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?