5 ms·

Sprawl and Obesity: NYC as a case study

23 points by pg 14y ago

geargrinder 14y ago
It is very difficult to live in Manhattan if you are not fit. All of the stairs, subways, walking blocks from stations and stops to your destination. I am sure that all the exercise helps those who are living there. But if you create a place that is more difficult to be obese, sure, there will be fewer obese people living there. It is also very difficult to live there if you are older or weaker. The accommodations for handicapped are fewer and add significantly to the hardship of just getting from one place to another. I like Manhattan, but it can be difficult to get around if your have any physical issues.
- joonix 14y ago
  Where do you suggest old people live, then? Most everywhere else in the US requires car ownership to get around. Old people and cars do NOT mix well for anybody. In NYC, they can step out of their apartment and have everything they need within a few blocks.
rdl 14y ago
I think it's wealth correlating with obesity more than sprawl. Do people who live in the Bronx or Queens really walk around less than those in Manhattan?
- bunderbunder 14y ago
  Interestingly, that's a lot like the hypothesis that the linked article proposes.
  - rdl 14y ago
    He's saying sprawl+wealth, I think just wealth. There are rural rich areas (Napa, Boulder, etc.) which have fewer fat people than places like Birmingham, AL.
- mc32 14y ago
  I think they're trying to say it's a bit complex and not clear-cut and simple. That's to say that you can have thin poor people in India, for example, but obese poor people in the US. Likewise, one can have thin people in Manhattan but obese people right next door in the Bronx. Maybe it's exercise, diet (somewhat wealth/culture dependent) and other factors. However, the high intake of sugar-laden food is probably not something we would want to discount before knowing more.
- joonix 14y ago
  Yes, they do.
binarymax 14y ago
A good friend of mine is trying to solve the food desert problem in inner city Rochester, NY. It would be interesting to see food desert data overlaid with this data as well. It's obvious that Manhattan is not a food desert and one can easily get fresh produce. Not sure about certain places in the Bronx or Queens though. It would also be interesting to see gentrification as a contrast. -edit- on an iPad now so can't see the flash based map, but data can be found here:http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-desert-locator/go-to-the-locator.aspx http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-desert-locator/go...
- kahirsch 14y ago
  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/health/research/pairing-of-food-deserts-and-obesity-challenged-in-studies.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/health/research/pairing-of...
praptak 14y ago
> Here's my educated guess: both poverty and sprawl correlate with obesity. As long as it says "correlate", it is merely an observation on data. Easily verifiable but not very useful, maybe as a start for forming a proper hypothesis about causal relationships. Such a hypothesis would obviously be much harder to verify.

23 points by pg 14y ago

It is very difficult to live in Manhattan if you are not fit. All of the stairs, subways, walking blocks from stations and stops to your destination. I am sure that all the exercise helps those who are living there. But if you create a place that is more difficult to be obese, sure, there will be fewer obese people living there. It is also very difficult to live there if you are older or weaker. The accommodations for handicapped are fewer and add significantly to the hardship of just getting from one place to another. I like Manhattan, but it can be difficult to get around if your have any physical issues.

joonix 14y ago
Where do you suggest old people live, then? Most everywhere else in the US requires car ownership to get around. Old people and cars do NOT mix well for anybody. In NYC, they can step out of their apartment and have everything they need within a few blocks.

rdl 14y ago

I think it's wealth correlating with obesity more than sprawl. Do people who live in the Bronx or Queens really walk around less than those in Manhattan?

bunderbunder 14y ago
Interestingly, that's a lot like the hypothesis that the linked article proposes.
- rdl 14y ago
  He's saying sprawl+wealth, I think just wealth. There are rural rich areas (Napa, Boulder, etc.) which have fewer fat people than places like Birmingham, AL.
mc32 14y ago
I think they're trying to say it's a bit complex and not clear-cut and simple. That's to say that you can have thin poor people in India, for example, but obese poor people in the US. Likewise, one can have thin people in Manhattan but obese people right next door in the Bronx. Maybe it's exercise, diet (somewhat wealth/culture dependent) and other factors. However, the high intake of sugar-laden food is probably not something we would want to discount before knowing more.
joonix 14y ago
Yes, they do.

binarymax 14y ago

A good friend of mine is trying to solve the food desert problem in inner city Rochester, NY. It would be interesting to see food desert data overlaid with this data as well. It's obvious that Manhattan is not a food desert and one can easily get fresh produce. Not sure about certain places in the Bronx or Queens though. It would also be interesting to see gentrification as a contrast. -edit- on an iPad now so can't see the flash based map, but data can be found here:http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-desert-locator/go-to-the-locator.aspx http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-desert-locator/go...

kahirsch 14y ago
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/health/research/pairing-of-food-deserts-and-obesity-challenged-in-studies.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/health/research/pairing-of...

praptak 14y ago

> Here's my educated guess: both poverty and sprawl correlate with obesity. As long as it says "correlate", it is merely an observation on data. Easily verifiable but not very useful, maybe as a start for forming a proper hypothesis about causal relationships. Such a hypothesis would obviously be much harder to verify.