Improving Health by Design in the GTHA
By Penny on May 15, 2014
A new report maintains that by placing an emphasis on the way transit is developed in emerging communities we can significantly improve overall public health.
The report, Health by Design, highlights how the development of more active cities can help prevent over 300 premature deaths and over 1,000 diabetes cases a year in the Greater Toronto-Hamilton Area (GTHA) alone. Produced by medical officers of health for Toronto, Peel, Simcoe Muskoka and Hamilton, the report is an important revelation of what developers, city planners and municipal leaders can be doing to promote healthier lifestyles.
“We are calling on all governments to take a more active role in ensuring that both existing and new communities are planned to make the health of their residents a top priority,” says Dr. David Mowat, Medical Officer of Health for the Region of Peel and spokesperson for the collective of medical officers of health. “While improvements are
occurring in community design, considering the rate of population growth, chronic disease trends and the pace of change in land use and transportation planning, it is clear that more needs to be done. We have built our communities around the automobile and this approach poses a serious risk to public health.”
The report, produced by Dr. David Mowat, from the Peel region, Dr. David McKeown from Toronto, Dr. Charles Gardner from Simcoe Muskoka and Dr. Ninh Tran from Hamilton drew observations from the GTHA experience and provided three critical recommendations for governmental leaders and urban planners moving forward. The medical experts strongly advocate for public transit investment, the strengthening of policies that facilitate transit and active transportation, as well as making these fundamental factors integral to the future of city planning.
In hopes of curtailing the aforementioned health detriments, medical officials also brought to light the positive impacts active transportation will have on the general population; suggesting that the increase in physical activity from walking or cycling around the city instead of driving will improve cardiovascular health while reducing air pollution.
“Active transportation - walking and cycling as well as using public transit - allows our residents to build non-recreational physical activity into each day. These actions not only improve health by increasing activity but also decrease air pollution that leads to premature deaths, heart disease and respiratory conditions,” says Dr. Mowat.
If you’re not convinced that this is a worthy cause yet, consider that obesity and physical inactivity are currently costing the GTHA approximately $4 billion per annum and that traffic-related air pollution can be held directly accountable for over 850 premature deaths. With predictions of population growth expanding by an astounding 2.2 million more people in the following 20 years, the collaboration of medical professionals calls for strong and responsible leadership that will prevent further health degradation, improving communities and lifestyles through good city planning.
What differences could we hope to see?
The idea of investing in public transit is routed in the principle of making it more convenient, reliable and accessible. Providing commuters across the GTHA with a lower costing transportation alternative, increased participation will automatically reduce congestion on busy transit routes, reduce air pollution and introduce greater physical activity into the lives of users. However, in order to achieve these results, the four experts stress that cooperation from all three levels of government is necessary in terms of creating the most efficient systems.
Praising the Metrolinx plan as a visionary investment that will improve transportation over the next 25 years, the experts showed concern for what is at risk if the government does not enable more collaborations like this one. For example, if the government fails to prioritize transportation, commuters will be adding on a 33 percent increase in their daily travel time, a 200 percent increase in economic costs of lost productivity, 27 percent air pollution increase from traffic emissions, 30 percent increase in greenhouse gas emission and nearly double the amount of residents suffering from diabetes, with an estimated projection of about one in six adults being impacted.
Bearing these things in mind, how are you getting to work tomorrow?
