Is living in the suburbs making YOU fat? Green spaces and open-plan communities linked to obesity and heart disease

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Living in a suburb could be putting you at risk of obesity and even heart disease.

Contradictory to the view that living in rural spaces makes you fitter and healthier, researchers have discovered it can actually increase the rates of these diseases.

They found that the more compact an area is, and the lower the number of intersections or road junctions it has, the lower the chances of diabetes and heart disease.

Researchers from University of Colorado Denver examined street network density in areas across California (stock image). They compared these networks to data in the California Health Interview Survey. The results revealed that the more compact a city is, the lower the levels of obesity, diabetes and heart disease it has

The researchers do not explain why this is the case, but suggest it may be due to the tendency of people in rural spaces to use their car more, and walk less, because of poor public transport options. 

‘Previously we had found that people drive less and walk more in more compact cities with more intersections per square mile,’ said study co-author Dr Wesley Marshall, assistant professor of engineering at the University of Colorado Denver.

‘Now we’ve been able to link these city design qualities to better health.’

The study, co-authored by Dr Norman Garrick, associate professor of engineering at the University of Connecticut, was published in the Journal of Transport & Health.

It looked at 24 medium-sized California cities with populations between 30,000 and 100,000.

‘We built these dense, connected street networks for thousands of years, but only over the last century or so did we switch to designing sparse, tree-like networks with cars in mind,’ Garrick said.

The researchers examined street network density, connectivity and configuration.

They then studied data collected by the California Health Interview Survey for the years 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009 - sampling between 42,000 and 51,000 adults.

The results revealed that increased intersection density was significantly linked to a reduction in obesity at the neighbourhood level, and of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease at the city level.

The more intersections, the lower the disease rates.

The study additionally found a correlation between wider streets with more lanes and increased obesity and diabetes rates.

This graph reveals the types of networks the researchers discovered. They include the tight grid-like systems and the more linear, 'tree' systems. The study additionally found a correlation between wider streets with more lanes and increased obesity and diabetes rates

The reason, the researchers said, was that wider streets may suggest smaller, or ‘inferior’ pavements.

The presence of a superstore also tends to be indicative of poor walkability in a neighbourhood, and this was associated with almost a 14 per cent rise in obesity rates, and a 25 per cent increase in diabetes rates.

Unsurprisingly, cities with more fast food restaurants were associated with higher diabetes rates, and additional convenience-type stores across a city also correlated with higher rates of obesity and diabetes.

These images plot the typical evolution of community design and street networks in the US. It began with the grid (pictured left), but gradually developed into the 'tree' system (right) as planners tried to incorporate more green and open spaces, explained the researchers

‘While it is possible to lead an active, healthy lifestyle in almost any type of neighbourhood,’ Dr Marshall said.

‘Our findings suggest that people living in more compact cities do tend to have better health.'

Dr Garrick point continued that in a earlier study, they had found these more compact cities also had much lower levels of traffic fatalities.

‘Taken together these findings suggest a need to radically re-think how we design and build the streets and street networks that form the backbone of our cities, towns and villages,’ Garrick said.

‘This research is one more in a long line that demonstrates the myriad advantages of fostering walkable places.’