Sprawl: Does it make people fat?

[sean]

Unfortunately, Kunstler's books are too often dismissed because he is not a city planner or an architect.

[Justadude]

I think the problem isn't sprawl per se. It's got more to do with economics.

Think about the major causes of obesity: poor nutrition, sedentary lifestyle, lack of intentional exercise.

What causes our nutrition problems? For the most part, we overconsume cheap processed foods. We eat huge portions (even compared to 30 years ago) and generally fail to balance our diet with nutrient-rich food items. Why do we do this? Simple answer: fast, unhealthy food is much cheaper. It's expensive to buy organic foods, which is why they don't sell very well when they're on the shelf next to standard products. It's also expensive to buy extra food items for the sole purpose of balancing one's diet. There's also a time value involved in preparing balanced meals, and people working long hours in demanding jobs generally don't have the energy or patience to read the labels.

What causes our sedentary lifestyle? For the most part, we spend too much time sitting. This is almost universally relates back to our job situations. First, people can generally make more money behind a desk than they can in manual labor. Given the choice, the vast majority of middle-class Americans will take a white collar job rather than a blue collar job because it almost always offers more opportunity for advancement, better compensation, and a less demanding work environment. In addition, the overwhelming majority of Americans only own one piece of real estate at a time, meaning they need to get as much bang for their buck as possible. This leads to home purchases in suburban areas where land and homes are cheaper, which as we all know leads to an auto-dependent lifestyle. In short, it's makes economic sense to become a sedentary person.

Why don't we excercise more? Generally speaking, gym memberships are expensive enough to require sacrifice in some other part of a middle-class person's life. This is why YMCAs are almost country-clubbish in that their price point excludes the "riff raff". Also, due to the increase in commuting hours that occurs as a result of suburban living, people tend to get home around 6-7pm after work, which is not a natural time to exercise. Again, economics is the main driving factor (combined with a general physical laziness as the result of long-term sedentary living).

So I don't see sprawl itself as the main engine behind our obesity epidemic. As with so many other aspects of American culture, it all goes back to money. Sprawl is only a symptom of middle-class economic stress, as is poor nutrition and a lack of exercise. No surprise, then, that there is a clear correlation between poverty and obesity; it seems that good health is a luxury that only the wealthy can afford.