Urban Design and Health

Hi:

Maybe the towns and villages of old grew by accident, but the design seemed to work. People could access their daily needs from a small core of needed shops in the centre of a group of houses.

We just participated in a World Health Organization study on the link between health and where you live. For example, the links between obesity and heart disease and a host of other ailments are well established. Now WHO is examining the health of 40,000 people around the world for baseline figures and will do so again over a number of years.  The premise of health linked to urban design from a standpoint of walkability will be proven, or not.

For boomers looking at health, urban living might be better after all. The new "eco-density" trends will also benefit from proof that urban living can be healthy if we can live in unpolluted environments.  If we can walk to buy our groceries and do other daily shopping our needs for cars will diminish and our health may improve.

M.