Health effects of high-density development in downtown Berkeley

What are the health effects of high-density development in downtown Berkeley? Sweena Aulakh argues, in a commentary article, that high-density development in downtown is one means of improving health and well-being.[1]

Specifically, high-density housing in downtown Berkeley can draw in businesses and employers. The residents of such housing, being near the BART, businesses, and employers, can more easily leave their cars behind.[2] Thus, downtown Berkeley could be transformed into a “walkable community,” where residents take the train, cycle, or walk, rather than drive.[3] Indeed, recent surveys conducted by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission suggests that “people who live within half a mile of transit use transit extensively and are more likely to walk and bike than residents living greater than half a mile from transit.”[4]

As Patrick Kennedy pointed out, seniors have incentives to leave their homes behind and move downtown, if it were developed. Aulakh supports Kennedy’s view: “recent studies have found that when elders in high density neighborhoods are able to walk to clusters of destinations such as the post office or grocery store, overweight and social isolation are reduced.”[5] The benefits of high-density development to the rapidly aging population of Berkeley may encourage Berkeley’s future seniors to move downtown.

In addition, Aulakh argues that high-density downtown development will benefit the health of Berkeley’s young people by both (1) “reducing air pollution” and (2) “offering families pedestrian-friendly destinations that will increase the entire family’s access to opportunities for physical activity.”[6]

The California Center for Physical Activity also supports the view that “compact neighborhoods make it practical to choose walking, bicycling and transit – especially for the high proportion of trips that are a few miles or shorter in length. Being able to choose these options instead of driving means less pollution, less traffic congestion, more open space, and economic vitality in our town centers.”[7] To echo the physical-activity argument, Broderick Perkins reports that a forum among members Urban Land Institute (ULI), the National Multi-Housing Council (NMHC), and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) agreed that high-density development can help “reduce automobile trips, encourage biking and walking, and support public transit; bring the health benefits of walking and biking”; “add support for local retail and further reduce the need for car-driven errands”; and “create more secure neighborhoods because people living at higher densities are more likely to walk, shop locally, and get to know their neighbors…”[8]

To improve the viability high-density development, the development should be transit-oriented and coupled with “neighborhood preservation, [mixed-use], and…laden[ed] with features important to those likely to live in such communities – singles, empty nesters and students among others.”[9] In other words, if high-density development were to proceed in downtown Berkeley, the success of such development can be improved by establishing policies that attract and retain likely residents.

[1] Sweena Aulakh, Commentary: A Healthy Perspective on Downtown Development, Berkeley Daily Planet, May 1, 2007 available at http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article1.cfm?archiveDate=05-01-07&storyID=26960.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Healthy Transportation Network of the California Center for Physical Activity, Research, http://healthytransportation.net/research.html (last visited on Jan. 21, 2008).
[8] Broderick Perkins, Communities Dense About High-Density Development, RealtyTimes.com, July 18, 2002 available at http://www.nmhc.org/Content/ServeContent.cfm?ContentItemID=2573.
[9] Broderick Perkins, Communities Dense About High-Density Development, RealtyTimes.com, July 18, 2002 available at http://www.nmhc.org/Content/ServeContent.cfm?ContentItemID=2573.

Robert Guo