"This week on Talking Headways we're joined by Dr. Lawrence Frank to talk about how the built environment and the way we get around connect to public health outcomes. We also discuss the work that led to Walk Score, the shortcomings of transportation cost benefit analysis, and the systematic externalization of health benefits. Once again, at Streetsblog, we give you three ways to connect to the spirited discussions of Talking Headways:"
"Jeff Wood: I'm wondering what's changed since you started working on this stuff in the 1980s. Lawrence Frank: What's changed? Over the last three decades, we have learned that our notions about the connections. When Urban Sprawl and Public Health was written, I'd already been working on the topic for a decade when folks in public health. Especially environmental health and CDC started really focusing on it. So it was really wonderful to see others join the bandwagon and start to really get interested."
Built environment and transportation systems directly shape population health by influencing physical activity, chronic disease risk, and exposure to environmental hazards. Research dating from the 1980s connected sprawl, walkability, and active transportation to measurable health outcomes and prompted engagement from CDC branches focused on chronic disease and environmental health. Walk Score provided a practical metric to quantify walkability and access. Conventional transportation cost–benefit analyses often omit health benefits and systematically externalize health costs, undervaluing investments that support walking, biking, and transit. Incorporating health metrics into transportation planning reveals larger public health gains and supports multimodal infrastructure decisions.
Read at Streetsblog
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