The Fit City: Portland's Remedy for Obesity

In 1990 journalist Neil Pierce wrote a prescient piece, “Portland Pioneers Urban Natural Areas,” 
documenting the city’s effort to link the nascent bike trail movement with the protection and restoration of urban natural areas. He found this synergy enhanced the health of humans and nature, a vital fact given that obesity rates have increased over three fold since then, rising from 11.4 percent to 38 percent of the population. Another 33 percent of Americans are overweight, and the cost of this epidemic is staggering.

The estimated price for health care related to obesity ranges as high as $210 billion per year. Obese adults spend 42 percent more on direct healthcare costs, while obesity translates into $4.3 billion a year in job absenteeism. On the job, the limitations that plauge obese workers carries a year cost of $506 per worker. http://stateofobesity.org/healthcare-costs-obesity/ 

Dr. Richard Jackson, Chair of UCLA’s School of Public Health, has overseen a series of path-breaking studies that link obesity to poor community design. "The major threat to health is how we built America," he states. It is hardly surprising that Mens Fitness labeled auto addled Houston and Detroit the nation’s “fattest cities,” while Portland and San Francisco were deemed the fittest cities. The girth of Houston residents is expanding and its 1,034 drive through fast food establishments, the most in the nation, is a key indicator. http://www.mensfitness.com/weight-loss/burn-fat-fast/the-fittest-and-fattest-cities-in-america  By contrast, Portland Mayor Charlie Hales wants to ban new drive-through eateries in the central city and along Portland's busiest shopping streets. (Portland's Low Car Future, Willamette Weekly, April 27, 2016) 

Eating well is important, but exercise is the key to fighting obesity. The healthiest cities are those with “active transportation systems” where residents walk, bike, or take transit to work. http://www.governing.com/news/state/gov-biking-walking-cities-obesity-study.html On average, residents of walkable neighborhoods, such as the Pearl District, exercise 50 percent more per week, which reduces the chance of being overweight by nearly the same percentage. Transit is considered “active” because trips often begins and end with a walk.  In his book, Designing Healthy Communities, Jackson reports riders on Charlotte’s new light rail line were 80 percent more likely to meet the Surgeon General’s health targets and, on average, they lost 6 ½ pounds once they commuted by rail. 

This type of utilitarian exercise is essential because “recreational” exercise (e.g. gym workout) requires a level of motivation most Americans lack. A quarter of the population is sedentary, and half the population does not meet recommended levels of physical activity: at least 30 minutes a day of moderate exercise five days a week. Good design, however, can mitigate this tendency. Researchers  found that 40 perecent of people who lived within a 10 a ten-minute walk of a park or a bike trail met recommended exercise requirements, which matches the percentage of Portlanders with a healthy weight.  (H. Frumkin, L. Frank, R. Jackson, Urban Sprawl and Public Health)

Portland’s commitment to a “low car” environment that offers facilities for utilitarian and recreational physical activity is why it is a fit city.  Since Pierce wrote his 1990 article, the metropolitan area’s system of bikeways and trails has doubled to 300 miles, and they link an array of parks. The Intertwine Alliance, a group of 150 public, private, and non-profit entities, is dedicated to expanding the system. One its most important initiatives, the Green Loop, is a key component of Portland’s new 2035 Comprehensive Plan. 

The Green Loop builds on the long-standing tradition of designing urban parks to improve public health. Frederick Law Olmsted considered Central Park a “sanitary institution,” a tranquil, pastoral landscape he designed to “re-create” the mind of a population worn down by "monomania" and the intensity of urban life. The Green Loop also seeks to mollify the unhealthy effects of urban life by promoting active transportation.  This six-mile "Central Path" will allow bicyclists and pedestrians safe passage through central Portland on both sides of the Willamette River, while providing access to new and existing parks and restored natural habitats.  It will also tie into the Willamette River Greenway, the regional trail network, and the active transportation system serving the metropolitan area.

Green Loop Route

The Green Loop marks another step in the evolution of the green infrastructure system Portland pioneered a generation ago. Providing connections for wildlife and humans to move through the urban landscape is vital to both biodiversity and human health, the prescription both pediatricians and conservationists write. Enjoying a visceral experience that no machine can reproduce is not only good for our health, it is what our humanity demands. 

Billed as a "21st Public Works Project for Portland," citizens are working to bring the Green Loop to fruition. The Park Blocks (pictured above) are a key component and on August 20th "Connect the Park Blocks on the Green Loop" will allow Portlanders to experience how enhancing these historic linear greens will transform the downtown. People will be free to walk, stroll, and jog unencumbered by parked cars or vehicle traffic along a 1.2 mile route. Increasing foot traffic is not only good for building community, it is also good for local businesses. The Green Loop is expected to become a tourist draw and, with the city's new bike-share program, the momentum to create a carless conduit is building.

A Portland design team, Hiroshi Kaneko, William Smith, Dustin Locke, Courtney Ferris and Adam Segal, won the John Yeon Center's competition to "bring the Green Loop to life."http://yeoncenter.uoregon.edu/finalist-bio-untitled-studio/ They were awarded $20,000 to futher develop their plan, "Portland's Living Loop," which calls for the project to go through four stages as it becomes an "adaptive urban ecoystem." The goal is not only to bolster sustainability and the city's identity, but to set the stage for the next generation of innovation. The vision cast is striking, a mix of aesthetics and function that recalls Fredrick Law Olmsted's adage that creating a fit city demands the "highest arts of civilization."

From Untitled Studio, "Living Loop" Presentation