Low-Income and Obesity

Synopsis- 

Many families of low income housing are subject to obesity and health conditions from lack of physical activity due to the built environment effects such as Traffic, Crime and Community placement in their neighborhood. 

Traffic-

Families living in low-income homes are typically placed far enough away that transportation of utilitarian methods are out of the question only public transport or motorized vehicles are their only methods of transportation back and forth to their destinations.Most low income housing neighborhoods are subject to high density of people and the amount of traffic flowing through the streets plays a big part in the safety of the children who have to walk to school and avoid traffic and cars without getting hit. Studies show that there are more pedestrian and cyclist accidents at intersections from automobiles in poor neighborhoods compared to wealthier Traffic Injuries. The amount of crime in low income house neighborhoods is higher than most, parents of these children don't want their kids having to walk and be around that environment. Without the simple exercise of walking and riding a bike to school children are more likely to have a sedentary lifestyle compared to being active. 



Crime-

While kids are not in school they need somewhere to socialize and exercise whether its playing on a jungle gym or playing athletic sports within their community. Because of the high crime rates in low income neighborhoods more children are staying indoors and keeping safe so they are not subject to the crime that takes place. Even if there is no crime in the park, if the neighborhoods believes it to be unsafe then the families are less likely to go outside and participate in activities Association of Crime . With the presumption of an unsafe neighborhood the community is restricted to only going out during the day to participate in activities if they do go outside. Safe to go outside Study shown that women in low-income neighborhoods are less likely go outside at night because of crime and they feel unsafe.  

Community Placement-

Where these neighborhoods are placed has a direct effect on the limits of physical activity of families who reside in the community. Most Low-income neighborhoods are built to place as many people as possible in a small space and the roads around them are designed to allow the flow of traffic for the dense amount of people. While these roads are constructed the sidewalks are shortened and bike lanes are not a priority, so these families are not allowed access to utilitarian physical activity. These neighborhoods are also less likely to have gym's, parks and recreational facilities in them in relation to wealthier communities. Studied formed in three different cities found that low-income neighborhoods were three to eight times more likely to lack facilities within their community Neighborhood Study.

Conclusion-

This problem is well know and there are multiple ways to go about making changes to stop the outbreak of obesity in these neighborhoods. The statistics of obesity is going to keep rising in these neighborhoods because as the families become more obese it more likely that their children are going to follow the same path and become obese as well. There are many ways all of this can be prevented starting from designing a neighborhood designed for people's safety by adding bike lanes, larger sidewalks, crosswalks. Engage with the community start a neighborhood crime watch, talk with police department to patrol area more and clean up neighborhoods community areas to make a feeling of a safe and secure environment.

References-

     
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