The Atlanta BeltLine provides a network of public parks and trails along a railway corridor
URBAN PLANNING
PARKS One of the reasons people have difficulty sleeping is because of stress, and this can also lead to weight gain. The stress hormone cortisol causes an increase in appetite, and when we’re stressed we’re more likely to reach for high-calorie comfort foods. “One of the cures for stress is
to eat sugar and fat: the body is designed to crave this, as it gives energy quickly,” says Dr William Bird, founder of Intelligent Health. “When we were hunter gatherers, in times of stress, confl ict and famine we would crave fat. When you’re stressed, you become less active and eat the wrong things.” Bird believes a three-pronged
approach is needed to tackle this issue: environment, community and purpose. He says the environment we live in has a great deal to do with our weight, stress and activity levels. “The more deprived the neighbourhood you live in, the more stressed you’ll be,” he explains. “That’s why there are high levels of obesity and inactivity in areas of deprivation.
October 2014 © Cybertrek 2014
Ryan Gravel, senior urban designer at US architectural practice Perkins + Will, believes environment plays a key role in health. He came up with the idea for the Atlanta BeltLine Corridor – a 22-mile loop of green trails made out of old railway lines – around Atlanta, US. The trails link 45 neighbourhoods and have 100,000 people within walking distance of them. It has proved to be a magnet for both exercise and active commuting. “The infrastructure we build really
matters,” says Gravel. “If we build sidewalks and greenways and public transit networks, then the market responds with compact, walkable urban districts. If all we build is highways, then we’ll continue to have a very spread-out, separated, car-dependent
“Green space offsets that stress, so
if you live near a park or if you visit a green space regularly, it has been shown to increase your life expectancy because your stress levels drop and then your habits change: you become more active and eat better.”
lifestyle. Car dependency clearly has negative impacts on public health, so at a minimum we should stop incentivising and even subsidising it.” Perkins + Will are consulting on
more than 30 similar projects around the world. Fore more details, visit:
www.beltline.org
The BeltLine was first conceived in a 1999 master’s thesis by a student
BARIATRIC SURGERY Inserting a gastric band to inhibit appetite and reduce food consumption has become a mainstream solution since it was recognised by NICE in 2002. The NHS has a framework whereby people are assessed to show they are
Read Health Club Management online at
healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 73
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