Patterns of Development

1
Patterns of Development

• What is sprawl?
• Low density
• Leapfrog, scattered development
• Car-centered
• Workplace, homes and shopping centers isolated

2
Rural Sprawl
3
Indicators of Sprawl
4
Why sprawl?

• Population expansion
• Urban flight
• American Dream
• Financial incentives
• Low mortgage rates
• New development apparently cheaper than
  redevelopment
• Businesses left cities
• Highway system

5
Social Impacts of Sprawl

• Increased traffic
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Greater time spent commuting
• Less active lifestyle
• Neighborhoods have less sidewalks, accessible
  activities, nothing in walking distances
• Greater isolation
• Growth into urban-wildland interface
• Less community structure
• Economic impacts of services

6
Built Environment and Health

• Four major journals focus on sprawl health
  September 2003
• Examined exercise patterns from disparate
  neighborhood designs
• Assessed relationship between urban sprawl and
  physical activity

7
Public Health Concerns

• Increase in obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular
  disease from decreased exercise
• Contaminants in runoff into groundwater and
  reservoirs turbidity and pathogen risks
• Air pollution impacts on asthma rates in children
• Increase in vector-borne diseases as development
  expands into urban-wildland interface
• Isolation and depression in single, elderly
• Motor vehiclepedestrian, bicyclist fatalities

8
Vector-Borne Diseases
Lyme disease, plague, Hantavirus, West Nile
virus, babesiosis, anaplasmosis, baylisascaris,
St. Louis encephalitis, tularemia...

• Subdivisions created fragmented habitat
• Increased intrusion on natural sylvatic cycles
• Patchy habitat structure perfect for animal hosts

9
Growth at Urban-Wildland Interface
Juvenile tick responsible for transmitting Lyme
disease spirochete found in suburban backyard
10
Health Effects of Sprawl

• Respiratory diseases
• Increased susceptibility to pathogens
• Pneumonia, influenza
• Stress (decreased immune function)
• High blood pressure, hypertension
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Cardiovascular disease
• Depression
• Vector-borne diseases