Walkable Neighborhoods Help Adults Socialize, Increase Community

James F. Sallis, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science

“Transportation and land use policies across the U.S. have strongly prioritized car travel and suburban development, so millions of Americans live in neighborhoods where they must drive everywhere, usually alone, and have little or no chance to interact with their neighbors.”

Walkable neighborhoods promote active behaviors like walking for leisure or transportation to school, work, shopping or home.

The study analyzed data from the Neighborhood Quality of Life Study, which included 1,745 adults ages 20 to 66 living in 32 neighborhoods located in and around Seattle, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

Neighborhood walkability may promote social interactions with neighbors — like waving hello, asking for help or socializing in their homes, said the first author, Jacob R. Carson, M.P.H., a student in the UC San Diego – San Diego State University Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health. Carson began the research while a Master of Public Health student at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health.