Walkable communities are healthier and happier

Interviews in 20 New Hampshire neighborhoods found sizable benefits to living in places where many activities can be reached on foot.

Health24 reports:

"People who live in 'walkable' neighbourhoods are more involved in their communities, more trusting and have a higher quality of life, a new study suggests.

"A walkable community means people have an easy stroll to such destinations as parks and playgrounds, club meetings, and services such as a post office, coffee shops and restaurants, explained study author Shannon Rogers and colleagues, from the University of New Hampshire.

"They interviewed 700 residents in 20 neighbourhoods in two New Hampshire cities about the number of locations they could reach by foot in their community, their trust in the local community, participation in community activities and socialising with friends, all of which comprise what is called 'social capital'."

"The researchers found that walkable neighbourhoods scored higher on every measure of social capital than less walkable neighbourhoods."

An abstract of the paper can be found in the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life, available here.