Get Out and Walk

Recently, as part of health initiative by Kansas State University, I entered the Walk Kansas competition with my brother and his fiance who is an extension agent for K-State in Cherokee County.  Apparently the  state of Kansas has joined the national effort to fight obesity, and in Cherokee County alone 15 teams have entered the competition; currently our team, Orange Power, is in 5th place after week 1; logging 158 miles.  Just to put it in perspective the leading team logged 303 miles in the first week.  By competition guidelines every 15 minutes of exercise equates to 1 "Walk Kansas Mile,"  with team Orange Power logging 2370 minutes of exercise this past week.  Each team consists of 6 members, to complete the walk around Kansas (as we are doing) 360 minutes of exercise per week, per person is required; we averaged 395 minutes/person.

I bring this topic up to point out that there are more modes of transportation to get around a state than just a car.  This competition focuses mainly on foot travel as well as bicycle transportation, and teams have 8 weeks to complete 1 lap around the state.  The Walk Kansas competition is just one of many initiatives to motivate people to get out of their car and walk.  Obesity is on the rise in America, with the rate doubling over the past 30 years.  Municipal planners have joined the fight against obesity movement as well, but in a more subdued manner through New Urbanism.  New Urbanism is a form of planning that promotes mixed use and walkabiltiy, by increasing density and creating walkable streets (www.newurbanism.org).  The mixed use aspect is acheived through placing retail centers on lower floors of buildings and developing residences on the upper floors.  This not only reduces the need for a car, but also encourages people to walk.  Typically a New Urbanism development focuses its core to be quite dense, with many shops, parks and residences placed in a small space; sometimes less than a quarter mile (www.newurbanism.org).  In fact that quarter mile distance is a recommended planning standard for New Urbanism, as it is an average ten minute walk for most people.  Past studies have shown that most people are willing to abandon their car and walk a quarter mile to shop, eat, or even walk for leisure, thus the accepted standard.

Boarnet, Joh, Siembab, Fulton, & Nguyen (2011), conducted a study in Los Angeles, CA to study the effects of urban planning on mode of transportation. The study found that as density of retail businesses increase, so too did the rate of pedestrian travel with some patrons reporting five times as many trips by foot as by car (Boarnet et al. 2011, pp. 138,145).  While some patrons did drive in, the net result is an increase in walking which is necessary to fight the war against obesity.  However, with planning being a historically governmental responsibility, I must ask, is so too the war on obesity...or is the Kansas model a better one, letting private citizens participate in the obesity war on their own merit? 

 

Design and Social Structure

As part of a project for a Research Methods class that I am currently taking, we are required to compile a literature review for the beginning of our thesis.  While I was browsing through some articles I stumbled across one that really peaked my interest.  The article was produced by Harvard School of Public Health and in it the researchers studied if social disorder and the resulting lack of safety determine the physical activity level of the neighborhood in question.  The "social disorder" as they termed it included activities as innocent at loitering all the way up to the "purple leisure" activities such as alcohol consumption and even prostitution (Molnar, Gortmaker, Bull, & Buka, 2004).

The population the researchers studied was located in similar neighborhoods and city blocks in Chicago, and included roughly 9000 adults that were surveyed.  In addition, observation measures were taken to analyze the number of adults supervising children play, where children play as well as the presence of illicit activities.  Observations of gang markings and graffiti were also taken into account and even the number of what appeared to be abandoned cars on the street were analyzed to study what the researches determined to be the "social structure" of the neighborhood (Molnar, Gortmaker, Bull, & Buka, 2004). 

Youth's were then studied to determine their level of recreational activity, this being achieved through a self report.  As can be expected youth's in higher SES neighborhoods were reported to participate in more recreational activities than those in lower SES neighborhoods.  In addition, those whose BMI was in the recommend range also reported higher levels or recreation participation.  The study found that increasing the safety of the neighborhood in turn raised the level of recreation by 49 minutes per week, and neighborhoods with lower safety levels saw a decrease in recreation levels by 29 minutes per week(Molnar, Gortmaker, Bull, & Buka, 2004).  This is quite a disparity.  However, I am not surprised by these results.  Being a Landscape Architect, we are constantly drilled that the construct of the space designed will determine the users attracted.  So I can't help but wonder, is the failing social structure of these neighborhoods a product of poor design, or citizens just down on their luck?  

Political Leisurists

With the Republican race heating up, many Americans are glued to their T.V. sets watching to see who will be the next contender to Obama.  With Super Tuesday commencing in the next 24 hours, Oklahoma is far from exempt from this demographic of political leisurists.  John Wilson, a sociologist, wrote a book roughly 20 years ago titled "Politics and Leisure."  In the book he describes the differences between governmental styles, politics and leisure's effects on such and vice versa.

Wilson goes into detail describing how the media plays an integral role in shaping policy and voting trends for democratic/republic societies.  I couldn't help but think of the last two presidential elections that I have been a part of and noticed this trend of media and its effect on public opinion/voting.  It's no big secret that ABC, CBS and CNN news are geared more towards the liberal end of policy and their news reporting reflects such.  The conservative side of the aisle is not exempt from this trend either, with Fox News waving that banner.  If one were to flip between these channels and find reports on the same topic, it would be easy to see the spin each network puts on  a report.  The previous presidential election was a contest between our current placeholder Pres. Obama and Sen. John McCain.  While the contest was largely a blowout in favor of Obama, I couldn't help but notice how in the weeks prior ABC and CBS featured more pro Obama interviews than McCain, and Fox News did just the opposite.  I fear that those who watch only one news channel can only hear one side of the story with this polarized media, and this potentially jeopardizes the integrity of our voting system.  Political leisurists-those who watch political trends as a leisure activity, must ensure that they hear both sides of the story, so as to make an informed decision when it comes time to enter the polling place.

The Washington Post recently ran an article stating that in the last Republican Debate, played on all major networks, gained an audience of over 7 million viewers.  It seems as though politics in America are beginning to rise to the level of major sporting events.  The constant verbal jousts between candidates is not only informative of their stance, but in a way mildly entertaining and somewhat reflective of a verbal boxing match.  So I ask, are politics becoming a form of sport in America, or are citizens hungry for information?