“The built environment really does matter to health,” says Lawrence Frank, the author of several reports that find that people who live in walkable neighborhoods are less obese than people who live in neighborhoods that lack sidewalks and other walkable amenities. Frank was “the first one to make a connection between land use and obesity,” says an admirer.
Walkable or not, the photographer who lives in this neighborhood is “in love with living in Atlanta.”
Flickr photo by rhagans.
So reports of his latest study are particularly revealing. Looking at Atlanta neighborhoods, he found that people who prefer to exercise have similar obesity rates whether they live in walkable neighborhoods or not. Meanwhile, people who prefer to drive have somewhat higher obesity rates, but they too are similar whether they live in walkable neighborhoods or not.
