In a community where people are more likely to drive than to walk, residents are generally less physically active. And the less active residents of such spread-out or sprawling communities are, the more they weigh and the worse their health.

That's the main finding of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded study, ''Relationship Between Urban Sprawl and Physical Activity, Obesity, and Morbidity,'' published in the American Journal of Health Promotion. That journal, together with the American Journal of Public Health, explores this problem in a recent edition.

You can read details of the study and review the interactive features, including Designing for Activity and a Walkability Checklist and special Health Affects of Sprawl web features online. (Courtesy of Hourglass Foundation, Lancaster)

9/3/2004