How “walkable” is your neighbourhood? It could be influencing your physical and mental health without you realizing it…
Neighbourhood walkability measures how easy, interesting and functional it is to walk through the built-up parts of a neighbourhood. The more walkable a neighbourhood is, the healthier people who live there tend to be. And the relationship is strong. By making neighbourhoods more walkable, we can increase the health of the population of an entire area. Meanwhile, we can help improve our own health by living, visiting and vacationing in places where it’s easy and fun to walk.
I think that’s one of the attractions of wintering in Europe as a retiree. In some ways, Europeans seem to have figured out some things we are still learning in many parts of North America. If we can easily walk to do our errands (and decide to walk rather than drive when we need to do them!) we can incorporate our exercise into daily activities instead of trying to work it into our schedules as an “extra” activity we need to find time for.
For example, my hubby and I are staying in an apartment in southern Spain for 3 months to escape the winter snow in Canada. We decided to use public transit while here rather than rent a car as it’s inexpensive, reliable and convenient. I found a helpful app for my cellphone (called "Moovit") to help us find bus routes and times, and the local tourist office has also been helpful to plan longer trips. We’ve found we really don’t want or need a car here.
The beautiful Mediterranean is just a block away, and it entices us to walk there every day to enjoy the scenery. When we need groceries, it’s a short walk (albeit uphill…) of about 15 minutes. While, I must confess, I thought I’d die the first time I climbed the steep road to the grocery store, we quickly adjusted and think nothing of going there every couple of days to pick up what we need.
We also walk regularly further up the hill to the next village to visit a nice restaurant or to go to the lovely market they have there every Friday for fresh fruits. vegetables and more! Here, we could walk for several hours, visiting shops, stopping for a bite to eat and enjoying the scenery and views, and think nothing of it at all! At home, we’d be proud to say that we had walked for a whole hour.
I have an activity tracker on my cellphone, and it’s interesting to look back at my monthly activity averages. Last fall, I averaged about 1 km of walking per day. In February, our first full month here, I have averaged over 6 km per day. I’ll be returning home in much better physical shape than when I arrived!
Effective public transportation is certainly part of it. If you use the bus, you are walking to the bus stop then doing errands on foot when you arrive at your destination. If the transit isn’t reliable or convenient enough, people won’t want to use it.
The density of the population in the area is also a factor. If you live in the country or suburbs, it would likely be a long time until the population would warrant good public transportation or local services close enough to walk to.
And, interestingly, even having sidewalk cafes and trees along the streets correlates with lower body mass index (a measure of body weight in proportion to height) of those who live in the area. These must make people want to walk more...
But you still have the option to drive to a beautiful, walkable neighbourhood, park your car and blend in with the locals…doing errands on foot, instead of driving from one stop to the next, or just enjoying the area as we do here. Two key factors are to find an area that has all the basic services you need on a regular basis and to have a convenient way to carry your parcels. Small, stringed backpacks, some of which can be folded and carried in your handbag when not in use, are popular here. Wheeled carts with fabric compartments designed to carry groceries are seen everywhere in this area. We have a nifty backpack that also has wheels and a retractable handle. It’s great as carry-on luggage that doubles for carrying our heavy items home from the grocery store. I also carry one of those stringed backpacks folded up in my purse—it’s great to stash parcels or a few groceries in or to pop my sweater into if the sun gets hot while out walking. (The photo below is of a couple of our bags...the backpack straps tuck into a zippered pocket when the wheels are used!)
So, next time you move, consider the walkability of the neighbourhood. If you’re vacationing, ask a travel agent or someone who’s been there about public transport in the area and locations of services like restaurants, grocery stores and pharmacies. At home, support local services within walking distance or look for an area where you can park and walk to do your errands. And encourage discussion with local politicians about making cities and neighbourhoods walking-friendly! Change happens most quickly when public policies encourage the changes we want to see. Making walking easy and fun where we live, work and vacation is good for everyone’s health…
References:
Neighborhood walkability associated with improved health outcomes -- McMaster Optimal Aging Portal
