Are there any studies that show that walkability improves mental health?
Not living in the suburbs improves mental health.
Citation?
Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health
31–40 of 120 posts
Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health
#32I am glad there is a growing enthusiasm for walkable cities in the US. It's something I've become very passionate about lately. For those that are interested in learning more about the topic, I highly highly recommend the City Nerd youtube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@CityNerd . I find a lot of arguments for for walkability tend to be emotional or needlessly hostile towards car owners. City Nerd takes a much mor…
Are they hostile to car owners or is it the car dependency enforced via city planning / infrastructure? I almost always see the latter but hear the former as criticism which is laughable.
Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health
#33Why do you feel better when you go to Europe, or even to Disneyland? Humans crave walkable neighborhoods. American and Canadian infrastructure is the main reason we have so many mental health problems.
Beyond walkable just removing the constant noise and air pollution would have an instant positive affect on mental health.
I'm not a fan of the condescending tone of a lot of NotJustBikes' videos, but he made a solid piece about the sheer sound impact of vehicles in cities:
Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health
#34Why do you feel better when you go to Europe, or even to Disneyland? Humans crave walkable neighborhoods. American and Canadian infrastructure is the main reason we have so many mental health problems.
>Why do you feel better when you go to Europe, or even to Disneyland? Probably because you're on vacation? Why is there nothing that walkable city enthusiasts will claim walkable cities won't fix?
I'm not on vacation and Europe has been great for me mentally. Similarly, I hate when I go back to the US.
Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
I buy the value of walkable neighborhoods, but it's hard to make this epidemiological claim hold up; Canada and the US have broadly similar infrastructure but sharply different rates of mental illness; similarly, mental illness rates don't appear to track walkability in Europe.
Canada also has free healthcare. There are an infinite number of cultural differences that could affect the mental health rates in EU/CA more positively than in the US.
"free", but you often get what you pay for.
source: am canadian.
Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health
#36Your mileage may vary, literally, but I walk 1-2 hours everyday and am 10/10 on self-assessed happiness and mental health.
During my commute I watch a homeless guy in my town walk 2 miles with a limp everyday to the spot he panhandles. There may be more to it than walking.
Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not living in the suburbs improves mental health.
Not if you are living in a noisy and polluted location, which is the case for most people without a car, clichees aside.
Or just filled with so-called "night life" that so many people think they would participate more in if they lived closer.
The novelty wears off after a few years and with kids it becomes more of an annoyance than anything else.
Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health
#38It's the cause of so many issues in America (physical, mental, social). A great book on the utterly broken build environment in North America is "The Geography of Nowhere":
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/125313.The_Geography_of_...
Also, people forget - walkable doesn't just mean "somewhere you can walk" - I means you can walk to activities of daily living (groceries, pharmacy, gym, job, friends places, etc).
Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health
#39Re: Lack of Walkability in the US is destroying mental health
#40There are other factors which contribute more to mental health but this is like justifying what the authors want using mental health as a reason. Making cities more walkable would be better for other reason but I doubt if mental health would significantly increase if we make cities more walkable. San Francisco is very much walkable but has highest mental health issues.