Physical Activity and Physical Space

On Election Day, a political statement is in order.

I spent my morning canvassing in the adjacent town of Whitehall, Ohio, a mixed ethnic and socioeconomic area adjacent to my home of Bexley.

Come the afternoon, I was trying to catch up on my public health classes, but was feeling anxious about the election, and needed to get on the bike to burn off some steam.  I wound my way down the road to Hanford Village.

What a find!  Hanford Village is a tiny community in the midst of Columbus which has an impressive history as a place with tidy, small homes settled by returning African-American veterans after WWII.  I would love to have seen what it looked like in the 40's and 50's.  The homes are still fetching.

There is a sadness to the Hanford story however; the building of an Interstate in the 70's literally and physically cut the village off from the surrounding city.  The built environment around Hanford is a bit bizarre: it essentially is completely surrounded by the Interstate and busy access roads.  The village itself can't be more than half a square mile.   There are sidewalks within the village, but one more or less takes their life into their hands if they walk or bike out of the village:  you're either heading on to Interstate, or heading on to access roads with no shoulders and lots of cars none too eager to share the road.

I need to learn more about the history of how the decision was made to have Interstate 70 bifurcate Hanford.  I suspect it would resemble the history of how other 'marginal' communities are often left out of discussions on how the urban environment is designed.

Biking around the city, I am frequently struck by how the built environment conspires to restrict people's free movement. Furthermore, I am struck by how these restrictions are disproportionately placed on minorities, and people of lower socioeconomic class.   The residents of this quaint village would be hard pressed to get much moderate to vigorous physical activity within their own space.  What ease I have in nearby Bexley to walk, bike or run for miles on safe streets, with sidewalks and limited traffic.  Shame on me if I can't stay in shape in a place like that.

As a country, as we combat the epidemic of obesity, we will need to address the limitations of the built environment in our cities. We will need to do this together and, yes, with an assist from the government.

With that thought in mind, I had a smile on my face as I rode through and around Hanford: under the shining sun and blue sky there were a multitude of  blue Obama/Biden banners.

Here's to the re-election of President Barack Obama.  Let's turn Ohio blue!