{"id":13793,"date":"2023-02-08T10:02:45","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T16:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/?p=13793"},"modified":"2023-04-12T12:56:28","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T17:56:28","slug":"design-as-a-path-to-healthier-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arch.tamu.edu\/news\/2023\/02\/08\/design-as-a-path-to-healthier-living\/","title":{"rendered":"Design as a Path to Healthier Living"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After World War II, many Americans left the inner city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the war, just 13 percent of U.S. residents lived in suburbs. In 2010, more than half of all Americans lived there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This migration resulted in many shifts \u2014 not all of them good ones \u2014 of a corresponding magnitude, said Xuemei Zhu, professor of architecture, who studies healthy community design, non-motorized transportation, and public health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe began to see unintended consequences of this kind of urbanism,\u201d said Zhu. \u201cAn hour long or longer work commutes became typical in Houston and other cities. Most suburbs were also designed with car use as a priority, which made them unfriendly for pedestrians and bicyclists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, most of these subdivisions were zoned in such a way that residences were strictly separated from commercial areas. In other words, in most of these developments, a car is required for a trip, even something as simple as getting a loaf of bread or a bottle of aspirin. Car trips replaced walking or biking as a practical mode of transportation. Researchers found that this situation contributed to the U.S.\u2019 rising rates of obese adults and adolescents, which contributed to rising cases of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, strokes, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physical activity is a primary factor in three major dimensions of health: physical, mental, and social. The typical postwar U.S. subdivision design had the unintended, yet direct effect of reducing its residents\u2019 physical activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new research opportunity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Zhu, who studies how urban design can either increase or decrease physical activity, saw a tremendous research opportunity in Mueller, an Austin subdivision that welcomed its first resident in 2007.  Mueller\u2019s planners and designers embraced a design that is friendly to pedestrians and bicycles; a place where people could feel comfortable walking from place to place; a subdivision that wasn\u2019t designed predominantly for cars\u2019 needs. She sought to learn whether the subdivision\u2019s design would improve its residents\u2019 health by increasing their physical activity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The subdivision\u2019s history began as Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, which opened in<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1930. For the next 69 years, it served as the growing capital city\u2019s air link to Texas\u2019 major cities and beyond. When a new, larger airport opened on Austin\u2019s southeast side, more than 700 acres of real estate less than 5 miles from downtown Austin became available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development\u2019s planners emphasized what\u2019s known as a mixed-use concept \u2014locating places where people gather, such as parks, retail shops and restaurants, within easy walking distance of single-family homes and apartment buildings to create a walkable community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"IMG<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Can a subdivision\u2019s design affect residents\u2019 physical activity?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But did Mueller\u2019s design actually affect how much people walk vs. how much they drive? This is what Zhu sought to learn in a study, funded with $2,684,000 by the National Institutes of Health. She is one of the study\u2019s co-leaders, with Chanam Lee, a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, and Marcia G. Ory, Regents and Distinguished Professor of the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health. The research team includes faculty and students from multiple disciplines \u2014 architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, public health, kinesiology, computer science, statistics \u2014 as well as field coordinators in Austin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zhu and her fellow researchers are examining people who moved to the Mueller community from less activity-friendly neighborhoods, including more traditionally designed suburban subdivisions. They\u2019re examining both short- and long-term changes in Mueller residents\u2019 activity levels and determining what design features, such as sidewalks, walking\/hiking paths, water features, and parks, lead to changes in physical and social activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudy participants completed surveys and wore accelerometers and global positioning system units for one week, which allowed us to clearly determine how active they are, and when and where they are active,\u201d said Lee. \u201cThrough these measures, we are able to isolate the roles of neighborhood environments in fostering or deterring active living.\u201d We are also able to assess how health and quality of life affects and is affected by physical activity levels\u201d, adds, Ory, who focuses on how the environment interacts with health and aging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers\u2019 preliminary findings showed positive environmental effects. When comparing participants moving to Mueller with the matched participants who did not move, participants who moved to Mueller increased their moderate and vigorous physical activity by 53.2 minutes per week, while the comparison participants had a decrease of 23.1 minutes per week, which is a typical trend as people age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These preliminary findings support a 2015 pilot study in Mueller that Zhu led which was based on self-reported, retrospective survey data. In that study, which was funded by grants from the American Institute of Architects and the Global Obesity Prevention Center at Johns Hopkins University, Zhu found that new Mueller residents had significantly higher levels of self-reported physical activity such as walking and jogging, more social interactions with neighbors, and a greater sense of neighborhood cohesion than they did in their previous, traditionally designed suburban subdivisions. The NIH study addressed issues of self-selection which are common in physical activity and environment studies that do not have before and after comparison groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Mueller design benefit<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Zhu and her collaborators\u2019 study is showing that Mueller\u2019s design isn\u2019t just raising its residents\u2019 physical activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re also seeing a huge and even greater change in the level of their social interactions,\u201d she said. \u201cResidents in Mueller talk to their neighbors much more often, and they feel that they live in a much more close-knit community than their previous subdivision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mueller also features a housing concept that\u2019s very popular in the subdivision, but unknown in typical neighborhoods \u2014 courtyard housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn this arrangement, the back porches of 10 or so houses face a common courtyard,\u201d said Zhu. \u201cIt\u2019s a very popular type of housing, especially if families have children, because it\u2019s like having a park for a backyard. Parents often sit on their back porch and see their children playing, often with other children from neighboring houses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, she added, parents don\u2019t feel as comfortable with their children playing outside alone in a standard suburban neighborhood design, as soccer balls or their children might dash into the street, but courtyard housing avoids these hazards. Additionally, in this design, there\u2019s several sets of eyes on children, and an additional opportunity to interact with neighbors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mueller\u2019s design guidelines also address a standard location in the suburbs: a garage as the most prominent part of the front of a home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt Mueller, no single-family residence can have a garage facing the street, as an additional design attempt to encourage neighborhood interactions,\u201d said Zhu. \u201cIn most suburban residences, we drive into our garage, we shut our garage door, and we don\u2019t use the street space to interact with the neighbors. In Mueller, all of the single-family residences and townhouses have front porches, instead of garages, facing the street to encourage greater community interaction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A real estate winner<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In addition to more physical activity and neighborhood interactions, property values are also higher at Mueller, and houses there also sell quicker, said Zhu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDr. Minjie Xu, one of our post-docs, compared houses in Mueller with similarly matched homes in Austin,\u201d said Zhu. \u201cHis research found that Mueller homes sold faster and for higher prices.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Mueller has turned out to be a real estate success story, developers weren\u2019t so sure at the project\u2019s outset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs part of the research, we interviewed developers and talked with builders and many other stakeholders. Some of the people we interviewed didn\u2019t think the design would work from their standpoint,\u201d said Zhu. In particular, I recall one developer who was  suspicious about the project\u2019s financial return and decided not to participate in Mueller\u2019s development initially, but regretted it later when they saw how successful it was.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the study is completed soon, there will be plenty of data that shows how a walkable design benefits people in terms of promoting healthy behaviors, improving quality of life, and facilitating social interactions, said Zhu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI see Mueller as a showcase for this kind of development,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a blueprint for a healthier society.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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