Death by surburban sprawl
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1592647/Death-by-surburban-sprawl
30 September 2011 | 08:05:45 AM | Source: Billie Giles-Corti, Professor of
Health Promotion & Director of the McCaughey VicHealth Centre at University
of Melbourne
*Published in collaboration with **The
Conversation*<http://theconversation.edu.au/>
*, a website that features commentary, research and analysis from Australian
universities and the CSIRO.*
*Non-communicable
diseases*<http://theconversation.edu.au/pages/non-communicable-diseases>–
Billie Giles-Corti looks at how the built environment impacts the
development of NCDs.
Never before in human history have so many people been able to be so
sedentary in the course of daily life.
Since World War II, technological advances have transformed the design and
development of buildings and communities, the way populations are mobilized
and fed, the nature of work, and methods of communication.
Industrial and home labour-saving devices – from the remote control of
garage doors to televisions and everything in between – maximise convenience
and minimise effort.
So compared with our parents and grandparents, feeding and clothing
ourselves has never been so effortless.
But while offering convenience, our use of motor vehicles – even for short
trips to the local shop – or a blower to “sweep” garden leaves, appears to
be having a profound impact on the health of human populations.
SITTING TO DEATH
Diseases previously associated with affluence – cardiovascular disease,
cancer, respiratory illnesses and diabetes – are now prevalent in
disadvantaged populations.
The problem is so big that an emergency long-term response is required – not
just by the health sector but by everyone.
The United Nations declaration calling for action on the prevention and
control of non-communicable disease highlighted the need for a “whole of
society effort” to tackle this enormous global problem, which is crippling
already overburdened health systems.
This is a call for all hands on deck: no one sector – and certainly not the
health sector – can solve this problem. Fixing up people when they are ill
is not the solution.
The number of people with non-communicable diseases are growing
exponentially not because we have changed genetically, but because we have
changed our lifestyles in response to a rapidly changing environment.
We now sit too much, move too little and over consume energy dense food –
just because we can.
BUILT ENVIRONMENT
The UN call for action specifically mentions the role of urban planning in
the development of non-communicable diseases.
Research consistently shows that people are more likely to walk if they live
in compact, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods characterised by connected
street networks, access to mixed-use planning, with presence of local
destinations and higher density housing.
And that time and distance influences walking and cycling as preferred modes
of transport.
Heavily trafficked roads are contributing to the decline of active modes of
travel. Peter Blanchard
Neighbourhood design has a powerful effect on active travel options of all
residents, particularly young people.
Children’s independent mobility is influenced by traffic exposure and
parental concerns (real or perceived) about safety, as well as access to
local destinations including schools.
Locating schools in neighborhoods with disconnected street networks and
heavily trafficked roads is contributing to the rapid decline in children
and young people using active modes of travel.
In fact, parents chauffering their children to school are themselves
contributing to the traffic congestion that makes roads unsafe for children
to walk or cycle.
The power of planners
In the course of their professional lives, urban planners, transport
planners, urban designers, civil engineers, property developers and
architects make decisions with long-term impacts on the health and
well-being of generations of residents.
They make design decisions that determine whether neighborhoods have
connected street networks and footpaths so that residents – including
children – can easily and safely walk to local destinations.
They decide whether shops and services are part of communities and in places
where people can walk to them.
And whether communities have well-designed parks that meet the needs of a
range of users from sporting groups, children, dog walkers through to our
ageing population.
These planners decide whether streets are wide enough to allow access by
public transport.
And underpinning all these decisions are land use and regional transport
system planning policies made by state and local government and politicians.
Networking for a healthier society
So there’s an urgent need for policies that encompass social, economic,
sustainability, and health policies to create more vibrant,
pedestrian-friendly communities serviced by public transport.
Multiple sectors now promote active transport because of concerns about the
health, social, environmental, and economic impacts of a range of agendas.
These include rising levels of obesity and inactivity, climate change,
population growth, declining oil supplies and rising fuel prices.
Active transport can achieve outcomes for all of them, from improved health
and traffic management through to environmental protection and climate
change mitigation.
As Australian cities expand rapidly with continued growth on the urban
fringe, the challenge is to adopt joined-up approaches involving creative
ways of producing supportive land use and transportation planning that
ensures compact pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods.
But a plan is one thing and a “populated plan” is another – new communities
can take decades to build.
To ensure people on the fringes of cities are not deprived for decades, we
need to move from planning to populating the plan.
New business development models that ensure access to local employment and
alternative government service delivery models that provide access to local
health and public transport are needed.
Without joined-up approaches, we can stick on band aid after band aid but
the true nature of what ails us will remain unheeded.
This is the eighth part of The Conversation's *non-communicable diseases
series. * <http://theconversation.edu.au/pages/non-communicable-diseases>
fyi
Today, the Free Press News Café held a Town Hall with Premier Selinger at
11:30 am. I attended and was able to ask a question of Premier Selinger. I
asked:
"If elected, will your government commit to implementing a Provincial Active
Transportation policy - enabling increased safe opportunities for people to
walk and bike - and to put staff on active transportation."
His reply was that his government would commit to an active transportation
'strategy' and will work to implement it would have people in the public
service to support implementation.
I encourage you to listen to the question / and the way he answered it. The
question was asked 11:24 minutes into Dan Lett's interview found here:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/LIVE-Town-halls-with-Gerrard-a
nd-Selinger-130663498.html
When Premier Selinger speaks to 'the recommendations' - he is referring to
the 25 active transportation recommendations made in the the recently
released Greater Strides report to government
http://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/pdf/atag_report6.pdf (which I was
holding up when speaking of study after study after study)
COMMENT:
Sharp politicians!
While there is a big difference between the definition of the words "policy
and strategy" and I should have jumped on it at the time - at this point in
the election, I think this is as good as its going to get in having a
PROVINCIAL active transportation commitment from the New Democratic Party.
Not as clear and concise as the Progressive Conservatives are offering by
any means - but a broader commitment - and from the leader of NDP - than we
had prior to today. Complete and updated overview of active transportation
election promises can be seen here:
http://www.winnipegtrails.ca/2011/09/23/election-promises/
This is it for emails from me on Provincial Election 2011 active
transportation updates!
All of this takes an extraordinary amount of time and I think for Election
2011 - this is as good as its going to be !
Now ensure you get out and vote on October 4th!
thanks
Janice
Janice Lukes
Manager, Special Projects - Winnipeg Trails
Winnipeg Trails Association
235-614 Des Meurons Street
Winnipeg, MB R2H 2P9
Cell (204) 952-4222
Fax (204) <tel:%28204%29%20237-4618> 237-4618
<mailto:jlukes@riverswest.ca> jlukes(a)riverswest.ca
<http://www.winnipegtrails.ca/> www.WinnipegTrails.ca
Member of City of Winnipeg Active Transportation Advisory Committee
Chair, Province of Manitoba Active Transportation Advisory Group
Green Action Centre invites you to join us for a Complete Streets webinar
being presented by Transport Canada's Ecomobility Program:
*
*Location:* EcoCentre boardroom (303 Portage Ave, 3rd floor)
*
*Complete Streets*
*October 4, 2011, 12:30-1:30 pm CENTRAL TIME*
Rebecca O’Brien, Program Coordinator, Sustainable Alberta Association
“Complete streets” is a relatively new term that has entered into the
parlance of transportation planning. A complete street policy begins with
one overriding principle: Design streets for the most vulnerable users.
Complete street policies promote planning, engineering, and transportation
policies that provide a safer road network for all users, be they drivers,
cyclists, pedestrians, or transit users.
This webinar will examine the main aspects of complete streets, including
innovative policies, success stories, and benefits.
For more information:
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-utsp-casestudy-cs72e-completes…
Hope to see you on Tuesday!
**
*Jessie Klassen* | Workplace Commuter Options
<http://greenactioncentre.ca/>Green Action
Centre<http://www.greenactioncentre.ca>| Find
us here<http://greenactioncentre.ca/content/ecocentre-directions-and-travel-options/>
3rd floor, 303 Portage Avenue* | *(204) 925-3772
Green Action Centre is your non-profit hub for greener living.
Support our work by becoming a
member<http://greenactioncentre.ca/support/memberships/>
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*_______________________________________________*
.
*In the Spotlight this Month - Traffic Calming
*.
Despite its advantages, motorized traffic has worrisome effects on
determinants of health such as collisions, injuries and deaths, air quality,
environmental noise and physical activity related to active transportation.
Traffic calming offers a way to intervene on the built environment that has
significant potential to mitigate these adverse effects and improve the
health of exposed populations.
*www.flickr.com / Payton Chung*
*
* In the coming months, the NCCHPP will release different resources related
to traffic calming. Click here to learn
more<http://netmail.ccnpps.ca/redirect.aspx?id=228366&idcampagne=2317&url=http%3…>
.
If you wish to be informed of the release of NCCHPP's resources in traffic
calming, click here to go to our subscriptions
page<http://netmail.ccnpps.ca/redirect.aspx?id=228366&idcampagne=2317&url=http%3…>,
and then check the box for "Traffic Calming".
. *Traffic Calming: An Equivocal Concept *
The concept of traffic calming encompasses interventions associated with
different goals, objectives, principles and way of thinking about the street
network and its problems.
This briefing note clarifies three meanings of the concept of traffic
calming by recounting the historical evolution of the concept. This approach
allows for a description of the diverse goals, objectives and means
associated with traffic calming.
Click here to read
more<http://netmail.ccnpps.ca/redirect.aspx?id=228366&idcampagne=2317&url=http%3…>
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Click here to download the
document<http://netmail.ccnpps.ca/redirect.aspx?id=228366&idcampagne=2317&url=http%3…>
. PDF 856 K
[image: Image - cover page of the document - click to download]
--
Mike Tutthill
Planning & Community Engagement Consultant
HEALTH in COMMON
100-6 Donald Street
Winnipeg, MB R3L 0K6
tel: 204.949.2002
1.800.731.1792
fax: 204.284.2404
email: mtutthill(a)healthincommon.ca
web: www.healthincommon.ca
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
*Health in Common on
Facebook*<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Health-in-Common/120069149875>
ü Please consider the environment before printing this email.
*Coming to Health in Common?*
*By bicycle: *Bicycle parking is located behind the building.
*By Winnipeg transit: *Routes 62, 65, 66, 68, 70* ***
*By car: *Two visitor parking spaces are available at the back of the
building.* Street parking (restrictions): *Bell Avenue (1hr 9h00 – 17h30),
Clarke Street (none); Lewis (none); Cauchon (none); River (none west of
Clarke).
Volunteers to sample tourism on eastern Trans-Canada Trail
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/volunteers-to-sample-tourism-on-east…
A volunteer group is the first bunch of trekkers to try a new commercial
tourism package for the eastern Manitoba portion of the Trans-Canada Trail.
About seven volunteers from the Manitoba Recreational Trails Association
teamed up with Jim Bishop, chairman of the national Trans-Canada Trail, on
Thursday to begin a four-day, 225-kilometre tour from Pine Falls to Falcon
Lake by bike and shuttle.
"You build it, you want to use it," said Ruth Marr, a volunteer who was
instrumental in getting the section of the trail in shape. "We're having an
opportunity to test some of the economic spinoffs from the trail."
There will be stops at resorts along the way and meet-and-greets with local
business people.
The trail association is a network of volunteers who raise money to maintain
the Trans-Canada Trail. Now, for the first time in Manitoba, the network is
sharpening up its commercial focus with an eye to building ecotourism.
The brains behind the commercial venture is Roy Hildebrand, co-founder of WE
Hike and Bike, an ecotourism venture based in Pinawa.
"The Border to Beaches trail is a dynamic asset right in our backyard," he
said. "What the MRTA has done is provide a link, a network, for everyone who
associated with the trail and there are seven groups along Borders to
Beaches, local business people. We want to engage them and promote their
sections."
Based at the Wilderness Edge Retreat and Conference Centre in Pinawa, WE is
setting up weekend tour packages, ranging from $300 to $500, to launch next
spring.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michael Haynes <activetransportation(a)rogers.com>
Date: Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 8:38 AM
Subject: Active Transportation Canada - New Posts September 24, 2011
Thirty-five (35) new items have been posted on the Active
Transportation-Canada Website. A complete list of titles may be found in the
"Blog Archive" box, located on the right margin of the Website.
Some sample new items:
1. Latest Hornby, Dunsmuir bike stats show 40% increase in trips since
2010<http://www.geoffmeggs.ca/2011/09/09/latest-hornby-dunsmuir-bike-stats-show-…>
2. Jack Layton saw the future and it was on a
bicycle<http://www.wheels.ca/article/799545>
3. U.S. - A New List of Top Walking Cities Reveals
Surprises<http://shareable.net/blog/a-new-list-of-top-walking-cities-reveals-surprise…>
Active Transportation Canada URL:
<http://activetransportation-canada.blogspot.com/>
http://activetransportation-canada.blogspot.com
A "Search" function is available on the site. You will find this at the
bottom of the page. With more than 1,000 items posted on Active
Transportation - Canada, there are links available to dozens of studies and
hundreds of news items from communities across Canada and the world.
If anyone has a problem reading this message, please let me know. I welcome
suggestions for posts, so if you have news items featuring your community,
please share them with the other subscribers from Canada, the US, and
Australia on Active Transportation-Canada.
Thank you.
Michael Haynes
Director
TransActive Solutions
Hi AT folks - please feel free to circulate widely,
I've summarized the various political parties active transportation PROMISES
that we've heard / seen so far. I have not listened to last night's CTV
debate - if any brilliant AT promises were made please tell me.
See complete details of all parties promises:
<http://www.winnipegtrails.ca/2011/09/23/election-promises/>
http://www.winnipegtrails.ca/2011/09/23/election-promises/
* The Progressive Conservatives put their "PROVINCIALLY" focused
promise directly into their healthcare platform - in black and white - and
on the web. This promise has a PROVINCIAL focus.
* The New Democratic Party did a press release on an AREA
infrastructure promise - in black and white and on the web. This promise is
for one specific area.
* All parties have given verbal "PROVINCIAL" verbal promises.
1. A promise in black and white / on the web is far more desirable than a
verbal promise from a politician - in my opinion.
2. Area specific infrastructure promises are fantastic! BUT - these are
'one offs' and virtually always requiring extensive months / years of
advocacy from volunteers.
Currently the Province of Manitoba has NO active transportation plan, no
policy, no point people, no developed expertise.
SUGGESTION:
IF you are speaking to any NDP candidates - tell them you want to see - in
writing - a "PROVINCIALLY" focused promise.
Tell them you would like to see a promise in WRITING for:
- a provincial active transportation policy
- a director of active transportation
- an active transportation advisory board (see complete details
http://www.winnipegtrails.ca/2011/08/23/provincial-election-2011/ )
Perhaps hand them the black and white promise the Progressive Conservatives
have made on Page 11, found here:
http://www.pcmanitoba.com/assets/downloads/healthy%20communities.pdf
Looking forward to October 4th!
apologies if you have received this email more than once!
Janice
Janice Lukes
Manager, Special Projects - Winnipeg Trails
Winnipeg Trails Association
235-614 Des Meurons Street
Winnipeg, MB R2H 2P9
Cell (204) 952-4222
Fax (204) <tel:%28204%29%20237-4618> 237-4618
<mailto:jlukes@riverswest.ca> jlukes(a)riverswest.ca
<http://www.winnipegtrails.ca/> www.WinnipegTrails.ca
Member of City of Winnipeg Active Transportation Advisory Committee
Chair, Province of Manitoba Active Transportation Advisory Group
Please distribute widely:
Bring your family, friends, and neighbours. Join us on bikes, on skates, on
a board, or on foot to be part of a global rally to get moving on the
climate crisis - *TOMORROW Sat Sep 24*. This will be a day of family fun,
education, and solutions for the future of our planet.
http://www.moving-planet.org/events/ca/winnipeg/559
The celebration will begin at *noon with a foot/bike parade from the
Legislature building* down the Assiniboine bike path to The FORKS. Meet at
the fountain south of the leg at noon. This parade event is open to all and
will start at 12:30 SHARP.
*At The Forks from 1:30 pm our main stage* will host speakers and performers
including dance groups and two live bands. We will have inspiring speakers
on climate change hopes and realities, First Nation's wisdom, art, and
youth. Former Blue Bomber Troy Westwood will also share a few thoughts.
*Eco-friendly businesses and organizations will exhibit **until 5:00 pm **at
our Eco-Fair*, under The Forks canopy. They will highlight solutions for
Manitobans to move toward a sustainable future.
Come out to enjoy the sun and to *engage with the people who are working on
a better future now*.