When I’m walking around Boston, listening to music, and pretending like I’m the main character in a movie, I like to take in the scenery around me: the tall buildings, the beautiful architecture, the people rushing by, and the sounds of the city. I haven’t visited many cities yet, but I would consider Boston to be fairly walkable, and on a good day, the public transportation system is great. On these walks, I often think about how places have been built to support the health of the people living in them.
An article published by Harvard Health revealed that walking can curb sugar cravings, reduce the risk of developing breast cancer, aid in managing joint pain, and strengthen your immune system. The American Diabetes Association also says that walking is an awesome form of exercise for individuals with diabetes because it can help regulate blood sugar, blood pressure, and insulin levels.
Research on the relationship between the built environment and well-being has gained popularity but remains limited. In the world of psychology, professionals will often consider internal and external factors, specifically an individual’s environment, when trying to understand their mental state. It’s been well established that our environment plays a role in how we feel, and that humans are social creatures. When cities are more spread out, with driving as the only mode of transportation, it can leave people feeling isolated from one another, contributing to a lack of community and support.
When cities are built to accommodate other modes of transportation like walking and biking, people can become more active, which exercise has proven to be a valuable stress-reducer and beneficial to overall physical health. Many places in the U.S. have been built with cars rather than people in mind. Vast differences can be seen between the infrastructure of the U.S. and other countries. For example, the Netherlands’ transportation infrastructure prioritizes biking by paving many bike paths, so much so that many locals will be seen riding a bike instead of driving.
Paris is another city that scores high in walkability. “Walkability” simply refers to how accessible establishments/amenities are on foot without the need for a car. Within the past few years, they’ve adopted the idea of a “15-minute city” where they’ve made an effort to restructure the city into a place where its inhabitants can travel to work, school, home, and more within 15 minutes. In 2016, Carlos Moreno, a university professor, coined this term. Moreno and the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, have been collaborating to make this idea a reality. They’ve done this by implementing more bike paths and bringing frequently visited places, like pharmacies and markets, closer to people so they run errands on foot. Paris and Amsterdam aren’t the only cities with high walkability scores: Shanghai, Edinburgh, and Prague are on the list of the world’s most walkable cities. Hot-girl walk and errands? Sign me up.
Adjusting policies and infrastructures to promote walking, biking, and taking the train as primary modes of transportation can undoubtedly help the environment by reducing our carbon footprint and air pollution. Policies manifest in how land is used, how and where highways are built, and whether sidewalks are created, to name a few examples. With the work of more research and policy reform, cities could be built to better sustain life and potentially improve mental and physical health outcomes.