Improving Physical Health
Abstract
Urban environments designed with the pedestrian as the primary user encourage more physical activity and promote lifelong physical health. The obesity rate in the United States for adults “eighteen and older tripled from 8.7% in 1976 to 27.4% in 2008” (Singh, 2011,p98). How communities are designed has a direct influence on how people get around. Urban environments are full of barriers that have caused a decline in physical activity (Frank, 2003). Today urban environments are designed for the automobile, leaving little room for the pedestrian. To improve the physical health of a community, cities must be planned better for pedestrian activities, and physical activity needs to be addressed. An urban community located in St. Cloud, Minnesota will be studied to see how people travel from place to place.