Healthy Community Design
Updated January 2006
A transportation system can be a balanced network that includes infrastructure for transit, walking, bicycling and automobiles, providing people with numerous transportation choices. Transportation can be broken down into three main categories as it relates to healthy community design: automobiles, public transit and active transport.
Planning, community design and health behavior studies consistently find that the way communities are built influences whether people drive, take transit, walk or bicycle to get where they are going. The design of cities, neighborhoods and transportation systems often discourage activities that would help more Americans be physically active throughout the day.
Safe Routes to School (SR2S)
Once upon a time, most children walked to their local school. But, due to increased distances, infrastructure impediments, as well as a host of other factors, it is now estimated that only 16% of children walk to school. This contributes to a variety of health and environmental problems, including the burgeoning childhood obesity crisis. Please click here for NCSL's Safe Routes to School (SR2S) page with information on this issue and resources for state legislators.
There is growing evidence that current transportation infrastructure and land use patterns promote automobile dependency. For decades, transportation professionals assumed that the primary way to improve transportation was to increase vehicle traffic speed and road capacity. Most communities today are designed to favor transportation by automobile. In many places, schools, shopping centers and other important places are only convenient to access by automobile. On average, for every ten trips Americans make, nearly nine are auto trips and 25 percent of these trips are less than one mile.
Neighborhoods built during the last 50 years in many communities have created wide, fast, noisy streets and subdivisions with winding cul-de-sacs that require driving to most destinations. In contrast to these neighborhoods are mixed-use developments that include houses, schools, shops and offices located in close proximity to one another with street design features that resemble a grid allowing for a fully connected network with multiple routes to destinations. While automobiles are an essential transportation component and increasingly cleaner engines are reducing air pollution, mixed-use developments seek to balance the use of automobiles with other public transit options.
Transit-friendly communities reduce reliance on motor vehicles and promote higher levels of physical activity. These communities may generate half the automobile trips of similarly sized modern-day suburbs. Public transit generally refers to bus and rail services which can include elevated railroad such as the Chicago "L", light rail such as the system in Denver that is a tram-like system with no significant sections of the route shared with cars or pedestrians, and metros that use trains where at least a portion of the rail is in underground tunnels such as the Metro in Washington, D.C.
Multi-modal transportation systems make use of several different types of transportation options to reach a destination. For example, it may include riding a bicycle to a bus stop, putting the bicycle on the bus and taking the bus downtown, then riding the bicycle to the final destination.
Many factors determine whether it is possible to walk or bike to destinations near home. The best-researched elements are proximity--having destinations nearby to walk to--and connectivity--safe and direct ways to make the trip. Proximity is usually measured through the mix of homes, shops, schools and other destinations. Density is an important measure because more compact places support a richer mix of destinations near home. Connectivity is measured by whether the street network provides direct routes and whether facilities provide safe connections for pedestrians and bicyclists.
One way policymakers are addressing active transport is through Safe Routes to School programs and legislation. Safe Routes to School is one approach to encourage physical activity among both students and their parents. Originally created as a way to reduce the safety hazards of walking and biking to school, public health professionals who are interested in promoting physical activity among children have realized the potential these programs have for meeting both health and safety goals.
Publications on Active Transport
Innovations in State Policy: Safe Routes to School Programs
This NCSL case study describes the components of Safe Routes to School programs, states that have passed legislation to create and/or fund Safe Routes to School programs and states that have created programs without legislation. A bill to implement a Safe Routes to School pilot program in Maryland was passed in 2001. The case study discusses the implementation, evaluation and lessons learned from this pilot program.
Designing for Active Transportation
This fact sheet from Active Living Research provides a synopsis of the current state of research into what makes a community "walkable" or "bikeable," so people can get physical activity as part of their daily routine.
Policies That Promote Biking and Walking
This report addresses several legislative concerns by suggesting answers based on statutory surveys and interviews with legislators and public health officials to the following questions:
- Which policies are most important to encourage walking and biking?
- Which policies are most likely to be adopted?
- Which level of government is most responsible for adopting and implementing policies that encourage walking and biking?
- Which legislative committees need to be involved in policy discussions?
- What are the most appropriate roles of the legislature in adopting policies?
NCSL members can access Promoting Walking and Biking -- The Legislative Role online. Nonmembers can order a copy of this publication by calling 303-364-7700, extension 7812.
NCSL Transportation Web page
The National Center for Biking and Walking
The goal of the Center is to create bicycle-friendly and walkable communities and is referred to as Active Living's Technical Assistance Center.
American Public Transportation Association
APTA is an international organization that represents the transit industry.
American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)
The American Society of Landscape Architects is the national professional association representing landscape architects. ASLA is an active advocate for the profession at the local, state and national levels on public policy issues including licensure, livable communities, surface transportation, the environment, historic preservation, small business issues, and more.
ASLA Active Living by Design fact sheet
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