Health and Community Design: The Impact Of The Built Environment On Physical Activity [Paperback]

Lawrence Frank (Author), Peter Engelke (Author), Thomas Schmid (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1559639172 | ISBN-13: 978-1559639170 | Publication Date: May 23, 2003 | Edition: 1

Health and Community Design is a comprehensive examination of how the built environment encourages or discourages physical activity, drawing together insights from a range of research on the relationships between urban form and public health. It provides important information about the factors that influence decisions about physical activity and modes of travel, and about how land use patterns can be changed to help overcome barriers to physical activity. Chapters examine:

• the historical relationship between health and urban form in the United States
• why urban and suburban development should be designed to promote moderate types of physical activity
• the divergent needs and requirements of different groups of people and the role of those needs in setting policy
• how different settings make it easier or more difficult to incorporate walking and bicycling into everyday activities

A concluding chapter reviews the arguments presented and sketches a research agenda for the future.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lawrence Frank is associate professor in the City Planning Program, College of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Peter Engelke is research associate in the City Planning Program, College of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Tom Schmid is coordinator of the Active Community Environments (ACEs) team in the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity at the National Center for Chronic Disease Control and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Island Press; 1 edition (May 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559639172
• ISBN-13: 978-1559639170
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #752,208 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Healthy City, January 26, 2011

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Health and Community Design: The Impact Of The Built Environment On Physical Activity (Paperback)

The theme is very interesting by relating the built environment and areas of physical activities for the welfare of city residents. It is a message for city planners, citizens and public health professionals that leisure spaces are part of health conditions.

4.0 out of 5 stars Healthy City, January 26, 2011

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Health and Community Design: The Impact Of The Built Environment On Physical Activity (Paperback)

The theme is very interesting by relating the built environment and areas of physical activities for the welfare of city residents. It is a message for city planners, citizens and public health professionals that leisure spaces are part of health conditions.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Public Health and Planning finally reconverge, January 21, 2006

By 

E. A Young "tag_you're_it" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Health and Community Design: The Impact Of The Built Environment On Physical Activity (Paperback)

This is a very well written and presented book about the physical elements of our community design that compel us to discriminate certain forms of transportation over others (i.e., motorized over car). The implications are about health--getting enough "moderate" exercise each day. "Moderate" exercise is more accessible than the various forms of specialized exercises we have (i.e., sports teams, going to the gym). Exercise can be utilitarian in nature--it doesn't have to be specialized. For instance, transportation can be a form of exercise. When it is utilitarian--built into activities we have to be doing anyway--it saves time, instead of being "another thing to add to the schedule" it is killing two birds w/one stone.

Certain features and designs in the built environment are more helpful in encouraging the general population to using forms of moderate exercise (i.e., walking, biking) as transportation.

The idea of "utilitarian exercise" is cool--I wish they would have talked more about other (nontransportation) forms, such as gardening, etc.

The book also contains an excellent but brief review of the history of community health and planning at the beginning--how "solving" the health problems of the past era have led to the health problems of this era. The goal this time is to find a real solution--not one that leads to different types of health problems all over again.

Most satisfyingly, it is very well written and easy to read through. Any jargon is well-explained, and it is kept to a minimum. Based on quantitative science, it never (to my recollection) leaps to conclusions its data could not support--rather the authors highlight questions which the data produce and need to be pursued further.