“Human beings evolved to move at a pace of three miles an hour, breathing easily, hands free, seeking food and shade” (Malchik). Living in a country that is always trying to innovate, build and therefore always moving at a fast pace, presents a new problem daily and therefore a new solution to said problem. When being a citizen of such country one must also learn how to move at a fast pace and while doing so there is almost never time to stop and cook so if you can’t afford someone to come to your house and cook for you. What does one do? Order take out. And what if you are trying to be healthy and walk to a restaurant but all the walking distance options are all fast food. This is the reason why many in America are overweight. For my map I will be walking around within a 1mile radius. The reason I am doing within a mile radius is because those who work and have a busy schedule like myself never really have time to stop and eat so they usually try to get whatever they can and fast. Most are only willing to walk about a mile since they have to return soon to work. I will be keeping track of restaurants. I will check places like pizza places, hot dog stands, McDonalds and such. I will also rate the food quality as the quality also contributes to healthiness of the food, how busy they are and how fast I get my food. With this I will also demonstrate that the fastest places to give out food are also the unhealthiest and no one can avoid eating this food because most people are usually on the go.
While walking through my neighborhood I realized almost every single eating place that is walking distance of my house is a fast food place. Many of those are cheap and have no healthy options, usually walkers go out and walk to free their mind and get some exercise. But what is the point of getting exercise if all the walking distance food options are unhealthy. Food environment affects social capital in a neighborhood by decreasing walkability and therefore causing disparities in obesity. In many states that have the extra funds to fight the capitalization of the public space, they prioritize “Users of downtown know very well that downtown needs not fewer streets, but more, especially for pedestrians. They are constantly making new, extra paths for them-selves, through mid-block lobbies of buildings, block-through stores and banks, even parking lots and alleys. Some of the builders of downtown know this too, and rent space along their hidden streets.” (Jacobs) When walking I quickly realized that it is only those downtowns that bring in a lot of money to the state that accommodate walkers. The closest downtown which is about 1 mile away from my house has yet to build a single sidewalk that accommodates pedestrians. Also, those neighborhoods that are low income offer greater access to fast food and convenience stores that promote unhealthy eating since those are usually cheapest. The neighborhoods that don’t have as much income are also usually the ones that cannot build sidewalks or parks therefore walkability and social capital are nonexistent therefore neither does a community. Walking to restaurants and back home was dangerous since my neighborhood is low income the government has taken away the sidewalks and added big streets that can bring in income to my neighborhood. In this picture it can be seen that me and my dogs are walking through a parking lot because I felt safer than walking on the side of the road. It is important to recognize that “if we fail to accommodate those on foot, we ignore an essential part of what makes a city great” (Laker). Aside from walkability being decreased due to the lack of healthy eating options, I must also add that there is a
lack of sidewalks that fail to provide safety to those who walk on a daily basis. The closest restaurant to my house was
KFC, so I walked there and I bought a 20 dollars fill up, considering the fact that my family of 4 ate and we still had left over I would say it was definitely cheap but not healthy at all, the chicken was greasy and when being pulled apart you could feel how oily it was. Out of all the restaurants I tried the healthiest was Wendys
and obviously the most expensive out of them all. Panera was 2.4 miles away from my house so the farthest one. This affects walkability in my neighborhood because not everyone has the time to go for a walk specially a walk so far away and only to eat. Anyone who wants to eat healthy has to get in their car and drive to far restaurants in which food has better quality.
In a neighborhood in which there is no public spaces and no healthy eating options such as mine, the walkability decreases.
Social capital decreases and the livable community that one would desire starts to banish. When spaces such as restaurants where the youth tends to gather promote unhealthy eating that says a lot about the environment they live in, when they have to get in their car and travel to a public space in which they can socialize it decreases walkability in a neighborhood, and decreases social capital which is the small interaction that happens between individuals usually when walking.
I took this video while on my way back home. From my perspective walking around and looking at the Christmas lights is an activity that can be done in groups and adding walkability to my neighborhood. https://youtu.be/JrrNqg-flk4
Reference Page
Malchik, A. (2020, November 21). Step by step, Americans are sacrificing the right to walk — Antonia Malchik: Aeon Essays. Retrieved from https://aeon.co/essays/step-by-step- americans-are-sacrificing-the-right-to-walk
Jacobs, J. (n.d.). Downtown is For People. Retrieved from http://innovationecosystem.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/63349251/DowntownisforPeople.pdf
Laker, L. (2018, September 19). What would a truly walkable city look like? Retrieved November 21, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/sep/19/what-would-a-truly-walkable-city-look-like
