Sprawl and Health

Frank 2006 - "Many Pathways from Land Use to Health"

Lawrence D. Frank, James F. Sallis, et al.
"Many Pathways from Land Use to Health"
Journal of the American Planning Association
72(1):75-87 (Winter 2006)
On the Web
Relevance: high

From the abstract: in King County neighborhoods and found that a 5% increase in walkability was associated with:

• a per capita 32.1% increase in time spent in physical activity
• 0.23 point reduction in average body mass index
• 6.5% fewer vehicle miles traveled
• 5.6% fewer grams of nitrogen oxides emitted
• 5.5% fewer grams of volatile organic compounds emitted

See study for more details.

Frank 2005 - "A Study of Land Use, Transportation, Air Quality, and Health (LUTAQH) in King County, WA: Executive Summary"

Frank, Lawrence (Lawrence Frank & Company, Inc.)
"A Study of Land Use, Transportation, Air Quality, and Health (LUTAQH) in King County, WA: Executive Summary"
September 27, 2005, Submitted to King County officials.
Relevance: high
On the Web (big pdf)

NOTE: The following summary includes only the sections of this report that deal with air quality and vehicle emissions.

The study examined per capita VOC and NOx emissions from both automobile and transit trips. It uses a variety of measures to classify urban, suburban and other land uses. Urban land uses are responsible for much lower air pollution, on a per capita basis, than suburban land uses. Interestingly, the strongest correlate to lower per capita emissions is “street connectivity.”

• “Significantly lower estimates for NOx were generated by respondents living in areas with higher levels of retail floor area ratio, intersection density, and land use mix and residential density. Increased street connectivity where people live appeared to be the most closely associated with NOx. Mean emissions of NOx declined from 29 to 23 grams per person per day, a 26 percent reduction, between residents of the most to the least connected environments.”
• “Significantly lower levels of VOC’s were found for respondents in areas with higher levels of floor area ratio and intersection density and residential density. Improvements to street connectivity where people lived appeared to be the most effective tool to reduce VOC’s as well. Mean emissions of VOC’s declined from 14 to 12 grams per person per day, a 7 percent reduction, for residents of the most to least connected environments.”

Larson 2004 - "Source Apportionment of Indoor, Outdoor, and Personal PM2.5 in Seattle, Washington, Using Positive Matrix Factorization"

Larson, Timothy Gould, Timothy; et al.
"Source Apportionment of Indoor, Outdoor, and Personal PM2.5 in Seattle, Washington, Using Positive Matrix Factorization"
Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association
September 2004, v.54, n.9; pp.1175-1187
On the Web
Relevance: medium

The authors measured indoor, outdoor, and personal concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the city of Seattle and estimated the sources of this PM. They concluded that vegetative burning (wood, incense, candles) contributed the most PM mass to outdoor (35%), indoor (49%), and personal (62%) exposure. In general, it seems that PM concentrations are higher outdoors than indoors.

PSCAA 2003 - "Final Report: Puget Sound Air Toxics Evaluation"

Keill, Leslie; Maykut, Naydene
"Final Report: Puget Sound Air Toxics Evaluation"
Puget Sound Clean Air Agency and Washington State Department of Ecology
October 2003
On the Web
Relevance: high

In this preliminary study, PSCAA measured and modeled exposure to outdoor air toxics in 6 locations around western King County, including Beacon Hill, Lake Sammamish, and Seatac. They estimated cancer risk using several methods, including one that takes into account commuting. They also seem to suggest that it may not matter much what macroenvironment you live in (i.e., Beacon Hill vs. Lake Sammammish): "Concentrations, and corresponding risks, were relatively consistent among areas measured and modeled throughout the Puget Sound region. Although some differences were apparent, overall it is clear that the sites and the region as a whole have similar emission sources of concern (e.g., diesel particulate matter, mobile-source-related VOCs, and probably woodsmoke)." Smaller geographical scale factors (busy road, factory, cleaning products) are not accounted for.

Allen 2004 - "Estimated Hourly Personal Exposures to Ambient and Nonambient Particulate Matter Among Sensitive Populations in Seattle"

Allen, Ryan; Wallace, Lance; et al.
"Estimated Hourly Personal Exposures to Ambient and Nonambient Particulate Matter Among Sensitive Populations in Seattle"
Journal of Air and Waste Management
September 2004; v.54; n.9; pp.1197-1411
On the Web
Relevance: High

The authors measured the concentration of particulate matter in various mircoenvironments (home indoors, home outdoors, work, school, in transit, other outdoors, other indoors) and the average exposure for 38 subjects in Seattle. The subjects selected were "sensetive populations" with asthma, coronary heart disease, or advanced age. The major findings were:

• The best air was indoors at home; the worst air was at work, followed by outdoors and in transit.
• Because subjects spend so much time at home, most of their exposure (79%) occured there.
• There was a low correlation between ambient and personal exposures (0.43) compared to findings from other studies. This means that localized sources highly affect personal exposure (i.e. cooking fumes vs.general air quality)

Rivara 1989 - “Analysis of Fatal Pedestrian Injuries in King County, WA and Prospects for Prevention”

Rivara FP, Reay DT, Bergman AB.
“Analysis of Fatal Pedestrian Injuries in King County, WA and Prospects for Prevention”
Public Health Reports
May-June 1989; v.104, n.3; pp.293-297.
On the Web
Relevance: medium

The authors analyzed pedestrian fatalities for 12 months in King County, WA.  They found that victims were generally children (29%), the elderly (34%), or intoxicated adults (24%).

Harruff 1998 - “Analysis of Circumstances and Injuries in 217 Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities”

Harruff RC, Avery A, Alter-Pandya AS.
“Analysis of Circumstances and Injuries in 217 Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities”
Accident Analysis and Prevention
January 1998; v.30,n.1; pp.11-20
On the Web
Relevance: high

Harruff et al analyzed 217 pedestrian fatalities in King County, WA to describe the most common situations and characteristics of pedestrian fatalities.  The average annual pedestrian fatality rate for all pedestrians overstates the risk for responsible, able-bodied adults but understates the risk for vulnerable groups such as the elderly.  Alcohol consumption, disregard of traffic rules, and being male also increase the fatality risk. 

Frank 2000 - "Linking land use with household vehicle emissions in the central Puget Sound"

Frank, Lawrence, Brian Stone Jr., and William Bachman. 2000.
"Linking Land Use with Household Vehicle Emissions in the Central Puget Sound: Methodological Framework and Findings."
2000, Transportation Research Part D 5, 3: 173-96.
On the web
Relevance: high

Frank and colleagues used data from the Puget Sound Transportation Panel (a survey of 1,700 households taken every 2 years) to estimate the total amount of vehicle pollution (carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds) generated by households in different kinds of neighborhoods.

They concluded that households in higher-density neighborhoods, with more interconnected street grids, and with greater mixes of land use, produced lower total emissions than households in more sprawling neighborhoods.  Also, as might be expected, long-distance commutes increased total household vehicle emissions.  Perhaps more surprisingly, commutes to places with very high employment density (e.g., downtowns) were associated with lower total household vehicle emissions -- though this effect that was seen mostly for the places with the densest employment.