The built environment and human activity patterns: Exploring the impacts of urban form on public health

An increasing body of evidence suggests that moderate forms of physical act ivity (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 w alking and bicycling as a form of physical activity, and third, how the pub lic health considerations outlined in this article might reorient planners' thinking toward the realization of health-promotive environments. The curr ent lack of emphasis on the interdependencies between built form and overal l quality of life, as measured by health, safety, and welfare consideration s, suggests the need for a rethinking of public policy approaches to transp ortation investment and land development.