Neighbourhood types, travel and body mass: A study of new urbanist and suburban neighbourhoods in the US

Using an ecological framework, this paper examines the body mass index (BMI), physical activity and travel behaviour of household heads in a US new urbanist neighbourhood relative to household heads of comparable conventional suburban US neighbourhoods. Using a quasi-experimental design, a new urbanist neighbourhood and five conventional suburban neighbourhoods were matched on age of development, assessed property values and regional accessibility. Self-reported height, weight, physical activity and travel behaviours were obtained from the household heads in each neighbourhood type. No direct association was detected between neighbourhood type and BMI. However, household heads of single-family dwellings in the new urbanist neighbourhood have lower BMI partly due to the number of utilitarian trips made by walking or bicycling. This relationship is independent of physical activity time. Although small in magnitude, this association may have appreciable morbidity effects at the population level.