Where people live has been shown to relate directly to how much they exercise, as well as to excessive child obesity and the increasing incidence of diabetes. Real estate developers are being held to blame for creating auto-reliant, unhealthy towns.
"Since World War II, said Dr. Richard Jackson from his office in UC Berkeley's University Hall, the majority of communities have been built for cars instead of people. What may have been good for the cars, however, turns out to be bad for people."
"In 1973, Jackson said, 66 percent of kids either walked or biked to school. In 2000, only 13 percent did so. Perhaps the biggest reason for that drop-off has been the practice of building schools on cheap land, located farther away from housing developments."
Jackson warns that planning officials can no longer ignore the connection between environment and public health. He says health considerations should be intrinsically tied into every development plan, and real estate developers should be held to a higher standard before plans are approved.
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