People who prefer to walk and who live in neighbourhoods that promote walking report healthier lifestyles and better health outcomes than those who want to walk but who live in more car-friendly neighbourhoods, according to new research from the University of British Columbia.
The study goes on to say that Metro Vancouver residents prefer neighbourhoods where they can walk to shops, services, green space and transit and the unmet demand for pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods could be impacting our health.
Dr. Lawrence Frank
“We found that people who prefer and live in walkable neighbourhoods walk about five days per week – compared to one or two days a week for those who want to walk but do not live in a walkable neighbourhood,” says Larry Frank, professor and director of the Health and Community Design Lab, based at UBC’s School of Population and Public Health, and the lead researcher for the project.
Nearly two-thirds of City of Vancouver residents and 40 per cent of residents living in other areas of Metro Vancouver reported a strong desire to live in a neighbourhood that encourages foot traffic.
The researchers found that while many people prefer to walk, neighbourhood design influences their choice of transportation. People who prefer and live in walkable neighbourhoods reported significantly lower incidence of high blood pressure (10 per cent) than those who prefer to walk but do not live in areas that make it easy to travel on foot (21 per cent).
The findings have implications for a region like Metro Vancouver where housing affordability forces people out of the walkable urban core to more auto-oriented areas.
“We’re pricing people out of the neighbourhoods they want and that costs us as a society through increasing health care costs,” says Frank.
BACKGROUND
The report, which was funded by the Real Estate Foundation of BC, was prepared in partnership with Healthy Canada by Design, an initiative led by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and funded by the Health Canada through the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer’s CLASP program.