Looking at how neighbourhoods promote health

by Joe Obad
Posted August 26, 2008

 

Alan Shiell is an economist in Community Health Sciences in the Faculty of Medicine: Photo by Calvin SunBefore you succumb to the next infomercial on health pills or exercise machines to solve what ails you, a team of researchers from the University of Calgary says you should begin by taking a walk through your neighbourhood.

“Where we live our lives greatly affects the choices we make several times a day,” says Beverly Sandalack, a professor in the U of C’s Faculty of Environmental Design. “If most of what we need to do—from getting a carton of milk to seeing a friend—means getting in a car, this has profound implications for our levels of activity and overall health and relationships.”

Sandalack is part of a team of researchers approaching health from a fresh angle. Along with Alan Shiell, a health economist in Community Health Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine and Tish Doyle-Baker, a clinical exercise physiologist in the Faculty of Kinesiology, they are investigating the correlations between urban design, physical activity and health.

The team’s study is called Economic Evaluation of using Urban Form to Increase Activity, or EcoEUFORIA. It seeks to investigate the potential of linking good urbanism, promotion of physical activity, and innovative health reform.

Working together, the trio secured a multi-year, $590,000 grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Support from the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research laid the foundation for making this grant possible as well as additional research that will use EcoEUFORIA data.

Students hit the streets--literally--to study neighbourhoods 

The study uses as its basis a citywide survey of 4,400 residents conducted for the research team by the Calgary Health Region. Environmental design students working in the Faculty of Environmental Design’s Urban Lab spent the summer examining the urban forms of every neighbourhood in Calgary—everything from sidewalk quality to pathway connectivity to safety to the presence of amenities.

Many Canadians would benefit from this increased incidental physical activity. In Canada, 57 percent of men, 39 percent of women and more than 30 percent of children are overweight or obese and at increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and other ailments which are largely preventable through regular exercise.

Many previous studies have confirmed what we've known intuitively for a long time-that the way we have built many urban environments based on automobile transport discourages physical exercise.

Faculty of Medicine researcher brings home the costs

As Sandalack and Doyle-Baker examine the city through their respective lenses, Shiell, the project's lead investigator, is analyzing the economic implications of certain urban forms.

"If we look at public money as a common resource, and not a bunch of jurisdictions and departments, we might be able to make a compelling argument that spending some money to upgrade the walkablity of some neighbourhoods is a cost-effective measure for improving public health," argues Shiell. He notes similar arguments have been persuasive in Australia.

Potentially, the health benefits of upgrading the walkablity of existing neighbourhoods and ensuring new ones promote physical activity could more than justify the associated costs.

About the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary

The U of C's Faculty of Medicine is a national leader in health research with an international reputation for excellence and innovation in health care research, education and delivery. Through its educational programs, the Faculty of Medicine trains the physicians and scientists who will lead the next generation of health practitioners. Through its clinical work, continuing medical education programs, and close relationship with the Calgary Health Region, the Faculty of Medicine moves new treatments and diagnostic techniques from the laboratory bench to the hospital bedside efficiently and effectively, improving patient care.

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