# living in suburbs=living an unhealthy, boring life



## BlocQuebec (Sep 13, 2006)

Study questions link between urban sprawl, obesity
Nov. 2, 2006. 01:00 AM
JOSEPH HALL
HEALTH REPORTER


It may be an urban myth that expanding urban sprawl creates a similar spread in the waistlines of those who live in car-dependent suburbia, according to University of Toronto research.

A growing body of research has speculated that the ubiquitous use of cars in suburban settings, and the scarcity of nearby stores and recreational facilities to walk to, have made suburbanites soft around the middle.

But U of T economist Matthew Turner, a lead author of the study, says suburbanites are more obese because they're a more sedentary type of person.

"Someone who does not like to walk is more likely to be obese and is more likely to live where one can easily get around by car," said Turner, who released a working paper earlier this week called Fat City: Questioning The Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Obesity. 

It also involved researchers from the London School of Economics and Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain.

Turner said white men who live in suburbia were, on average, one to three pounds heavier than those in downtown cores.

While Turner balked at using the word "lazy" to describe such sedentary suburbanites in an interview, he did say that people who tend to move to sprawl areas would likely be heavier if they lived there or not.

The widely held theory is that suburbia promotes an obese lifestyle because it is not pedestrian friendly and lacks recreational activities.

"In fact, there's another possible explanation, which is that people who are predisposed to gain weight, or who are in fact overweight, choose to live in the suburbs," said Turner, an associate professor in economics.

People who use cars as a primary transportation mode, for example, would find it much easier to do so in areas where two- and three-car garages are the norm, he said. 


The study followed the movements of some 6,000 people involved in a U.S. National Longitudinal Study of Youth over a six-year period.


It found location choices were being driven by the same things that drive weight. "That means that they have to be habit," Turner said. 

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...823&call_pageid=968332188774&col=968350116467


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## yin_yang (May 29, 2006)

but people who live downtown live there because it's convenient, so who are we to say that suburban people are more sedentary, i'm pretty lazy to go 2 blocks to get something sometimes because of the choice there is down here...i think that tiny avg of 3 pounds for a man can be explained because older men have more trouble staying fit.


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## Slartibartfas (Aug 15, 2006)

yin_yang said:


> but people who live downtown live there because it's convenient, so who are we to say that suburban people are more sedentary, i'm pretty lazy to go 2 blocks to get something sometimes because of the choice there is down here...i think that tiny avg of 3 pounds for a man can be explained because older men have more trouble staying fit.


The point is perhaps that in a city at least in one with a working public transport system people go at least to the place they need to go. When being in suburbs, you just go to your car.


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## futureproof (Nov 2, 2006)

i guess if i were going to have kids, more than 2 in this case, i would surely move to a quite, peaceful suburb, with a middle sized dog, a green backyard and a pool for summertime. redish, yellowish leafs in autumn time and the wind blowing them away. cold crispy days and snow above the rock furnitures in my backyard in winter. and temperate days of spring time to take my family and my dog on my van to vacacionate.

if i was to live alone i would definitly move to a building in downtown, i would work hard over week and on weekends go to party on rave parties and party on my house.


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## yin_yang (May 29, 2006)

Slartibartfas said:


> The point is perhaps that in a city at least in one with a working public transport system people go at least to the place they need to go. When being in suburbs, you just go to your car.


that wasn't the point of the article at all, the point of the article was disproving the myth of whther people choose to live in the 'burbs because they are lazy or if living in the 'burbs makes you lazy.

i disagree with the theory presented in the article. the way i see it, it's more of a pain in the ass to live in the suburbs for sure, being a guy that seldom likes being home. living downtown has decreased my walking significantly because i now live close to school.


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## Slartibartfas (Aug 15, 2006)

yin_yang said:


> that wasn't the point of the article at all, the point of the article was disproving the myth of whther people choose to live in the 'burbs because they are lazy or if living in the 'burbs makes you lazy.
> 
> i disagree with the theory presented in the article. the way i see it, it's more of a pain in the ass to live in the suburbs for sure, being a guy that seldom likes being home. living downtown has decreased my walking significantly because i now live close to school.


Sorry, that comes from skipping the last three lines. :bash: 

In my opinion in average its still valid to say that people within towns with working PT systems walk more than people living in an urban sprawl (American style urban sprawl at least, but not necessarely only there). See you are a lucky one to have only a short way to school.

I live insid a 1.5 mio city. I would go 45 min to my university if I would walk. And most people have their stuff not only around the next block. And perhaps also important university is not the sole place one heads to normally.

Btw, I take the bike to university.


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## bayviews (Mar 3, 2006)

As with most relationships, it's most likely a two-way street. Lazier, more sedentary people may be more attracted to the suburbs. But moving to, or living in, the burbs also foosters less active lifestyles focused on driving SUVs, eating fast-food, mall shopping, etc. There are always exceptions to any rules. But on average, most suburbanites seem to be in worse physical shape than most urban residents.


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## VanSeaPor (Mar 12, 2005)

bayviews said:


> As with most relationships, it's most likely a two-way street. Lazier, more sedentary people may be more attracted to the suburbs. But moving to, or living in, the burbs also foosters less active lifestyles focused on driving SUVs, eating fast-food, mall shopping, etc. There are always exceptions to any rules. But on average, most suburbanites seem to be in worse physical shape than most urban residents.


This hasn't anything to do with actually _being_ in the suburbs though. It is a matter of choice. It is naive to believe that suburbs are responsible for the bad physical shape of some people living there.


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## bayviews (Mar 3, 2006)

VanSeaPor said:


> This hasn't anything to do with actually _being_ in the suburbs though. It is a matter of choice. It is naive to believe that suburbs are responsible for the bad physical shape of some people living there.


Oh I certainly agree 100% with you that people, not that places that they live, bear the ultimate responsibility for keeping as physically fit as they can. However, the development & transportation policies of places (cities or suburbs) can also either encourage or discourage keeping fit. 

For example, I have experienced one suburban locale that encouraged thru their development policies walking, biking, bicycling & other forms of alternative transportation. I have experienced another older, urban suburb that has encouraged alternative transportation by making it very inconvenient to park. No coincidence that most of the residents in these places seemed rather physically fit. 

But far much more common are the other suburbs that have encouraged auto dependency by providing minimal sidewalks, bad crossings & overly complex & long traffic signalization cycles that makes it very inconvenient for those not in cars. In these auto-dependent suburbs, about the only other adults I encounter that also walk or bike (even to get to the suburban rapid transit stations) tend to be the very poor carless, and felons or undocumented immigrants who cannot legally drive. 

And so it is no wonder that in this last type of suburb, one finds too many obese people driving around in fat SUVs & huge, oversized pickups, even for very short trips.


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## Cloudship (Jun 8, 2005)

That sounds terribly stereotypical and completely oblivious to the way people live. Very narrow minded.

Apparently this reporter believes that people in the suburbs simply walk from their kitchen directly ito their car, dive up into the store and drive around picking up their groceries, and then drive hom, park in the living room and only watch TV.

In fact I would claim thaat for many suburbanites they lead much more active lives. Yes, you drive from your house to your destination. But you also tend to walk a lot more around whereever it is you are going. You also find it much easier to go to the soccer game, go to the gym, go to the bike trail or go out into the woods to take a walk. Instead of being stuck in your little apartment, you tend to be out and socializing much more. You go to the market as much to meet other people as it is to do your shopping. You spend more time out in the yard, fixing your house, and working on your car.

I think when it comes to eating out, urban people eat out much, much more often. Simple matter of ease - it's a lot easier to pick something up and have it, than it is for the suburban person. Plus, it is a lot harder to do shopping, you have less choice (due to a lack of room for choice), you have to worry about getting it home, and having the space to prepare it. Also, it is a lot easier to buy out for a smaller familly or couple than a typical large suburban familly.

Of course, that also beg the question about exactly what is healthy. Thin and frail isn't necessairliy better than larger and muscular. It also does not cover the issues of stress and safety.


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## bayviews (Mar 3, 2006)

Cloudship said:


> That sounds terribly stereotypical


may sound so, but that's just the reality in too many metropolitan areas, certainly here in the US & I'm sure Canada also. Sure, there are plenty of very active residents in auto-oriented suburbs & many sedentary, out of shape residents of transit-oriented cities and suburbs. But on the whole, & in addition to plenty of direct experience & observation, I think you'll find that most of the research supports this: controlling for other factors (socio-economics, etc) in this case the stereotypes aren't too far removed from the reality.


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## Chicagoago (Dec 2, 2005)

I grew up in "the burbs" and went EVERYWHERE in a car. As in, if I could walk to the store in 5 minutes, I'd just drive without thinking about it. I think a lot of people growing up like I did have that mentality - I sure did.

In college it was a pain cause we'd have to walk SEVEN minutes to get to class at the University!! The horror!!!

I got use to walking during college though, and after 4 years I was fine just walking my 15 minutes to work downtown and walking to friends apartments, etc.

Moving to Chicago I pushed the envelope a little more and started taking the train to work and walking from there. It took a few months to get use to it and not really caring about it anymore.

A year later I finally decided to ditch the car, and just rely on the bus and train to get everywhere with walking in between.

A year after that I moved to Lakeview and now just walk everywhere except work. Grocery store, movies, friends houes, bars, stores, restaurants, blah blah blah.

I probably walk 2-4 miles a day when I'm out running errands on the weekday and don't think twice about it. Yesterday I walked 3/4 a mile to the Walgreens, then 1/4 mile to the Best Buy, 1/4 a mile up to the Bed Bath & Beyond, 1/2 mile over to get milk/bread/liquor at the White Hen, and then the 1/4 mile home. Sure I was carrying a shit ton of bags, and it was getting heavy by the time I got home - but I never really thought of it as a pain.

Now if you would have gone back 7 years ago when I couldn't even walk 5 minutes to a store to get bread - and tell me I'd walk 2 miles in an hour and a half and bring back 4 bags full of stuff I'd just bought at 4 different stores, I would have asked what world war required me to "degrade" to walking everywhere.

It's all a mindframe of getting people out of their cars and teaching them that IT'S ok to just walk to the store. It's not really as horrifying as people think.

The key is you have to make it REASONABLE to do, which obviously the suburbs are NOT. We need to start (once again, obviously) investing in mass transit or we're all gonna be fat and useless sitting in traffic for 3 hours a day.


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## SkylineHeaven (Sep 12, 2006)

What an arrogant opinion, wasted my healthy time sitting here reading that boring report!hno: 
Suburbs = all the space for walking, running, biking and activities and shopping/growing fresh foods/fruits.

if you want to make it, how about
City = prison/rat cell, fastfood lifestyle, is it healthy?:lol:


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## Cloudship (Jun 8, 2005)

Chicagoago said:


> Now if you would have gone back 7 years ago when I couldn't even walk 5 minutes to a store to get bread - and tell me I'd walk 2 miles in an hour and a half and bring back 4 bags full of stuff I'd just bought at 4 different stores, I would have asked what world war required me to "degrade" to walking everywhere.


I could only wish I had an hour and a half to buy 4 bags of groceries. Alas in todays world that is not time many people have to spend.

The issue here is also a matter of what you are doing. Sure you walk everywhere. But what do you actually do? Many people in the subburbs spend much of their time dealing with sports, chasing after and carting around their kids to various games, dances, meetings, etc., using bike paths and rail trails, and participating in meetings. It's not just a matter of driving from the house to the store, buying stuff, and then going home and sit in front of the TV. That is the stereotype I am trying to fight here.

I guess as I get older and have now seen both sides of the issue, there is a lot to be said for each of them. When one group fails to understand how the other one lives, you are never going to find any common ground to make things better for both parties.


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## rocky (Apr 20, 2005)

i lived in the suburbs and its exactly the same thing as chicagoago. i even take the car for very small travels.
but its in the culture of my suburb. when i need to shop, theires a city center in my suburb, but i prefer to go to the mall with my car (-and theires no transportation to the mall)

when i lived in paris i walked everywhere, to work, then the evening walking again, it was crazy. but this lifestyle is better.

when i live in the city center i adopt the city center lifestyle , and when i come back to my suburb i adopt the suburb lifestyle. im sick of this suburb lifestyle thats why im moving to the london center next month.


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## Chicagoago (Dec 2, 2005)

Cloudship said:


> I could only wish I had an hour and a half to buy 4 bags of groceries. Alas in todays world that is not time many people have to spend.
> 
> The issue here is also a matter of what you are doing. Sure you walk everywhere. But what do you actually do? Many people in the subburbs spend much of their time dealing with sports, chasing after and carting around their kids to various games, dances, meetings, etc., using bike paths and rail trails, and participating in meetings. It's not just a matter of driving from the house to the store, buying stuff, and then going home and sit in front of the TV. That is the stereotype I am trying to fight here.
> 
> I guess as I get older and have now seen both sides of the issue, there is a lot to be said for each of them. When one group fails to understand how the other one lives, you are never going to find any common ground to make things better for both parties.


I didn't walk an hour and a half to get 4 bags of groceries...that's just stupid.

I spent an hour and a half running errands on a Sunday afternoon. I went to Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Walgreens and the White Hen to get some milk/bread/booze. I can think of other people who spend an hour and a half in the burbs to do that exact same thing. I'm just saying that I walked a few miles to get this done, as opposed to driving from my house to each of these places and then back home.

I'm honestly not trying to bash the burbs here, I'm just saying there are more than a few suburbanites who aren't use to physically MOVING as much as they could be - and still realize that it's actually easy/enjoyable and a valid means of transportation if you plan your community correctly.

I know people are busy chasing and carting their kids around in the burbs - but I don't think many of these parents are literally carting their kids around, and CHASING them down the street. They drive there, pick them up and come home. They drive to their meetings, they drive to their friends house, they drive to Showbiz Pizza.

I know people in the suburbs are active people who don't sit in front of the TV when they're not working, I'm just saying this country needs to change itself so a majority of the things we do doesn't have to require a car.

You can play sports at night and on the weekends just like me in the city, but a lot of times in the burbs you still have to drive youserlf somewhere in order to be physically active.

The american lifestyle for a majority of people in our country starts and stops with a car. Take every car away from every American in our country and lets see how many of them would be able to carry on life even roughly similar to the one they have today.


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## VanSeaPor (Mar 12, 2005)

It's stupid how many people claim they take the car for simple 5 minute walks, then blame it on the "suburban lifestyle". It is your choice to take the car, it is your choice to get fat, it is your choice to live lazily. It is not your neighbor's fault. Like Bayviews said, some suburbs do have narrow sidewalks and are built entirely for the car, but I think health is more important than narrow sidewalks.


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## ardecila (Jul 7, 2005)

No, you're not getting it.

In my area, to walk ANYWHERE of interest (school, work, library, restaurants, parks) I have to trespass across 3 or 4 private and corporate properties. Then I walk 1 mi. down a major 4-lane divided road with NO sidewalks, down which cars travel at 60 miles per hour. Also, the sides of the road are sloped for drainage, so I have to either walk in the shoulder or walk at the bottom of the ditch, in the mud.


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

I'd choose death over living in the 'burbs. Unimaginable torture.


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## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

I don't know...this seems a bit of a generalization to me.


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