{"id":1321,"date":"2006-11-08T18:50:26","date_gmt":"2006-11-08T22:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=1321"},"modified":"2013-01-21T14:44:56","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T19:44:56","slug":"do-lazy-people-move-to-the-suburbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/11\/08\/do-lazy-people-move-to-the-suburbs\/","title":{"rendered":"Do lazy people move to the suburbs?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers have established in recent years that there is a correlation between obesity and sprawl &#8212; people in low-density suburbs, who have to drive most destinations, tend to be heavier than people who live in high-density cities where they can walk and cycle to destinations. Although it&#8217;s often been assumed that, in effect, living in the suburbs makes you put on weight, so far the cause of this correlation has not been established.<\/p>\n<p>Now a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.news.utoronto.ca\/bin6\/061102-2688.asp\">new study<\/a> suggests that the causation goes the other way &#8212; that, in effect, people who don&#8217;t like being active tend to move to the suburbs, while more active people migrate to downtowns.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Someone who does not like to walk is more likely to be obese and is more likely to live where one can easily get around by car,&#8221; says U of T economics professor Matthew Turner, one of the study&#8217;s authors.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The researchers followed 6,000 people over six years, and watched to see if they gained or lost weight when they moved to a more or less-densely populated area (80% moved during the study period). They found that, in fact, there was little weight gain or loss after moving, and no consistent pattern. They argue, as a result, that urban form does not affect obesity (instead, it&#8217;s people&#8217;s habits).<\/p>\n<p>The study has been criticized for various reasons, such as that the sample size is too small and the measurments of density are too crude. I think that the biggest weakness, however, is that people do not tend to gain or lose weight at a very rapid pace. Also, people do not change their habits rapidly. Someone who is used to driving most places may continue to do so even if they move to a place where they could walk, while someone who is used to being fit may make special efforts to keep exercising even if their new location is not as condusive to it. Over time, though, they might both start to adjust their habits to their environment. I expect that patterns of weight gain and loss would take much longer than six years to assert themselves.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s an interesting study, but I think it points towards the need for further research and refinement of the issues in question. The study&#8217;s authors should not yet be arguing (as they do) that urban form doesn&#8217;t affect whether people are fit. Although it&#8217;s good to be reminded that there are alternative explanations, the question of whether or not sprawl encourages obesity is still open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers have established in recent years that there is a correlation between obesity and sprawl &#8212; people in low-density suburbs, who have to drive most destinations, tend to be heavier than people who live in high-density cities where they can walk and cycle to destinations. Although it&#8217;s often been assumed that, in effect, living in<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/11\/08\/do-lazy-people-move-to-the-suburbs\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Do lazy people move to the suburbs?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4006,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21758,20,6],"tags":[28,3833,3834,713,12],"class_list":["post-1321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-urban-design","category-walking","tag-behaviour","tag-economics-professor","tag-matthew-turner","tag-obesity","tag-planning"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Do lazy people move to the suburbs? - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2006\/11\/08\/do-lazy-people-move-to-the-suburbs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do lazy people move to the suburbs? - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Researchers have established in recent years that there is a correlation between obesity and sprawl &#8212; people in low-density suburbs, who have to drive most destinations, tend to be heavier than people who live in high-density cities where they can walk and cycle to destinations. 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