By Art Allen, Transit for Livable Communities’ Media Relations and Communications Intern

Last summer I returned to the Twin Cities from going to school in Boston. One of the things I knew I would miss most was the walkability of Boston: on a bright summer day there was little I enjoyed doing more than picking a part of town and wandering. This is not to mention opting to walk to class from my apartment (about a third of a mile) one or two times each day. I would also greatly miss the T, Boston’s light rail subway system. I was auto-free and still got everywhere I might have wanted to go in a timely manner.

I did not realize how important this walking was to my health. When I would come back to Minnesota for winter break (to the far west side of Plymouth, no less) I would notice the distinct difference in development patterns: Boston’s smart growth versus suburban Minneapolis’ urban sprawl. When I returned for good last summer though, the suburbs were no longer the only thing sprawling–now my waist is taking its cue from suburban planning.

Since I returned from school at the beginning of May 2007, I have put on no fewer than 20 pounds. I will note that I always been remarkably thin, did not put on any weight my freshman year, and have always had (relatively) healthy eating habits. I maintained a healthy 140 pounds over my entire time in Boston, and I realize now that this was not due to the metabolism of my youth; it was due to all that walking I was doing.

And, as much as I want to walk or bike (or, heaven forbid, take a train or bus) wherever I’m going, I don’t have the many hours it would take to walk or bike anywhere from Plymouth. Even a bus from the closest park and ride to the TLC office in St. Paul would take an hour and a half (and I’m still sitting the whole time). It’s really easy to get caught up in the abstract, academic rightness of smart growth and walk/bike-oriented growth. But now that I have a belly for the first time in my life due entirely to sprawl, I see how bad this way of life is for our health as a nation.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 11:28 am by Katie and is filed under Transit and Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.