• DOI:10.1177/08854120122093339
• Corpus ID: 153978150

The Built Environment and Human Activity Patterns: Exploring the Impacts of Urban Form on Public Health

@article{Frank2001TheBE,
  title={The Built Environment and Human Activity Patterns: Exploring the Impacts of Urban Form on Public Health},
  author={Lawrence D. Frank and Peter O. Engelke},
  journal={Journal of Planning Literature},
  year={2001},
  volume={16},
  pages={202 - 218}
}

• L. Frank, Peter O. Engelke
• Published 1 November 2001
• Medicine
• Journal of Planning Literature

An increasing body of evidence suggests that moderate forms of physical activity (such as walking and bicycling), when engaged in regularly, can have important beneficial effects on public health. This article reviews current public health, planning, and urban design research to determine, first, how walking and bicycling might be critically important exercise behaviors for improving public health, second, how urban form affects the frequency of walking and bicycling as a form of physical activity, and third, how the public health considerations outlined in this article might reorient planners’ thinking toward the realization of health-promotive environments. The current lack of emphasis on the interdependencies between built form and overall quality of life, as measured by health, safety, and welfare considerations, suggests the need for a rethinking of public policy approaches to transportation investment and land development.