Dr Bev Sandalack wants
to stem Calgary's outward sprawl
Photo courtesy University
of Calgary |
Canada's fastest growing city should
set an example by growing up instead of out. That's
the word from a multidisciplinary University of Calgary
team looking at ways to tackle the suburban sprawl-obesity
link.
"Calgary has a big footprint,"
says Bev Sandalack, PhD, an urban planning professor
at U of C. "We're overwhelmed by our suburbs. Here the
new suburbs are six to eight units per acre — that's
extremely low density."
Figuring she lived in the epicentre
of suburban sprawl, and buoyed by a grant from the CIHR,
Dr Sandalack joined forces with colleagues from the
medicine and kinesiology faculties to research the impact
of urban planning on public health. Alberta is well
above the national average when it comes to obesity
rates.
"In Calgary you can't go anywhere
unless you drive," says Alan Shiell, PhD, a health economist
at U of C and one of the study collaborators. "There
are no sidewalks, no neighbourhood shops."
Ironically, suburbs were originally
an escape from densely packed city slums where poverty
and pestilence reigned. Who knew the manicured lawns
and wide cul-de-sacs would bring on something nearly
as bad?
THE
FAT CONNECTION
The connection between healthcare and suburban sprawl
is gaining momentum. One of the leading researchers
in this area, American urban planner Larry Frank, PhD,
recently left sprawling Atlanta and moved to Vancouver
to work at UBC. He noticed the difference right away.
"I'm more active here," he told Science News
in January. Dr Frank's groundbreaking research on the
built environment, car use and public health have uncovered
an irrefutable connection between suburban design, inactivity
and obesity.
The University of Calgary wants
to take this further and figure out if forcing planners
to develop pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods is cost-effective.
They expect that will be pretty easy to prove. "Physical
inactivity is a major cause of chronic disease," observes
Dr Sandalack, so the logic is getting people to exercise
will save healthcare dollars.
Getting governments on board is
another matter. Dr Shiell lived in Australia before
moving to Calgary and sees a stark difference. "In Australia,
they think nothing of regulating," he says. He's not
overly hopeful about Alberta's commitment to legislating
pedestrian-friendly planning initiatives. "There's been
a particularly Albertan reaction," he says. "Here it's
about individual choice and small government, not spending
more money."
NEW
URBANISM
The fix lies somewhere in the past, insist members of
an anti-suburban movement called New Urbanism which
promotes mixed land-use for new suburbs — like
normal small towns used to be, with local shops and
schools within walking distance.
Things have been going downhill
from the moment we started building low-density residential-only
suburbs after World War II, says Dr Sandalack. "Since
the 80s, suburbs have taken on a different pattern,"
she says. "These are neighbourhoods where you get totally
lost and the garage is the dominant element of the house."
New Urbanism started as a reaction
against this trend. Probably its most famous proponent
is Andr�s Duany, the urban planner responsible for designing
Seaside, Florida, a mixed-use community reminiscent
of a pre-War US small town, complete with clapboard
houses and picket fences and local shops. His designs
are often mocked for being romanticized and even creepy
(Seaside was used as the setting for the paranoia flick
The Truman Show, for instance). But he's been
asked to come up with obesity- and hurricane-proof designs
for the devastated wards of New Orleans and he planned
the anti-sprawl community of Cornell, in Markham, ON.
MDs'
ROLE
The medical community is starting to sit up and take
notice. The Ontario College of Family Physicians released
a series of information pamphlets on the health risks
associated with urban sprawl. And a recent report from
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada compared urban
and non-urban living in Canada and found that city life
was healthier. "This was the first time a public health
agency looked at urban planning and our study was striking
and disturbing," says Dr Anthony Graham, a cardiologist
at St Michael's Hospital in Toronto and Heart and Stroke's
spokesperson. "For every kilometre they walked a day,
obesity was reduced by 5%, while for every kilometre
they spent in a car there was a 6% increase in obesity."
Dr Graham says there's plenty that
can be done, mostly in improving public transportation
and bike paths from where people live to where they
work and study. "Our zoning regulations were developed
40 or 50 years ago and haven't been updated," he adds.
"It's a great opportunity for developers — and
they don't care, as long as they make money."
Physicians can help too. Dr Shiell
thinks they should use their influence to help the cause.
"If medicine is interested in public health, physicians
are better off advocating with politicians than screening,"
he says.
"Be aware," says Dr Graham, "talk
to your patients about lifestyle and community resources.
Ask kids 'Do you think about this?'"
For his part, Dr Graham puts his
money where his mouth is. "I live in the city," he says.
"I'm very fortunate, I can ride my bike to the subway."
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