title: Overweight, obesity, and inactivity and urban design in rapidly growing Chinese cities.
abstract: China faces rising rates of overweight, obesity, and physical inactivity among its citizens. Risk is highest in China's rapidly growing cities and urban populations. Current urban development practices and policies in China heighten this risk. These include policies that support decentralization in land use planning; practices of neighborhood gating; and policies and practices tied to motor vehicle travel, transit planning, and bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. In this paper, we review cultural, political, and economic issues that influence overweight, obesity, and inactivity in China. We examine key urban planning features and policies that shape urban environments that may compromise physical activity as part of everyday life, including walking and bicycling. We review the empirical research to identify planning and design strategies that support physical activity in other high-density cities in developing and developed countries. Finally, we identify successful strategies to increase physical activity in another growing, high-density city - New York City - to suggest strategies that may have relevance for rapidly urbanizing Chinese cities.
authors: Polytechnic Institute of New York University, Department of Technology, Culture and Society, 6 Metrotech Center, Brooklyn, NY 11201, USA. kday@poly.edu
authors: Kristen
authors: K
authors: Day
authors: Mariela
authors: M
authors: Alfonzo
authors: Yufei
authors: Y
authors: Chen
authors: Zhan
authors: Z
authors: Guo
authors: Karen K
authors: KK
authors: Lee
mesh_terms: D001642:Bicycling; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D002947:Cities; D002958:City Planning; D004779:Environment Design; D006801:Humans; D009519:New York City; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D050177:Overweight / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D016138:Walking