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Local-level policy can have an important effect on healthy lifestyles.

People often tell me that being mayor is hard because the decisions of mayors and local governments affect people directly. People watch their local government and can respond to it instantly. Local government is “where the rubber hits the road.” Most people spend their everyday lives in or near their hometowns. They are likely to spend most of their discretionary time in their neighborhoods. Their neighborhoods are where they make the bulk of their lifestyle decisions. Local public policy has a major impact on the community and its neighborhoods and can have a significant impact on whether the citizens will chose to lead healthy lifestyles. People instinctively want to live healthy lifestyles. Studies show people in general love being outdoors and active. Americans’ favorite outdoor activity is walking because people can combine it with many other interests such as being social, enjoying nature, walking the dog, strolling with the baby, or getting a good workout. Unfortunately, many Americans almost never walk; instead, they drive everywhere. But they would walk more and enjoy the healthy lifestyle benefits that result from activity were it not for the barriers built into our cities. One way to improve citizen’s healthy lifestyles is to develop local city design policies that take into account the need for walking and cycling and other opportunities for activity. Most of our cities are designed and built around the automobile without regard to walking or bicycling. Neighborhoods are typically large areas of residences without sidewalks often on cul-de-sacs that are not interconnected and are without services, schools, employment, or entertainment within walking distances. In fact, nearly every need is outside of the neighborhood and widely spread out so that nearly everything is done by car. Between peoples’ car trips to and from work, school, shopping, and entertainment, there is little time or energy left for exercise. When in the car the temptation to resort to fast, fatty, high-calorie food is great. To make matters worse, many of the streets lack landscaping and are full of unregulated signs; they are just plain ugly and make the car trips dull and uninteresting. No wonder once the day’s work and driving are over so many find flopping down and watching T.V. to be all they want to do. Public policy that can change the design of cities to remove the barriers to activity and even provide incentives and inspiration to citizens to live an active lifestyle can be adopted with respect to planning and zoning, subdivisions, sign regulation, complete streets, mixed use, and park development and location. Policies calling for higher density housing result in people having a greater number of nearby neighbors to socialize with and cities that can more efficiently provide services and amenities. Higher density housing residents are more likely to want to get out and do things such as walking together. When people walk together they tend to self patrol their neighborhoods, which reduces crime and encourages more activity. Policies for mixed use residential areas result in services, schools, shopping, and libraries that can all be within walking or bicycling distance of peoples’ residences. If cul-de-sacs are interconnected by sidewalks or bikeways, walking and bicycling routes can be far more efficient than automobile routes that are blocked by the cul-de-sacs. Policies for complete streets, that is streets with shared use lanes for automobiles and bicycles, and with separate bicycle lanes and sidewalks and landscaping, result in streets that everyone can use regardless of his or her choice of transportation. Because they are so convenient and pleasant to walk or bicycle on, such streets encourage people to use them for an activity based form of transportation. Policies for a non-motorized transportation system (walking and bicycling) to be fully interconnected with residential areas and peoples’ destinations and public transportation will encourage a mode shift to active transportation. Polices that call for parks and recreation facilities to be near where people live, such as a suitable neighborhood park within one-half mile of every residence with the parks interconnected with the neighborhood by sidewalks and trails and a regional park within three miles to be similarly interconnected, will encourage frequent and active use leading to a healthy lifestyle. Other policies that encourage activity include designing intersections so that they are pedestrian and bicycle