Dead end streets

Coronation Street's terraced houses, corner dairy and Rovers Return might look olde worlde. They might also be a good idea - because our modern suburbs could be killing us, reports Valerie Schuler
GOTTA have a coffee. Boil the jug. Open the fridge and ... bugger. Out of milk. The nearest dairy is down the street, around the corner, along the main road, cross when you reach the lights. Grab the keys and drive to the nearest service station, instead. Sound ludicrous? For many people living in Auckland's new suburbs, this is everyday life. A lack of activity is making us lazier and heavier than ever. Active Friendly Environ-ments, an Auckland University of Technology study, shows poor planning discourages Aucklanders from walking and sentences us to a life in our cars. Proof? People in subdivisions built after the 1980s, such as in Greenhithe, Albany or Glenfield, weigh an average of 2kg more than those in more central, better planned neighbourhoods. Michelle Bauld lives in Bushlands Park, a new development across the road from Albany Mega Centre. She admits to never having walked to it. 'I take my car everywhere. That's just what I've always done,' says the 33- year-old mother of two. 'On an average week, I wouldn't really walk anywhere.' Neighbour Jackie Ziegler walks her son to preschool most days and is frustrated there's nowhere in the area to go for a run. 'There's just no nice places around here. Other areas have parks and jogging routes. If I want to go for a run, I have to get in the car and drive over to Browns Bay.' Grant Schofield, the AUT professor heading this Health Research Councilfunded study, says: 'Urban sprawling is hopeless for health. In many new suburbs, there's nowhere for people to walk to and it's creating a mentality of car dependency.' The average Aucklander gains 1.5kg a year. 'It's not that we're getting lazier. Human nature hasn't changed. But, because of our neighbourhoods, we are getting fatter,' he says.
WE'VE ALL read the headlines, seen the TV ads. Physical inactivity is a serious health issue. It puts people at risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other illnesses. Within the next 12 years, we'll be spending $1 billion a year on obesity-related conditions. The Government has begun a number of campaigns to tackle the epidemic, mostly criticising what we eat and our reluctance to raise a sweat. In 2003, the Ministry of Health set up the Healthy Eating Healthy Action (HEHA) strategy to improve diet and activity. The Heart Foundation cracked down on the nation's lunchboxes through the Food in Schools campaign. 'We are always blaming food for obesity problems, but that's only part of the problem. Blowing up McDonald's isn't the answer,' says Professor Schofield. 'It's all very well educating people about food and telling them to get off the couch, but we need environments that facilitate this.' Adults should have 30 minutes of 'physical activity' a day. The professor says 'incidental activity', such as walking to the shop or to and from the bus stop, is as important as planned exercise. The study - carried out on the North Shore for starters, although its boundaries may widen - found factors such as how streets intersect, walking and cycling routes, the distance to shops, parks and public transport, can dictate how heavy and fit residents will be. 'Areas built prior to the 1930s were built for walking, but the newer ones are built around the use of cars,' says Professor Schofield. He says Albany is 'an example of urban planning at its worst'. The megacentre is about 300m from homes, but most people drive because it's not easy to reach on foot. People must cross a motorway. Findings are likely to be similar across Auckland. 'The further out, the worse it usually gets,' says Professor Schofield. Apart from our love affair with cars, blame our slowness to adopt good ideas from the rest of the world. 'The scale of our city has been destroyed by cars,' says town planning consultant Richard Simpson. 'The focus is always on building more roads. It's a major problem and bold changes need to take place.' Unlike older areas, with their mix of homes and businesses, new suburbs don't have shops and other amenities. 'The distances are a lot longer between your home and where you want to go, so you are much more likely to take your car rather than walk or cycle.' Mr Simpson says we have a 'culde-sac culture'. We like those deadend streets with double garages facing onto them. 'People have this perception that living in a cul-de-sac is really safe for children, which it may be.' He attributes the fad to developers' laziness. 'It's an easy sell and low risk. People have seen it before and they assume it works.' 'As far as exercise is concerned, it's hopeless,' says Professor Schofield. 'These streets are really badly connected and people are more likely to take their cars to get anywhere.' International trends show more people in a smaller area is better for health than sprawling suburbs. Villages such as Newmarket, Devonport and Parnell are 'healthy neighbourhoods that facilitate walking,' says Professor Schofield.
WILL ANYTHING be done? North Shore City Council, which is behind the AUT study, says it will affect future street designs, and is setting up a website to show people where they can exercise. Auckland Regional Council hasn't seen the study, but takes urban sprawl and related health problems seriously. 'We need to have more conversations as to how we can accommodate future growth,' agrees Christine Rose, who chairs its transport and urban development committee. The regional council reviewed its growth strategy in 2006 to avoid more sprawling, poorly planned suburbs. 'We need to pay more attention to urban design and work more closely with developers to make sure towns are walkable,' says Mrs Rose. 'This situation is disappointing and reflective of an era of a deregulated building sector.' But each of Auckland's city or district councils manages land use and development in its boundaries. 'We play a limited role and decisions are made at local level,' she admits. Manukau City Council says it's getting better at laying out new streets, such as in the new Flat Bush development. Project manager Bruce Harland says planners started by recognising the importance of parks and public spaces. 'If you have a great public realm that's safe and attractive to get around in, particularly on foot, there's a higher likelihood people will walk and be fitter and healthier.' Another regional body, Auckland Regional Physical Activity and Sports Strategy (Arpass), identified some of our 'least active' suburbs in a 2006 study. Now, it wants to include 'incidental activity' in urban design policy. 'But this is preliminary. People are starting to think about this. It is not ingrained in policy makers,' says director Kelvyn Eglington. Whatever happens, it seems some Aucklanders will always face an uphill battle to lose weight and get fit - purely because of the street they live in.