Walkable Neighborhoods Create Opportunities for Socialization

To address this public health crisis, the Surgeon General recommends strengthening social infrastructure by designing environments that promote connection. Transportation and land use policies across the U.S. have strongly prioritized car travel and suburban development.

Walkable Neighborhoods Offer More Community, Better Health

Millions of Americans live in neighborhoods where they must drive everywhere, usually alone, and have little or no chance to interact with their neighbors (2^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Walkable Neighborhoods and Cognition: Implications for the Design of Health Promoting Communities

). Walkable neighborhoods promote active behaviors like walking for leisure or transportation to school, work, shopping, or home.

Neighborhood walkability may promote social interactions with neighbors — like waving hello, asking for help, or socializing in their homes. Neighborhoods where people must drive in and out, and where there is an absence of gathering places, may have the opposite effect, preventing neighbors from socializing.

Promoting social interaction is an important public health goal (3^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Relationships between social interactions, basic psychological needs, and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Go to source). Understanding the role of neighborhood design bolsters our ability to advocate for the health of our communities and the individuals who reside in them.

Fewer traffic incidents, increases in physical activity, and better neighborhood social health outcomes are just a few of the results of designing walkable neighborhoods that can enrich our lives.

References :

1. Neighborhood walkability, neighborhood social health, and self-selection among U.S. adults – (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1353829223000734)
2. Walkable Neighborhoods and Cognition: Implications for the Design of Health Promoting Communities – (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08982643221075509)
3. Relationships between social interactions, basic psychological needs, and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic – (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08870446.2021.1921178?)

Source: Eurekalert