To Build a Healthier City, Begin at the Sidewalk
A new study analyzed Google Street View images of neighborhood infrastructure to explore how the built environment affects physical and mental health.
Lack of pedestrian infrastructure, as here along busy South Bayshore Drive in Miami’s Coconut Grove, has been linked poor public health.
Photo: Al Diaz/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Burdened with one of the highest adult obesity rates in the US, Oklahoma City went on a citywide diet in 2008, as then-mayor Mick Cornett challenged residents to collectively lose a million pounds.
The campaign involved more than just slogans. In a sprawling city built around cars — where “you literally can get a speeding ticket during rush hour,” as the mayor put it in his 2013 TED talk — Cornett committed to infrastructure-based change. The city built parks, added sidewalks and invested in new running and biking trails, as part of a nearly $800 million tax-funded investment to improve walkability and get residents moving.