Walkable Neighborhoods Are More Active

Residents in Walkable Neighborhoods (like East Atlanta) are 2.4 Times More Likely To Get Enough Physical Activity. 

Even in spread-out Atlanta, residents in the most compact walkable neighborhoods are 2.4 times more likely to get enough physical activity than those in less walkable subdivisions.  That is according to the largest such study to use objective accelerometer data to measure activity.

According to a study published in Americal Journal of Preventive Medicine conducted in Atlanta, in a neighborhood with more of a mix of shops, homes and schools, and connecting streets (like East Atlanta, thirty-eight percent of the study participants met government-recommended activity levels.  These variables are considered to make a neighborhood "more" walkable.  Only 18 percent of the residents in the least walkable neighborhoods met the U.S. Surgeon General’s recommendation, which calls for 30 minutes of moderate activity every day.  All the study participants wore accelerometers, which measure total activity.

Three hundred and fifty-seven adults in the Atlanta area participated in the study. The study was conducted in 2001 and 2002.  Each participant’s neighborhood was assessed according to three walkability factors. The mix of destinations near home, such as shops and schools, influences whether people have a variety of places to go within easy walking distance of home.  Residential density influences how many shops and other destinations can be supported close to home.  And the number of connected streets is a measure of whether a walking trip can be direct: in subdivisions dominated by cul-de-sacs, the winding road network may put many destinations out of reach.