that covers conception, design, implementation, operation, and maintenance. These descriptions are what every involved
- Gates and fences should be higher while allowing natural surveillance onto and from street. - Planting should not grow to obscure view or provide hiding place for criminals. - Provide full illumination to pedestrian walkways. - Awareness programs for residents and formation of active resident associations. - The presence of green space within the neighborhood has been associated with a number of positive psychosocial outcomes, including sense of community and also found that residents living near high nature rather than low-nature areas were more socially active, knew more neighbors, felt neighbors were more helpful and supportive, and had a greater sense of
There exists various lifestyles and behaviours, ranging from amount of nutrition intake, mental well-being, to the amount of physical activity engaged individually. Weighing the abundance of factors, this essay primarily aims to focus on the aspect of physical activity in relevance to how it possibly affects one's lifestyle. By cross-referencing to other lifestyles and behaviours, this essay will also demonstrate the importance of physical activity in possibly alleviating the issues raised pertaining to other lifestyles as well. Throughout this essay, there will be frequent references to the socio-ecological framework in examining the aforementioned factors.
Since the 1980’s obesity rates around the world have risen significantly. In the United States, current statistics indicate that one in every three people is medically obese. This statistic has placed the United States as the second most obese country in the world, next to Mexico. These increasing causes of obesity are linked to the declining national diet and nutritional profile as well as lifestyle trends in these countries. According to experts, community design, lack of physical activity and increasing levels of car use all negatively affect obesity rates. Many modern cities and towns, especially in places like America and Mexico, were constructed in the ‘automobile era.’ This has resulted in fewer walkable communities in the United States, compared to other countries like France and Italy w...
Ultimately, a city that is seeking to have a healthy community strives to have alternative ways to travel as well as safe routes, to get people out of their cars and onto bikes. Those commuting to work will be able to bike to a Metro station and board a train or bus to their work destination. Additionally, many work organizations are providing their employees with on-site bike paths, that can be enjoyed during their lunch breaks. Those who have access to bike paths have shown to have higher job satisfaction as well as increased worker productivity (Ride That Bike, 2007). And if the areas are landscaped, the trees and shrubbery act like vacuum cleaners pulling in surrounding and ambient carbon emissions from vehicles (Riggings, 2015).
Over the past century we have become increasingly sedentary due to the technical advancements of today's world. Ironically, while machines and improvements in transportation and communication have made our lives easier, studies show that the decline in our physical activity associated with these advancements plays a large role in the decline of our health.
With the development of urbanization, an increasing number of social problems have emerged. These problems will decelerate the urban development, however, there are many ways in which sustainable development can reduce the impact of these urbanization problems. “Sustainable development seeks to improve the quality of human life without undermining the quality of our natural environment” (Adams, W.M. 1999). Actually, sustainable development can partly solve the urbanization problems, for it can reduce the impact of the problems such as traffic jam, housing shortage and severe pollution, but it is difficult to completely solve these problems in a short time.
Cities all over the world are developing. As war ended in 1942, a significant number of people move to the city because they want to improve life. This urbanization process is causing a number of problems and should be met by sustainable development policies. In the beginning, it is important to know the definition of sustainable development. There are some definitions for sustainable development, but simply they say that sustainable development is a development which using resources now and preserving them for future generations (Adams, 1999, p.137). This concept has been agreed internationally at a Rio Conference in 1992 to be implemented by all government policies which mostly known as “Agenda 21” principles (Adams, 1999, p.141). This paper will show that traffic jams and housing problems caused by urbanization can be met by sustainable development policies. The structure of this paper will first explain the situation that leads to traffic jams and housing problems. Next, it will elaborate the sustainable development solutions, implications for the solutions, and evaluations how effective the sustainable development solutions solved the problems.
Many studies have done to identify factors that affect bicycle use for transportation at different areas. Several of these studies have focused on objectively measured elements of built environment (design of bicycle routes, connectivity of Road network, population density, land use mix) and Economic and demographic factors (age, gender, income, education). There is demonstrated clear and strong correlation between certain aspects of the built environment and the decision to cycle mode for the
Living a long and healthy life requires more than just good luck. People all over the world go to the gyms and like to exercise for different reasons. Some think that maintaining their fitness will just aim at their physical image, but being physically active will help control their overall health by improving the body's function and preventing sickness. Being physically active is the key to being physically and mentally fit, and helps people become a more balanced, physically fit person. They will not only stay healthier, but will be happier, live longer, and also sleep better. This will help boost a person's mental outlook, and also increase their self esteem. Physical fitness is one of the most important steps to a healthy body.