Margery Turner

Neighborhoods and health

Vice President for Research at the Urban Institute, Nov 02, 11.

Tagged with health, livability, walkable urbanism

Obesity and diabetes threaten more and more Americans, especially those who can’t afford good medical care. And as Sue Popkin has noted, residents of distressed public housing projects suffer at unusually high rates. The anxiety and stress of living amid crime and violence, lack of nearby grocery stores selling healthy, affordable foods, and the absence of safe places to exercise all undermine people’s health.

Now comes compelling new evidence that moving away from severely distressed neighborhoods can boost health. Last week, a New England Journal of Medicine study reported on the decade-long Moving to Opportunity (MTO) experiment, which offered poor families the chance to leave distressed public housing projects and move into low-poverty neighborhoods. Families who volunteered were randomly assigned to “treatment” and “control” groups and their well-being was monitored over many years. So the case that living in a distressed neighborhood is bad for your health is particularly strong.

Full Story: Can your neighborhood make you sick?
Source: Urban Institute MetroTrends Blog, October 24, 2011

More Commentary