Wannaplan?
Galactic Superstar
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I find recent headlines that center on a supposed realtionship between Americans getting fatter and sprawl to be confusing and scientifically misleading. From the Michigan Land Use Institute, at http://www.mlui.org/growthmanagement/fullarticle.asp?fileid=16523, an article called Girth and Growth we can read that,
"Super-sized American waistlines, say a growing number of public health officials, appear to be caused, at least in part, by superhighways and cars, massive parking lots with no sidewalks in sight, and all the other artifacts of America’s sprawl-dominant, vehicle-dependent lifestyle. We live in a civilization that is more comfortable encouraging vehicles, not people, to move."
While anecdotally I cannot disagree with assertions that try to illustrate a possible linkage between overweight Americans and sprawl, the skeptic in me aks, "Where's the evidence? Where's the clinical trials or field studies? Where's the statistical correlation? What was n? The confidence interval? T-Test, ANOVA, or Chi-Square?" All that scare-mongering about living in lifeless suburbs without any sidewalks just doesn't jive: If our lifestyle depends on the car, then maybe we drive to the gym or to the high school running track. However, maybe I just don't get it. Can any of my fellow planners show me the statistical correlation between fatter Americans and sprawl? I want to believe the hype, but until I read a credible study or two, I cannot hop on the "Sprawl = Fat Americans" bandwagon.
"Super-sized American waistlines, say a growing number of public health officials, appear to be caused, at least in part, by superhighways and cars, massive parking lots with no sidewalks in sight, and all the other artifacts of America’s sprawl-dominant, vehicle-dependent lifestyle. We live in a civilization that is more comfortable encouraging vehicles, not people, to move."
While anecdotally I cannot disagree with assertions that try to illustrate a possible linkage between overweight Americans and sprawl, the skeptic in me aks, "Where's the evidence? Where's the clinical trials or field studies? Where's the statistical correlation? What was n? The confidence interval? T-Test, ANOVA, or Chi-Square?" All that scare-mongering about living in lifeless suburbs without any sidewalks just doesn't jive: If our lifestyle depends on the car, then maybe we drive to the gym or to the high school running track. However, maybe I just don't get it. Can any of my fellow planners show me the statistical correlation between fatter Americans and sprawl? I want to believe the hype, but until I read a credible study or two, I cannot hop on the "Sprawl = Fat Americans" bandwagon.