Healthier City with Smart Compact Development

The design of our cities determines our health as the design influence our urban lifestyle. Urban sprawl, a city design and planning that separate different land use such as housing, offices, recreational facilities, retail stores, etc, have been proven to be detrimental to the public health. First, the reliance of automobile that comes from the city sprawling development, is directly link to the increase of air pollution in urban areas, causing various respiratory health hazard. Urban sprawl also promotes sedentary lifestyle, as car-dependent urban area discourage other active mobility such walking and cycling. Reduced physical activity is associated with risk of cardiovascular diseases and higher mortality. In addition, the more spread-out urban development is, the higher is the spread of the urban heat island effect in the area, this is a condition where urban area absorbs retains daytime heat longer and could intensify heat wave consequences, increase potential heat strain, lowers productivity and reduce the quality of rest and sleep at night. Therefore, better urban planning that promote public and active transport, designing cities that are more compact is essential in promoting the public health. 

Reference

Frumkin, H. (2016). Urban sprawl and public health. Public health reports.

Nieuwenhuijsen, M. J. (2018). Influence of urban and transport planning and the city environment on cardiovascular disease. Nature reviews cardiology, 15(7), 432-438.

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