4 ms·
I don't disagree that people aren't getting all the steps they need, but it seems like there's a pattern where hotter areas have less 'activity' (step count).
by cbanek 9y ago
I don't disagree that people aren't getting all the steps they need, but it seems like there's a pattern where hotter areas have less 'activity' (step count).
Central America, Northern South America, Northern Africa, and the Middle East seem particularly bad.
Looking at the "walkability" graph, you see that a lot of the cities listed as the worst (Arlington, Forth Worth, San Antonio) are in Texas, where it's pretty hot.
Living in Las Vegas, I totally get this. You just don't go outside in the day time, which can put a crimp on activity.
On the flip side, in the winter it's very nice, and is the perfect time to go outside and get some exercise.
- aklemm 9y agoI live in a hot, humid area, and there are many people who don't go outside because of the discomfort. That said, I also have young kids, so my cohort actually is outside for hours per day year-round, and it's really not that bad when you get acclimated. The cities you list in TX, I think, are very car-friendly and developed recently (maybe not San Antonio), which is such a huge part of the problem. Commercial developments aren't made for walking and residential developments are segregated and often lack sidewalks. It's terrible.
- amorphid 9y agoI walk more when I am in San Francisco (where I live) partially because I find the walks interesting. The same was true when I lived in DC. When I am in an area where the walks lack flavor, I have to consciously get myself to move.
- wutbrodo 9y agoI had tried running over the years, mostly on treadmills, and never really done more than six miles: I decided I far preferred weightlifting (and sports). When I left my job and was gymless for a short period, I started running along the water in San Francisco after not having run for several years. Within two weeks, I was doing about ten miles. It's really hard to overestimate how much easier and more pleasant beautiful surroundings make walking and running. (Temperate weather 365 days a year doesn't hurt either).
- eru 9y agoRunning on a treadmill is extremely boring. Weight lifting is fun. Running barefoot outside---if you can either find a good place for it or the courage to declare your current place good enough, is a thing of joy. (My current home, London, basically has temperate weather all year round. It doesn't really get cold here.)
- TulliusCicero 9y agoYep, in practice if an area is "car friendly" that always translates to "walking hostile". Because cars take up so much space to move and to park, building around them necessarily means undermining every other mode of transportation.
- erikpukinskis 9y agoYep. I lived in Austin for a summer. 104 daily. I put on shorts and a tank top and biked miles into town, up plenty of hills both ways. Humans have sweat! We we're built for the heat! We can survive just fine in the arctic too. We're the most adaptable species on Earth. You have to get in shape, but that's another issue...
- Banthum 9y agoIt seems there's a natural experiment at hand to determine the actual effect of temperature on these outcomes. The temperature changes at different times during the year, and during different individual days and months. So, how do temperature shifts affect the results with the place and people being the same?
- tristor 9y agoI've lived abroad all over but make my home base in San Antonio, TX. I can speak to this somewhat. Part of it is definitely the weather, but a bigger piece is a general lack of walkability. For instance, in most places I've lived abroad I can walk for 5-7 minutes from my residence to a handful of places to eat lunch. In San Antonio, the closest restaurant (which I don't want to eat at for health reasons) is a 17 minute walk. In other places I've lived when you're walking you are surrounded by something worth seeing, something interesting. Parks, interesting architecture, public artwork, other people, etc. In San Antonio, from where I live a walk would be nothing but highways, cookie cutter houses, and cookie cutter apartments for hours on foot before I got to see anything interesting. Prague for instance has a little bit of art in everything, which makes it interesting. Even the sidewalks themselves are patterned on opposing sides of the street and change between districts and sections to be artistic. In other places I've lived for longer distances it's a simple and quick matter to access public transport on foot and then to continue on foot from where you get dropped off. In San Antonio, I'd need to walk 17 minutes to the nearest bus stop, then I have a long bus ride with multiple transfers to get to anywhere near a walkable part of the city from my residence. These cities in the US are fundamentally built with cars in mind first and foremost, have almost no public transport, and have zero attempt to make them even remotely walkable. The weather is just a small piece. I could wear a hat and get over the heat since it's mostly dry heat here, but you can't get over the fact there's nothing to /do/ or /see/ or /get to/ on foot. Walking has no purpose here. I didn't walk everywhere just for my health when I was abroad, I did it because it was useful and efficient and fun.
- xiaoma 9y agoI'm skeptical of that interpretation given how Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore score near the top. All three are very hot and humid places.