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The health benefits of public transport
An interesting study was carried out earlier this year by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute in America, entitled “Evaluating Public Transportation Health Benefits”.
Many of the findings will come as no surprise to those of us that are already well aware of the health benefits of walking and cycling, and reducing traffic flow within cities. However, the report also highlights how little these health benefits are being taken into account by transport planners.
The study found that:
“Public transportation can provide significant health benefits. People who live or work in communities with high quality public transportation tend to own fewer vehicles, drive less, and use alternative modes more than they would in more automobile-oriented locations. This can provide large reductions in traffic crashes and pollution emissions, increases in physical fitness and mental health, and improved access to healthy food, housing and medical care. These health benefits are significant in magnitude compared with other planning objectives, but are often overlooked or undervalued in conventional transport planning.”
These health benefits are then translated into monetary value in order to reach the following conclusion:
When all impacts are considered, improving public transit can be one of the most cost effective ways to achieve public health objectives, and public health improvements are among the largest benefits provided by high quality public transit and transit-oriented development.
The full report is available here.
Check out our first product review - Sketcher's Shape-ups
I’ve been intrigued by Shape-ups for a while, as Sketchers make a lot of claims about the benefits of wearing them, but I've never quite got round to giving them a go. So I thought I’d take up the offer to test and review a pair for fitnessfootwear.com
When I got them out of the box I was surprised by their appearance, as the sole is very deep and unusually shaped. Aside from that, the trainers are fairly attractive: not necessarily the style I’d go for personally, but they’re not too dissimilar to a lot of sports shoes out there.
But more importantly than how they look, how do they feel? Admittedly, a little unusual at first, and you can definitely feel the difference in weight distribution on the soles of your feet. But despite this initial unfamiliarity, they are extremely comfortable and easy to get used to. My journey to work is an hour or so, and the trainers made for a very comfortable journey; they didn’t rub or pinch at all, and took no breaking in.
Sketchers make a lot of claims about the health benefits of the shoes, including proof from clinical trials. But I guess the real test is whether they actually work for you or not. If you’re interested, here’s the “science” behind their claims.
“The goal of Shape-ups is to simulate walking on soft ground, as walking on softer uneven surfaces forces the wearer to engage muscles that are not normally used when walking on hard ground. Shape-ups simulate walking on soft ground by including a dynamic rolling bottom, a soft foam insert under the heel (a kinetic wedge), and a dual density mid-sole.”
Sketchers state that this design means that wearing Shape-ups will result in better posture, firmer buttock, calf and abdominal muscles, improved blood circulation and reduced cellulite. So, pretty much all the benefits gained from walking anyway…..
I think Sketcher’s claim that you can get fit without stepping foot in a gym is a slight over-exaggeration. They may tone up legs slightly, but I wouldn’t recommend planning an entire fitness or weight loss programme around them. If you walk a lot, then as long as you’re wearing suitable footwear, you will be receiving many health benefits anyway.
Walking can protect you against cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer, whilst also improving mental heath and well being. If you want to know more, have a look at our Walking for Health page.
I’m yet to notice any substantial difference since getting Shape-ups, but that may be due to the fact that I simply haven’t worn them enough yet. But if you like the style of the trainers, they’re a pretty comfortable wear, regardless of whether they further increase the health benefits of walking or not.
If you want to give them a go yourself, you can get them here.
Tell us below if you’ve tried them out yourself, or if you’ve already found your perfect walking footwear.
City Sunshine
Thanks to all of you that uploaded a picture to our facebook fan page for our “City Sunshine” theme.
The walkit.com team decided that their favourite was this wonderful image of a sun-soaked Trafalgar Square, taken by Tony Adams. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing your picture Tony!
If you've captured anything interesting while you've been out walking, please do upload it to the fan page, send it to us on twitter, or share it with us on flickr.
The feedback conundrum: why are women nice, and men 'challenging'?
We get lots of feedback, in fact loads of it.
It comes in a variety of flavours – friendly, bizarre, angry, delighted, tricky, helpful…you name it.
But at least we get it. If no-one was communicating with us, we'd definitely be doing something wrong.
One of the most gratifying things about working on walkit.com over all these years has been the number of people who bother to write in and say something nice. A positive piece of feedback can turn an average day into a good one.
And much to my surprise, not only do these comments come in on a daily basis, but there's been no let-up – they keep on coming.
But here's the thing – I'd say about 95% of the unambiguously positive comments come from women (e.g. “you're just FABULOUS!!!! ALWAYS!!!!!” – not very blokey is it?), whereas the more hostile, challenging or equivocal ones are more in the region of 75% men : 25% women.
We rarely receive a clear and simple piece of praise from a man.
Why so?
The ascent of a monument to financial folly?
In the future (should it ever be completed, and even more so if it isn't), will The Shard in London be seen to exemplify everything that was wrong with early 21st century capitalism?
A monument to hubris, speculation and greed?
You're either a few bricks short of a full hod, or you've got the cojones of a Spanish fighting bull, to develop the EU's tallest building during the current economic climate.
I guess it will succeed, but God knows what other parts of London and the rest of the UK will look like when it's completed in 2012. Some of the most deprived wards in the country are just a walk away from The City, Canary Wharf and The Shard – so much for trickle-down economics.
I just get the feeling that government and big business (and maybe most of us, by extension) have been complicit in the most monumental game of financial 'dare' these past few decades, without anyone having a clue what to do should the 'dare' spiral out of control.
Someone tell me it's just a blip, and we'll all be OK in our onward march towards global peace and prosperity for all!
(more here http://www.shardlondonbridge.com/ though a truly dreadful website)
H2O - walk for water, walk for life
H2O, walk for water, walk for life is a unique idea created by Creative Orchestra to help raise funds for African water projects, as well as making people more aware of how valuable water is.
The idea is simple, you do a walk. You start at a place starting with the letter H. You walk to a place starting with the letter O. Hence H to O. Holborn to Oxford Circus, Hampstead to Oval, Hornsey to Old Street, the list is endless. It could even be the Old Vic to the Hampton Arms. You decide.
It is not a charity and doesn’t align itself to one charity. Instead, it’s an innovative approach, anyone can participate and give to any charity that is actively involved in water projects in Africa (or other places in need of water).
Walking as One
The project Walking as One is the brain child of photographer Adam Magyer and Rhubarb's Creative Director, Rhonda Wilson.
The idea for the project developed from Adam's previous work Urban Flow, which captured people in different cities doing something which they had in common – walking.
Adam and Rhonda felt that in a world fast becoming more and more fragmented, Walking as One can act as a metaphor for people coming together to create a sense of solidarity.
During July the public were invited to come and walk for the camera in London and Birmingham, in order to create the Walking as One images.
The image created in London on Saturday 17th July at the Newham Show, Central Park, East Ham will be unveiled in October as part of East London Photomonth. It will be displayed on the Blue Fence outside Stratford Station, and will remain there until July 2011.
The image created in Birmingham (see above) is already on display on the hoarding outside the New Library of Birmingham, Centenary Square, next door to Birmingham's Repertory Theatre, where the image itself was created.
Why does WHSmith insist on pimping obesity at the checkout?
All I want is a bleedin' newspaper.
I don't want a breeze block of milk chocolate.
Do you also resent the pressure selling of discounted mega-calories at the WHSmith till?
Further along the concourse at London's Euston station is perhaps a slightly more responsible approach to selling. OK, I was told the calorie count refers to the 'small' size, so maybe not total transparency, but a step in the right direction.
A while ago Dave Cameron had a go at WHSmith's techniques, and he was firmly told by their CEO that it was their customers who determined their range, not Dave.
I guess that's right. But it's all a bit dispiriting when you work away at creating a tool that helps people lead a healthier lifestyle, when a high-street retailer continues to peddle obesity with such alacrity.
In town without my car day
The “In town without my car day” is held every year on the 22nd September, as part of the European Mobility Week, which is an awareness raising campaign aiming at encouraging the use of public transport, and promoting cycling and walking.
The overall aim of the campaign is to encourage public awareness of the need to act against pollution caused by the increase in motorised traffic in the urban environment. It highlights that it's not just a question of fighting atmospheric pollution or noise but also of improving the quality of urban life.
So why don't you join in and leave your car at home on 22nd September and walk, cycle or use public transport instead. There'll be no sitting in traffic jams, fighting for the last parking space, or congestion charges to deal with. And it will give you more time to read a book, grab the papers, or catch up on those podcasts you downloaded months ago and have yet to listen to. If you walk or cycle, you'll also have slotted some exercise into your daily routine without much effort at all.
There are groups in a couple of our walkit.com cities that are supporting “In town without my car day” including Birmingham Friends of the Earth and Sheffield Is My Planet. If you're in one of our other walkit.com cities, and you're supporting the event, please let us know, and we'll give you a shout out on the blog as well.
Living Streets campaign
Our good friends at Living Streets are pushing the new coalition government to commit to transport and planning policies that will transform the built environment into a safer, more pedestrian-friendly one for all users to enjoy.
Safer streets mean that more parents would allow their children to walk to and from school, thus improving their health through exercise. Safer streets mean having lower speed limits, which would increase the number of people using local public spaces and choosing to walk or cycle rather than taking their car, and also reduce the number of casualties in road accidents.
During the run-up to the election all the major parties launched their ‘green manifestos’. However this doesn’t ensure that the current government will make the changes necessary to improve the balance between the rights of pedestrians and the priority given to vehicles on our streets. Andrew Gray is one of the many political party members who pledged their support: “Decisions on street design are still being made by highway departments with the interests of road traffic uppermost, and with trees, furniture, pedestrians etc 'slotted in' later, often with difficulty.”
Living Streets want to ensure that the Government realises the importance of safe and attractive streets for pedestrians, and have therefore launched a ‘100 days of new government’ campaign, in order to drive support for this important and challenging task.
If you want reduced carbon emissions and congestion, improved health and quality of life for your children, more local community interaction, and support for sustainable local economies, then sign the Living Streets ‘100 days of new government’ pledge to take your views to the decision makers at No. 10. Read more here, and make your pledge here.
