Pedestrians

Spartanburg County, SC

rosalie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:56:53 -0600

Decades of deindustrialization and subsequent job losses have taken a significant toll on the financial health of Spartanburg County, once a booming textile center and transportation hub in northwest South Carolina. The economic downturn has also affected the physical health of Spartanburg residents, 70 percent of whom are obese or overweight. Many suffer from multiple problems associated with their weight.

Rancho Cucamonga, CA

rosalie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:33:36 -0600

Rancho Cucamonga originally was a small agricultural community of 50,000 tucked into Southern California’s San Bernardino County. Today, after several decades of rapid growth, it is an ethnically and racially diverse suburban community of 175,000. Vineyards and citrus groves have been replaced by sprawling housing and retail development, including an abundance of unhealthy food outlets.

These environmental changes have helped to create a perfect storm for obesity and related health problems, particularly in the southwest section of the city.

New Orleans, LA

rosalie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:21:46 -0600

When Hurricane Katrina unleashed its fury along the Gulf Coast in August 2005, Americans watched in horror as the levees protecting New Orleans gave way and devastating floodwaters rushed in. Hundreds of people died; entire neighborhoods were submerged. More than four years later, The Big Easy is still recovering—minus nearly 200,000 residents who evacuated and never returned.

Lake Worth, Greenacres and Palm Springs, FL

rosalie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:14:19 -0600

Palm Beach boasts sparkling white beaches, beautiful hotels and mansions of some rich and famous. Drive just a few miles south, and it’s no longer a tourist’s postcard world. The affluence and privilege disappears, to be replaced by the social and health problems of economically compromised communities.

Poverty. Homelessness. Illiteracy. Obesity. They’re all too plentiful within the trio of cities wedged here between the Atlantic Ocean and Florida Turnpike.

Kingston, NY

rosalie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:12:05 -0600

It’s a historic city that was New York’s first capital, a gateway city to the outdoor fun of the Catskill Mountains. Yet here on the banks of the Hudson River, Kingston is also a city trying to recast itself—as a community that helps its residents be physically active and healthy.

With nearly a fifth of its population of 24,000 living in poverty, and about 44 percent of youth overweight or obese, this aspiration will not be easy to achieve.

Kansas City, MO/KS

rosalie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:10:51 -0600

Only a state line separates Missouri’s Kansas City from Kansas City, Kan., but like most big metropolitan areas, this one is a mix of neighborhoods with sometimes similar, sometimes distinct characteristics. Take Argentine, a mostly Latino community on the Kansas side of the line, and Ivanhoe, a predominantly African-American neighborhood on the Missouri side. The flavor of each is very different, but they share one thing in particular when it comes to health: Both communities suffer from high rates of childhood obesity.

Houghton County, MI

rosalie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:04:16 -0600

Houghton County sits at the tip of Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula, a rugged, sparsely populated forest region bordered on two sides by Lake Superior. People here are used to long, snowy winters. Since 1968, when Houghton’s last copper mines closed, they’ve also endured high rates of poverty and unemployment.

Denver, CO

rosalie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:50:09 -0600

They live in an area known for its great outdoors. They breathe its Rocky Mountain air. But for the 55,000 residents of seven low-income neighborhoods in southwest Denver, what matters is their own community environment and the obstacles there that make an active, healthy lifestyle almost impossible.

Cuba, NM

rosalie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:48:41 -0600

Its natural environment offers desert, forests, mountains and often spectacular sunsets. Its built environment presents quite a different landscape, as residents in the northwest New Mexico community of Cuba can attest.

Buffalo, NY

rosalie — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:34:19 -0600

Buffalo is a city in the midst of revival, with a recently opened contemporary art museum, renovated architecture bearing Frank Lloyd Wright’s name and a developing waterfront along Lake Erie. At the same time, it is also a city grappling with acute poverty, disparities and poor health among many of its 260,000 residents.