Congratulations, Miami, you’ve just been honored by another dubious countdown. Forbes magazine recently came out with a list of the
Top 20 Sedentary Cities in America, and Miami sits right at number 10. According to Forbes, was collected on body mass index (BMI), physical inactivity, and tv watching habits for America’s 50 largest metropolitan areas. Data for BMI and inactivity was primarily collected from the Center for Disease Control, while Neilsen data was used to determine hours spent watching television.
More specifically, Miami came in fifth with an average of 35 hours of television watched per week. If that isn’t bad enough, 60% of residents are obese or overweight. Really no surprise here - this is what you get when you live in sprawl. Let’s take a look at the the other cities and see if there is a prevailing theme here:
1) Memphis
2) New Orleans
3) Las Vegas
4) Detroit
5) Birmingham
6) Louisville
7) San Antonio
Jacksonville
9) Nashville
10) Miami
11) Houston
12) Tampa
13) San Diego
14) Pittsburgh
15) Oklahoma City
16) Indianapolis
17) Atlanta
18) Richmond
19) Cleveland
20) Philadelphia
Well, in case you didn’t notice, most of these metros are located in the Sunbelt/South and are famous for their sprawling/auto-centric growth patterns (especially the Top 17). Richmond, Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Philly have all been hit hard by out-migration to the suburbs. Plus, these cities aren’t exactly famous for their healthy diets. Though it’s fairly obvious, there is a fast-growing body of studies addressing the link between land use and obesity/inactivity. Low density sprawl isn’t just bad because it’s unsustainable and costly - it’s killing us in our waistlines and hearts.
Photo courtesy of Forbes.com
I can attest to this trend personally. I stayed thin when I lived in Gainesville and rode my bike to school every day. Now, in Broward county, I don’t ride to work much and I have gained around 20 pounds. If I at least had a more convenient transit option (with no bus transfers) I would take it more and get more exercise walking to/from stops.
Very illuminating. I think the natural inclination would be to think that Miami, Tampa, San Diego, San Antonio and Houston would rank very low on this list, because people would be outside more enjoying the warmer weather.
I lived in San Francisco and Pittsburgh before Miami, and I do find that I spent more time outside, being active and interacting with my surroundings in San Francisco and Pittsburgh because of their more urban environments and friendlier public transit.
In Miami, I spend an unbelievable amount of time sitting in my car just trying to get from point A to point B.
In Tampa, Miami, San Diego, Houston and San Antonio people may avoid being outdoors because its so damn hot. I never walk so much as I do when I’m in New York, as well as going up and down stairs at all transit stations. When in Miami, you go from car to building take an elevator, sit all day then go back to the car and sit and wait in traffic for an hour or so and drink coffee or coke until reaching the destination.
Oh, here we go the “hot” weather people against the “cold” weahter people. Why do they often end up getting married and fighting with eachother over the temps?