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Ministry of Health

Healthy Built Environments – Just The Facts

The built environment has significant effects on our health. We live in a world that is 80% urbanized. We spend about 90% of our time indoors and 5% in our cars.13 The built environment not only affects our level of physical activity. At the individual level, it affects our physical activities and food access. By extension to this, it affects body weight, personal safety and injury risk factors. From the community perspective, housing and homelessness conditions, crime prevention, well-being and recreation and even our air quality see the effects of the local built environment.

Physical Activity

The built environment influences both sedentary and active modes of transportation, with regard to physical activity and levels of overweight and obesity.1

Compact, mixed-use land use planning with shorter blocks, higher levels of street connectedness and high quality pedestrian environments encourages higher rates of physical activity.2

Food Access

Neighbourhoods with low socioeconomic profile have less appropriate food outlets.3

The physical environment affects the nutrition of a population through the ease of access to, and quality and type of food available from local food outlets.4

Air Quality

Emissions from vehicles, buildings and industry in the built environment all affect air quality and modify the risk for chronic disease. The elderly and young, people with asthma or other respiratory conditions, and people with heart disease are most vulnerable to air pollution.5

Motorists face higher rate of emission exposure than people who walk or cycle.5

Injuries

The top three causes of death for adults due to unintentional injury are: falls (27%), poisoning (25%), and motor vehicle collisions (24%).6 Many injuries, such as those resulting from vehicle collisions and falls are preventable with changes to the environment.

Communities that are compact and feature mixed land use tend to have lower rates of traffic fatality than sprawling communities.7

In BC, more fatalities per vehicle collision occur in less compact communities, such as rural residential areas, than in dense urban residential ones.8

Housing

Permanent housing and support programs reduce hospitalization and increase well-being for people with mental illness.9

People who are experiencing homelessness are at increased risk for infectious diseases, chronic diseases, and premature death.10

Well-Being and Recreation

Children are more vulnerable to changes in their physical, social and emotional environments because of their rapid physical and mental health growth and smaller body size. The health and well-being of children depends on the safety and quality of their physical/natural environments, built environments, and social environments – at home, school and in the community.14

People are more likely to meet the recommended levels of physical activity if they live within ten-minute walking distance of a park, trail or other open recreation space.11

Crime and Safety

One of the biggest perceived barriers to physical activity in sprawled communities is the lack of a safe place in which to do so.12

Fear of crime, lack of street lights and side walks can lead to increased anxiety and threaten personal well-being.12

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Citations / References

  1. Lopez, R. (2004). Urban Sprawl and Risk for Being Overweight or Obese. American Journal in Public Health, 94(9): 1574-1579
  2. Provincial Health Services Authority (2007). Creating a Healthier Built Environment in British Columbia Retrieved November 30, 2009:
    http://www.act-trans.ubc.ca/documents/PHSA-builtenvreportFINAL.pdf
  3. Slater, J. (2007). Community Food Security: Position of Dietitians of Canada. Dietitians of Canada, Public Policy Statement. P. 1-13
  4. Frank, Lawrence. (2004). Public Health and the Built Environment: Emerging Evidence and Complexity. Retrieved January 25, 2009:
    http://www.kelloggnutrition.com/files/2004%20Summer%20DCIns_Built%20Environment.pdf
  5. Chertok, Michael, Voukelatos A, Sheppeard V and Rissel C (2004). Comparison of Air Pollution Exposure for Five Commuting modes in Sydney – Car, Train, Bus, Bicycle and Walking. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 15(1):63-67
  6. Kinney, J., Pike, I., Bawa, H., Turcoote, K. & Walsh, k. (2007). Unintentional Injury Prevention in British Columbia: A Review of the Evidence. Vancouver: BCIRPU. (PDF).
  7. Ewing, R, R Schieber and C Zegeer. (September 2003). Urban Sprawl as a Risk Factor in Motor Vehicle Occupant and Pedestrian Fatalities. American Journal of Public health, 93: 1541-1545.
  8. (2005) Traffic Collision Statistics: Police-attended Injury and Fatal Collisions. Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. P. 1-154.
  9. Nelson, G, Aubry, T, and Lafrance, A. (2007). A review of literature on the effectiveness of housing and support, assertive community treatment, and intensive case management interventions for persons with mental illness who have been homeless. American journal of Orthopsychiatry, 77(3): 350-361.
  10. Frank, LD and K Raine. (September 2007). Creating a Healthier Built Environment in British Columbia. Provincial Health Services Authority. Retrieved January 23 2009:
    http://www.phsa.ca/NR/rdonlyres/76D687CF-6596-46FE-AA9A-A536D61FB038/25518/PHSAreportbuiltenvirosummary91.pdf
  11. Powell, KE, LM Marin, PP Chowdhury. (2003). Places to walk: Convenience and regular physical activity. Am J Public Health; 93(9): 1519-21.
  12. Bray, R. Vakil, C, Elliot, D. (2005). Report on Public health and Urban Sprawl in Ontario. Environmental Health Committee, Ontario College of Family Physicians. Retrieved January 23 2009:
    http://www.ocfp.on.ca/local/files/Communications/Current%20Issues/Urban%20Sprawl-Jan-05.pdf
  13. Leech, J.A. et al (1996) "Canadian human time-activity pattern survey report and population surveyed" Chronic Diseases in Canada 17: 118-123
  14. Public Health Agency of Canada. Safe, healthy environments for children.
    http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/dca-dea/allchildren_touslesenfants/she_main-eng.php