Happiness, urban design and obesity!

Today, October 17th, brings headline news about obesity in the UK. A report by the government’s Foresight section ‘Tackling Obesities: Future Choices‘ is launched today and makes it to the BBC news headlines ‘Obesity ‘not individuals’ fault‘… ‘Obesity was an inevitable consequence of a society in which energy-dense and cheap foods, labour-saving devices, motorised transport and sedentary work were rife….In 2002, those who were overweight or obese cost nearly £7bn in treatment, state benefits and indirect costs such as loss of earnings and reduced productivity. In 40 years’ time, that figure could reach nearly £46bn, as health services struggle to cope with the ill-health such as type 2 diabetes, cancer and stroke which can be associated with excess weight.’

A whole section of the Foresight report is devoted to ‘Obesogenic Environments’. It reviews the evidence, mainly from the USA, Australia and Scandinavia, linking the built environment with obesity and quotes a number of case studies illustrating ‘best practice’. These include traffic-free cycle and walking routes in Sussex, Glaxo-SmithKline which guaranteed employees parking places only if they cycled to work (??) and provided secure cycle parking, showers and lockers, urban planning groups which bring together city planners, transport planners and public health specialists to guide development, remodelling shared public space in Blackett Street in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne to benefit cyclists and pedestrians and, finally, Aylesbury Vale District Council and others involved with the development of Fairford Leys which aims to promote a better quality of life.

All encouraging stuff, but only some small steps in promoting a change of thinking amongst traffic planners and the public about planning for mobility by means other than the car, or even bus, and even, planning for less mobility.

Interestingly, an article by Pooran Desai in Building Design “What we can learn from ‘the good life‘” comments on lessons learned from the young science of happiness – happiness being related to health and environments which encourage daily physical activity such as walking to the local shops or commuting by bike. ‘Mobility has a more fundamental effect on happiness. Whereas traditional economic ideology promotes mobility to enable economic growth, change and competition, rising mobility has led to breakdowns in social networks and the sense of community…This has profound and negative effects on happiness, particularly on trust. Put simply, if you don’t know your neighbours, you are less likely to trust them — and with good reason, because simple game theory tells us crooks flourish in more anonymous societies.” And “if we create a culture which seeks happiness not consumption, we can avoid environmental damage.”

I’m skeptical about too much emphasis on happiness – it’s an elusive feeling and the more you seek it the harder it is to find. It sneaks up on you when you’re engaged in something else such as working for the benefit of others or making music. However, urban design which makes talking to and meeting your neighbours more likely and more pleasant (without intrusive traffic noise and fumes) and which makes it easier and more pleasant to get around on foot or by bike would tend to promote better health, better communities and more happiness.

Bogotá – ‘a healthier and happier city’

Two items about Bogotá have excited me, both about the policies of Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá, and both passed on by friend and keen cyclist here at Oxford Brookes, Tim Jones. Colombia on the whole does not enjoy good press in the UK, and South America generally (and generalisations are always false, of course!) is said to combine wealth and influence for the few side by side with much poverty, so it’s especially good to hear of policies being introduced which are designed for general good, and which, in the short time appear unlikely to be popular for the wealthy.

The city’s vision

The first item is an article by Peñalosa describing their policies, which appeared in Environment Matters (in 2005) a World Bank publication, freely available by email, though this paricular copy is hosted by a Netherlands cycling organisation. Here are a few items from the article: “We want dynamic organised communities, with a sense of belonging. We want a city that will not increase road space in response to traffic jams, but rather will further restrict private car use. We want a city that clearly devotes more space and resources to children than to motor vehicles”.

In the UK, European Car Free Day, called I believe “In Town without My Car” (sounds like the title of a children’s story) is barely noticeable. In Brussels, no private cars are allowed an the streets on certain Sundays, and the streets are alive with people strolling, cycling, roller-blading etc. But in Bogotá every Sunday, “120 km of main arteries are closed to motor vehicles for a period of seven hours … more than 1.5 million people, from upper- to lower- income classes come out to bicycle, jog, walk and socialise”.

Bus-based transit system

“The single project that most contributed to improved quality of life was a bus-based transit system called TransMilenio … inspired by the Curitiba system in Brazil.” From a project management point of view the speed with which this project was completed “We were able to design, build the infrastructure, create the private partners that would operate it, get out the thousands of buses that previously operated there, and put the system into operation in three years.” In 2005 with then “only 66 km the system moves more than 1 million people every day, with a public investment of $270 million.”

Promoting cycling

I’m also inspired by the efforts to develop cycling as a means of transport. “While carse tend to be means of social differentiation, bicycles integrate. In dutch and danish cites, more than 35 percent of the population uses the bicycle for transport, while the percentages are insignificant in cities in the developing world …. The main reason is that developing -world cities are designed and built for the wealthier minorities. Costly elevated highways are built for the benefit of a few, while bikewayas and even sidewalks are frequently absent. In Bogotá, we built more than 300 kilometers of physically isolated bicycle paths in less than three years. From nearly none, more than 4.5 percent of the population now use a bicycle for daily transport needs. And many more use it sporadically.”

A message for other large cities around the world – cycling can work

It’s been depressing to see that large cities in China, often with a history of mass cycle use have been rapidly developing car use and associated infrastructure, and sometimes closing certain routes to cycle use. All the problems of noise, severance – both physical and social, and very noticeably pollution have been the result. I had become concerned that the European model of the city which is pedestrian and cycle friendly might not be appropriate in the massive new cities of the developing world, but Bogotá, with a population of some 7 million, provides an encouraging message.

The video

Much of this can be seen on a short video about Bogotá, also featuring Enrique Peñalosa, which can be downloaded, or played, from http://www.nycsr.org/nyc/video-view.php?id=20
The video needs the Quicktime plug-in (free download) to play.
The only thing I have reservations about, in the European context, is having segregated cycle routes. If they’re not busy, and are kept away from car routes there’s danger that they can be quite threatening – like those in Milton Keynes. One of Peñalosa’s comments I particularly like is that if a cycleway isn’t safe for an 8-year-old, it’s not a cycleway, spoken as a New York taxi’s door opens into a cycleway and a cyclist is forced out into fast traffic.