Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Obesity

Study: Kids Who Live in Walkable Neighborhoods Get More Exercise

3:02 PM EDT on September 11, 2013

A study published this month in the American Journal of Preventive Health finds that children who live in walkable places -- "smart growth neighborhoods," to use the authors' phrase -- get significantly more exercise than their peers who live in suburban environments designed for driving.

Researchers from UC Berkeley monitored the activity of 59 children living at The Preserve -- a planned community near Chino, California, designed to be more walkable than conventional subdivisions -- using GPS tracking monitors and accelerometers worn on the waist. They were compared to a control group of 88 kids from eight nearby "conventional" communities, with similar demographic and income characteristics. All the children were between ages 8 and 14.

The research team found that children living in the smart growth neighborhood got ten more minutes of physical activity per day than kids in the more sprawling communities. That translates to 46 percent more exercise for children in walkable communities.

"We were surprised by the size of the effect," lead author Michael Jerrett, Ph.D., professor in the School of Public Health at Berkeley, told Science Daily. "Ten minutes of extra activity a day may not sound like much, but it adds up."

The research team said developing smart growth communities and retrofitting existing neighborhoods for greater walkability could be key to helping kids get the recommended level of physical activity. The Centers for Disease Control recommend 60 minutes of daily aerobic activity for children. In America, only 42 percent of children ages 6 to 11 meet this threshold. Among children ages 12 to 19, only 8 percent get recommended levels.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

‘Duped’: Blowing the Whistle on an Illegal Temporary License Plate Business

Temporary license plates exist so that people who buy cars can drive them before receiving metal plates. But drivers found another use for them during the pandemic: buy a temp tag on the black market and you can keep your car anonymous and off the books.

June 9, 2023

Another Cyclist Attacked in Oakland

A passing car’s passenger assaulted cyclist David Colburn on Wednesday while he was riding his bike on San Pablo in Oakland. The passenger “…leaned out a window to intentionally smack me in the head.”

June 8, 2023

How Auto-Centric Infrastructure is Making Us Sick

Instead of endless promises to fix America's "crumbling roads and bridges," filmmaker Andy Boenau argues we need to talk about our crumbling minds and bodies — and how our autocentric infrastructure approach contributes to them.

June 8, 2023

Talking Headways Podcast: Undoing Autocentric Design in a Michigan City

A Michigan city tries to undo the mistakes of the past. It's hard.

June 8, 2023
See all posts