Macro and Built Environment Program Area
Researchers have examined environmental determinants of health, such as community sports, access to home fitness equipment, outdoor play space, time spent outdoors, family environments, and exercise opportunities. Neighborhood environment is related to obesity, physical activity, and other health-related behaviors. Urban planners find extremely low rates of walking for transportation and few pedestrian-favorable land-use policies. Walking/biking increases with proximity, density, connectivity, land-use mix, pedestrian advances (e.g., sidewalk connectivity), and reduced pollution. This area warrants additional research, replication, and refinement. The IDOC is committed to understand the problem and to integrate both well-established and innovative methods to design effective and disseminable interventions.
Members of this program area are:
| Barry Popkin, co-head Nutrition |
demographic/economic determinants of dietary activity and body composition trends, particularly through the use of longitudinal analysis techniques |
| Penny Gordon-Larsen, co-head Nutrition |
measuring the impact of the built environment on patterns of physical activity and obesity |
| Kelly Evenson Epidemiology |
physical activity patterns, determinants |
| Eric Finkelstein Research Triangle International (Economics) |
costs/cost-effectiveness of obesity and incentive schemes |
| David Guilkey Economics |
econometrics; dietary, physical activity, and nutritional status experiences |
| Kathie Mullan Harris Sociology |
contextual factors and the family; poverty and social policy |
| Michael Hoefges Journalism and Mass Communication |
media law and advertising media strategy |
| Daniel A. RodrÃguez City and Regional Planning |
urban transportation and land-use policy, walkability |
| Yan Song City and Regional Planning |
smart growth research, spatial analysis, neighborhood design policy |
| Stephen J. Walsh Geography |
spatial analysis, geographic information systems |
