There is increasing evidence that the way we design our communities is discouraging physical activity such as walking and cycling, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The way cities grow, especially the design of streets and sidewalks, can encourage a sedentary lifestyle and forces people to spend more time in automobiles. According to the 1996 Surgeon General's report on physical activity and health, just 21 percent of youth aged 12 to 21 walk or bicycle for 30 minutes in a given week and 25 percent participate in no vigorous activity at all. Runoff from road construction is a contributing cause to the proliferation of the fish-killing microbe Pfiesteria. The visual effects of sprawl on humans has been studied by researchers, reports Once There Were Greenfields.
People recover from stress faster and more completely when exposed to natural outdoor environments.
And hospital patients who could see clusters of trees instead of brick walls outside their windows had shorter post-operative stays and needed fewer painkillers, according to a 1991 report in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.