Cascadia Scorecard News
September 2005

What do bike bridges, short city blocks, and blue bike lanes have to do with your waistline? Recent research suggests that Oregon's emphasis on good urban design with pedestrian and bike-friendly features has helped keep obesity in check. According to a study by the Trust for America's Health, Oregon was the only US state to not see gains in obesity last year, holding steady at 21 percent. This is in sharp contrast to Alabama, where the rate of obesity increased 1.5 percentage points to 27.7 percent.

What makes Oregon different is its emphasis on urban design, which encourages outdoor activities like biking to work, the study's authors said. In sprawling cities where many residents are dependent on their cars, exercise has to be planned rather than part of everyday life, as with commuting by foot or bike.

Only a small share of Oregon residents walk or bike to work and many of them only go short distances. But that's exactly the point: when it comes to obesity, even a little bit of exercise can make a big difference. On average, adults put on a pound or two a year-but a pound of extra weight per year averages out to just 10 calories per day. That's less than a teaspoon of sugar, or a daily stroll of about a tenth of a mile.

Though the design of Oregon cities may have only a small effect on walking and biking, that effect could very well have been enough to keep Oregonians from putting on as much weight as Alabamans. And those positive effects can ripple out to other benefits. For example, by encouraging exercise through design, Oregon may have curtailed a rise in obesity, helped keep its citizens healthy, and, ultimately, stemmed health care costs-which now account for about one out of every eight dollars generated by Oregon's economy.

As part of the Cascadia Scorecard project, Sightline has been researching the connections between sprawl, urban design, and health-from obesity and exercise to traffic deaths and health care costs. It's an area with great potential for catalytic reforms where a few carefully planned policies or changes can have positive impacts in many areas. Curbing sprawl and encouraging good design can make our cities better places to live, help the environment by reducing auto emissions, and improve our health by improving air quality, increasing opportunities to exercise, and reducing the tragedy of auto accidents.

Maps for biking around your town

Oregon

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Greater Vancouver